Toy Fox Terrier

Before anyone tries to decide whether or not the Toy Fox Terrier is the correct breed for him, a larger, more important, question must be asked. That question is, “Should I own a dog at all?” Do not assume that the diminutive size of the breed eliminates work and responsibility. On the contrary, all dogs, large or small, demand commitment and consistency. They are not like some hobbies that you can put away on a shelf until you get back “in the mood.”

“Is this breed good with children?” Provided that the children are well behaved and taught how to correctly handle a small dog, this is an excellent choice for a family with children.

FIRST UKC DOG

The United Kennel Club designated the Toy Fox Terrier as a separate and distinct breed for the first time on February 24, 1936. The first to dog to be registered by the UKC under the newly designated name was a puppy from a litter of one, bred by Mrs. I. H. Young of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Dog ownership, regardless of breed, is a serious and time-consuming responsibility that should not be entered into lightly. Failure to understand this can make sheer drudgery out of what should be a rewarding relationship. It is also one of the primary reasons that thousands upon thousands of unwanted dogs end their lives on the streets or as the wards of humane societies and animal shelters.

If the prospective dog owner lives alone and environmental conditions are conducive to dog ownership, all that person needs to do is be sure that he has a strong desire to make the necessary commitment that dog ownership entails. In the case of family households, however, the situation is a much more complicated one. It is vital that the person who will actually be responsible for the dog’s care truly wants a dog. In many households, the additional responsibility of caring for the family pets often falls on one member of the family. Children are away at school all day. In many families, both parents work, but often it is one of the parents who is saddled with the additional chores of housebreaking, feeding and trips to the vet. What was supposed to be a family affair eventually becomes another responsibility for one family member!

Nearly all children love puppies and dogs, and will promise anything to get one. But childhood enthusiasm can wane very quickly and it will be up to the adults in the family to ensure that the dog receives proper care. Children should be taught responsibility with regards to owning a pet, but to expect a living, breathing and needy animal to teach a child this lesson is incredibly indifferent to the needs of the animal.

In the case of toy breeds and toddlers, common sense must be employed. A very young child cannot be expected to understand the care required in handling these small dogs. On the other hand, with proper instruction, children old enough to understand how to handle a small dog can learn to enjoy the exuberant personality of the Toy Fox Terrier and the dog in turn will love gentle children.

CROWD FAVORITES

During the 1920s and on through the days of the Great Depression in America, there was little money available for entertainment. Traveling road shows surviving on voluntary contributions or admissions of a few pennies became popular. More often than not, trick-dog acts shared the billing with other acts, and the tiny Fox Terriers proved especially entertaining in this respect. They quickly became crowd favorites from coast to coast.

ON-LEASH ONLY

A Toy Fox Terrier should always be on-leash and under control when not in the safe confines of your home. The breed’s curiosity can lead to complete disregard for rules and training—what he sees on the other side of the street may call more loudly than your voice. Likewise, the Toy Fox Terrier is not beyond flinging himself at a passing Doberman Pinscher or Great Dane in order to protect you.

There are also many households in which the entire family is gone from early morning until late in the day. The question that must be asked, then, is who will provide food for the dog and give him access to the outdoors for housebreaking? An adult dog can wait to relieve himself for longer periods of time, but it is totally unfair for anyone to expect a young puppy to be left alone (and to “hold it”) for the entire day.

Should an individual or family find that they are capable of providing the proper home for a dog or young puppy, suitability of breed must also be considered. Here it might be worthwhile to look at the difference between owning a pure-bred dog and one of mixed ancestry.

A mixed-breed dog can give you as much love and devotion as a pure-bred dog. However, the dog’s personality and energy level, the amount of care he requires and whether these things suit an individual’s lifestyle are major considerations. With a pure-bred dog, most of these considerations are predictable to a marked degree even if the dog is purchased as a very young puppy. A puppy of uncertain parentage will not give you this assurance.

All puppies are cute and fairly manageable, but someone who lives in a two-room apartment will find life difficult with a dog that grows to the size of a Great Dane. Likewise, the mountain climber or marathon runner is not going to be happy with a short-nosed breed that has difficulty catching his breath simply walking across the street on a hot summer day. An owner who prefers to spend his evenings watching television or reading while his dog sits quietly by is not going to be particularly happy with a high-strung, off-the-wall dog that hits the ground only once every hour or so! Nor is the outdoorsman going to be particularly happy with a long-coated breed that attracts every burr, leaf and insect when the two are out hiking.

The Toy Fox Terrier is an active breed that enjoys interaction with other dogs and his owner. Dog shows are a popular forum for socialization and friendly competition.

Knowing what kind of dog suits your lifestyle best is not just a consideration, it is paramount to the foundation of your lifelong relationship with the dog. If the dog you are considering does not fit your lifestyle, then the relationship simply will not last.

LITTLE ATHLETE

The Toy Fox Terrier stands among the most athletic of the smaller breeds. The breed consistently proves that competitive events like agility and flyball come as second nature. It is important, however, always to remember that the Toy Fox Terrier needs patience, understanding and a gentle touch in all his training experiences.

All of the foregoing applies to whether or not you should own a Toy Fox Terrier. If, however, you are willing to make the necessary commitment that a Toy Fox Terrier requires, let us assure you that there are few breeds that are more amiable and adaptable to an owner’s home.

When purchased from a responsible breeder, the Toy Fox Terrier is unique among dogs in that the breed is seldom prone to chronic illnesses or genetic infirmities. Although the Toy Fox is of diminutive size, the breed has an amazing constitution and surprising energy and endurance. The breed is able to maintain this cheerful, healthy constitution well on into old age. This is not a happy accident. Serious breeders make mental and physical soundness a top priority, and it shows in the dogs that they breed.

The Toy Fox Terrier is extremely playful and inquisitive. You will quickly find that he never ceases to have something to do. At the same time, this is a breed that enjoys snuggling up by your side as much as you might enjoy having him do so.

Although the breed has not lost its hunting instinct, introduced early enough and properly supervised, the Toy Fox Terrier can coexist with your cat or rabbit as well as he can with humans. Compatibility with small rodents and birds may take some time and patience, but nothing is impossible.

Very few members of the breed are particularly dog-aggressive and few, if any, have problems with another dog in the household as long as the two are introduced properly. This is particularly so if they are of the opposite sex. The Toy Fox Terrier is a breed of which it can be said without hesitation that two are just as easy to raise as one.

The sex of a dog in many breeds is a very important consideration, but this is not really the case with the Toy Fox Terrier. The male Toy Fox Terrier makes just as loving, devoted and trainable of a companion as does the female. In fact, there are a good many owners who believe a male can be even more devoted to his master than the female.

There is one important point to consider in determining your choice between male and female. Although both must be trained not to relieve themselves anywhere in the home, unneutered male Toy Fox Terriers have the natural instinct to lift their legs and urinate to “mark” their home territories. It seems confusing to many dog owners, but a male’s marking his home turf has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not he is housebroken. The two responses come from entirely different needs and must be dealt with in that manner. Some dogs are more difficult to train not to mark territory in the house than others. Males that are used for breeding are even more prone to this behavior and are even harder to break of it.

On the other hand, unspayed females have their semiannual heat cycles once they have reached sexual maturity. In the case of the female Toy Fox Terrier, this can occur for the first time at about ten months of age, but it can take place a month or two earlier or later. The heat cycles will recur every six to nine months, depending upon the individual female.

BEWARE BOREDOM!

The Toy Fox Terrier has a very high intelligence and trainability level. This can prove to be both an asset and a liability. The dog whose “schoolwork” is neglected can become a destructive and noisy nuisance. A Toy Fox Terrier has to put all that brain power somewhere and, if his owner doesn’t show him how and where to put it to use, the Toy Fox Terrier’s ingenuity can be astonishing.

Every dog responds to one-on-one interaction, and the Toy Fox Terrier will reach his potential if he is encouraged and loved on a very regular basis.

Heat cycles are accompanied by a vaginal discharge that creates the need to confine the female for about three weeks so that she does not soil her surroundings. It must be understood that the female has no control over this discharge, so it has nothing to do with training.

Most Toy Fox Terrier are not left outdoors by themselves for long periods of time, but this is especially true when the female is in heat. During her cycle, she should not be outdoors alone even for a brief moment or two. The need for confinement and keeping a careful watch over the female in heat is especially important to prevent her becoming pregnant by some neighborhood Lothario.

Blest with longevity, the Toy Fox Terrier can live to be a sprightly and active teenager.

DON’T TALK TO STRANGERS

The average Toy Fox Terrier is more inclined to “tolerate” strangers than he is to rush out and invite them into your home. He is instinctively territorial and knows that his job is to keep a watchful eye on you and yours. Therefore, someone he knows nothing about could pose a problem in his eyes, and he will be inclined to “wait and see” rather than to welcome the person right away.

Especially dangerous for the female is that, as most breeds are larger than the Toy Fox, a wandering male who attempts to mate with her may be too large to actually breed her. He could seriously injure or even kill her in his attempts to do so.

The aforementioned sexually related aspects can be entirely eliminated by spaying the female and neutering the male. Unless a Toy Fox Terrier has been purchased expressly for breeding or showing from a breeder capable of making this judgment, your dog should be sexually altered. In fact, responsible breeders will insist that the puppy destined for a home solely for pet purposes be altered at the appropriate age; this will be a part of your sales agreement.

Breeding and raising puppies should be left in the hands of people who have the facilities to keep each and every puppy in the litter until the correct homes are found. This can often take many months after a litter is born. Most dog owners are not equipped to do this. Naturally, a responsible Toy Fox Terrier owner would not allow his pet to roam the streets and end his life in an animal shelter. Unfortunately, being forced to place a puppy in a less-than-ideal home due to space or time constraints before you are able to thoroughly check out the prospective buyer may in fact create this exact situation.

SPACE SAVER

The Toy Fox Terrier is probably one of the most economical dogs to own. He requires little space and quite frankly would prefer to share your bed rather than have you invest in his own dog bed. The Toy Fox eats little, probably less than other breeds of the same size. He can get all of the exercise he needs in a tiny yard or even within the confines of an apartment.

The Toy Fox Terrier is very collectible! Given the breed’s petite size and limited demands, owners tend to own more than one at a time.

Many times we have had parents ask to buy a female “just as a pet” but with full intentions of breeding so that their children can witness “the birth process.” There are countless books and videos now available that portray this wonderful event and do not add to the worldwide pet overpopulation that we now face. Altering companion dogs not only precludes the possibility of adding to this problem but also eliminates bothersome behaviors in which the unaltered dog can engage.

It should be understood, however, that spaying and neutering are not reversible procedures. Altered animals will never be able to be used for breeding.

DO YOU WANT TO LIVE LONGER?

If you like to volunteer, it is wonderful if you can take your dog to a nursing home once a week for several hours. The elder community loves to have a dog with which to visit, and often your dog will bring a bit of companionship to someone who is lonely or somewhat detached from the world. You will be not only bringing happiness to someone else but also keeping your dog busy—and we haven’t even mentioned the fact that it has been discovered that volunteering helps to increase your own longevity!

Many owners believe that alterations to the standard-sized Fox Terrier breed’s character, through the infusion of the blood of other breeds, has resulted in a terrier that has a somewhat more tractable nature than his larger cousin. Whatever the reason, the end result is a personality that has been referred to as “terrier without trauma.” But make no mistake—the Toy Fox Terrier is a terrier!

Although the Toy Fox Terrier is not, generally speaking, “dog-aggressive,” don’t expect yours to back down from a challenge just because the other dog is a St. Bernard or Great Dane. This fellow has no intention of stepping back when his space is invaded or his master is threatened!

The Toy Fox Terrier has lost none of the courage and spirit handed down from his earliest ancestors. The ability and desire to hunt or go to ground remain a fixed characteristic. A Toy Fox Terrier can tree squirrels and flush out rodents with the best of them.

It simply would not do for a Toy Fox Terrier to be shut away in a kennel or outdoor run with only occasional access to his owner’s life and environment. Should this be your intent, you would be better served by another breed, or no dog at all! The very essence of the Toy Fox Terrier is in his unique personality and sensitive and loving nature, which are best developed by constant human contact.

We know many working people who are away most of the day and whose mature Toy Fox Terriers are well-mannered and trustworthy when left home alone. The key here seems to be the quality rather than quantity of time that these owners spend with their pets. Morning or evening walks, grooming sessions, game times and simply having your Toy Fox Terrier share your life when you are at home are vital to the breed’s personality development and attitude. A Toy Fox Terrier likes to be talked to and praised. Like the old adage, “No man is an island,” this applies to dogs as well, particularly so in the case of the Toy Fox Terrier.

DOGS, DOGS, GOOD FOR YOUR HEART!

People usually purchase dogs for companionship, but studies show that dogs can help to improve their owners’ health and level of activity, as well as lower a human’s risk of coronary heart disease. Without even realizing it, when a person puts time into exercising, grooming and feeding a dog, he also puts more time into his own personal health care. Dog owners establish more routine schedules for their dogs to follow, which can have positive effects on their own health. Dogs also teach us patience, offer unconditional love and provide the joy of having a furry friend to pet!

We have never seen a Toy Fox Terrier even indicate that he would challenge his owner on any point, regardless of how much the dog might object to what he is being asked to do. Therefore, a stern and disapproving voice is usually more than sufficient to let your Toy Fox Terrier know that you disapprove of what he is doing. It is never necessary to strike a Toy Fox Terrier in any circumstance. A sharp “No!” is normally more than it takes to make your point.

Don’t expect your Toy Fox Terrier to assume “welcome wagon” duties in your home. Strangers are just that to the Toy Fox. Toy Fox Terriers reserve their love and affection for their owners and families, and will “tolerate” outsiders if need be. Some Toy Fox Terriers will adopt one person in the family as their very own, but by and large they share their affection equally.

Your Toy Fox Terrier will keep you active, too. Daily exercise is good for canine and human alike. Even if you have a fenced property, regular on-leash walks provide beneficial companionship and activity for both of you.

Not limited by his size, the Toy Fox Terrier can bound over many obstacles. The breed does very well in agility trials.

This is a breed that makes a great effort to please its owners and have an exceptional capacity to learn as long as its trainers is not heavy-handed. Training problems encountered are far more apt to be the fault of the owner rather than of the Toy Fox.

Setting boundaries is important to the well-being of your Toy Fox Terrier and your relationship with him. The sooner your dog understands that there are rules that must be obeyed, the easier it will be for him to become an enjoyable companion. How soon you learn to establish and enforce those rules will determine how quickly this will come about. As we mentioned earlier, the Toy Fox Terrier is not vindictive or particularly stubborn, but the breed does need guidance in order to achieve full potential.

There is no end to the number of activities you and your Toy Fox Terrier can enjoy together. The breed is highly successful in both conformation shows and obedience trials. There also are Canine Good Citizen certificates that can be earned by dogs who demonstrate, by passing a test of ten exercises, that they are all-around well-trained and well-behaved dogs. Agility trials, which are actually obstacle courses for dogs, are fun for dog and owner, and Toy Fox Terrier owners find their dogs particularly well suited for this type of competition.

The activities that an owner can share with his well-trained Toy Fox Terrier are limited only by the amount of time invested. Owners not inclined toward competitive events might find enjoyment in having their Toy Fox Terriers serve as assistance or therapy dogs. Assistance dogs are trained to help their owners in a multitude of daily tasks, such as letting hearing-impaired owners know if the phone is ringing or if someone is knocking at the door. They also learn to retrieve articles that their owners may have dropped and are unable to reach.

Therapy dogs are trained to comfort and assist the sick, the elderly and often the handicapped by making visits to hospitals, orphanages and homes for the aged. It has been proven that these visits provide great therapeutic value to patients.