Re: Hunting and Terriers

In Reply to: Hunting and Terriers
Posted by:  Liz
Posted on:  April 27, 2001 at 12:07:23

: I was recently asked a question about the social behavior of working/hunting terriers and I realized that I had never seen the answer anywhere (even after a week of research!). On this website and from other resources everyone talks about the social behaviour of JRT's in the home and kennel and we all know that two dogs of the same sex should not be left together and that there maybe underlying issues with jacks and dogs of other breeds (both good and bad). However, one issue not addressed either in the history of the breed or in social forums is whether or not the Jack Russell was used to hunt in packs, groups of two or three, or a singular hunter.

: For example, what was their role in the "fox hunt?" (from beginning to end)

: Is the Jack Russell primarily a pack hunter or solitary hunter? I can guess from the day to interactions of terriers and what I've read about their home social lives that they probably hunt best in groups of 1 to 3.

: Does anyone have any resources on the original hunting/working events in which the JRT was used that would help to answer these questions? Any resources on the current use of the Jack Russell as a hunter and working dog-not in competition?

: Any and all help is much appreciated. We love our terrier and enjoy learning everything there is to know about them. We thought this might be an interesting subject for everyone's discussion, after all, this is a working terrier! Thanks!

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Hi, Liz,

I'm going to take a stab at this post, but bear in mind that I am a NOVICE at working my dogs. I believe it is VERY important, but for extenuating reasons, I have only been in the field about 8 times in the past 3 1/2 years. I hope that if I'm mistaken in anything I say, that someone with more experience will come along and set the record straight, but I feel pretty confident in what I'm about to share.

Now, having gone out to do earthwork, I tend to think that there would be absolute mayhem if several terriers were allowed down a hole at one time. First of all, there is not always a whole heck of a lot of air down there, and second of all, several terriers may get too worked up to be careful and sensible at all. A really great working dog is like having a rare gem that you wouldn't want to endanger by risking his/her life in a frenzy below ground, and the job of the terrier is to keep the animal (aka quarry) at bay or bolt it out of the hole, not demolish the animal below ground, or be demolished which might just happen if several terriers started working each other up.

The people I've hunted with have terriers of varying size for the job. They might start with a dog that is fox-worthy (same approximate height of a fox) and if that dog reaches a turn he/she can't make, he/she will bay at the quarry until dug to, at which time that dog may be removed from the hole and another, smaller terrier who can negotiate the sharp turns might be put in. The very first time I hunted, it was with a terrier of JRTCA acclaim (not my dog... belonged to the people I hunted with), who was too large to round a sharp bend. The owner got that dog out of the earth, and took out a terrier, all of 10 inches tall, who went down and faced off with a fox until we could dig to her. If several terriers had gone down that same hole, they surely would have forced her forward in their frenzy and this would be a sadder story than the one I'm telling. The fox she kept at bay was substantial in size, to say the least. And we watched that fox bolt off, unharmed, by the way.

There are a few theories on how Jack Russells hunted. Some say they ran with the hounds, and others (the theory I believe) say that the dogs were carried, and went to ground after the hounds had caused the fox to go to ground. It seems sensible to me that you wouldn't have a terrier running miles over hill and dale and then expect him/her to face off underground with no control whatsoever. I would think that there would be some contemplation on the part of the terriermen as to which terrier to send to the earth.

We have Plummer's in our booklist. Training Books I think our link goes to training books only, but there is a search feature you can check out. One of my favorites is out of Print now _Jack Russell and His Terriers_ by Dan Russell. You might be able to find a copy somehow though. Great book!

Hope this helps!

Jane