Max jack russell – a personal profile of a beautiful dog VIDEO
Max is a remarkable dog that I walk as a professional dog walker in parks in the inner west of Melbourne. As you will see (in the embedded video) he is a remarkable dog for many reasons.
Originally a rescue dog, Max has been with his owner for quite a while now. He is still prone to bouts of excitability, but most healthy dogs are. The big difference with Max is that he is nearly13 years old.
He is not always sprinting around like you see him do in much of this video, but I do enjoy seeing my pack dogs at their best fun running selves.
In this case, it is the excitement generated between the muzzled staffy and the little brown pup that gets Max all excited. The chase, the barking, the great weather and chance to go as fast as he can on the soft grass is too much for Max to resist.
And in fact it is due to his speed that I had to put in a segment halfway through the video where we see him running towards to camera in slow motion. While this all looks like fun, and it is for the dogs, the off lead play time provides a very important function in a dog’s life, of any age.
Yes they get to physically exercise, and test out how well they are doing compared to the rest of the pack (and gauge their current position in the pack hierarchy), but it is much more than this. Max is being part of something much larger than himself, he is socialising with his own kind, and he is doing so in the safety of a social pack. You will see that when dogs are playing around unfamiliar dogs, or dogs that play too rough or are not particularly social, their play changes to a much more guarded motion or stops all together. Their stress levels go up, rather than be reduced by the play.
The kind of play that you can see Max having is what keeps him young. It means that when he goes home, he really feels that he earns his food and his sleep. He won’t be sitting at home bored and wishing he could go out and meet some of his own kind, he will be just dreaming about the dogs he only just played with a few hours before.
People often say ‘small dog syndrome’ or talk about Jack Russell’s being this way or that, mostly disparagingly because they feel they can’t CONTROL the dogs energy 100%. The shame is that they don’t realise that they can’t or shouldn’t bother control it, only direct it into doing something useful. Something that wont annoy the owner and will actually be healthy for the dog, and very satisfying is the ideal thing to do.
I am lucky that the owner of Max came to me with such a social dog already, most of my work is done, and I can relax a little more watching Max having fun with the other dogs, rather than worrying about what he might do in an unfamiliar situation. Because social dogs ALWAY fare much better in a crisis than those dogs that are not regularly trusted with their freedom, and the option to make their own considered choices.
I hope you enjoy watching this short video of Max the super jack russell having fun in Newport Melbourne Australia!
Article by Bruce Dwyer. If you wish to use any of this information please refer to the article as a reference and provide a link to www.healthydogtreats.com.au
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