Rhodie is growing up. She’s all legs.
She shows a lot of the Italian greyhound blood that was put into the old fox terrier.
Compare:
Alphonse De Lamartine by Decaisne. Mostly white Italian greyhounds.
Willie and Rhodie juxtaposed. She's that much taller than him already. I couldn't get a better photo of them standing together.
Rhodie has very natural proportions. She is nicely balanced. I like the longer leg.
She’s markedly leggier–it speaks well for the breed.
You all don’t like me? You any kin to
Bill?
Nah, I’m just pleased to see that much variation. It was impression that all modern JRT’s were built low to the ground.
I would say that the majority of JRT’s in this country are not dwarfs. The JRTCA promotes long-legged dogs that look very much like the fox terriers of yore– which is what they are.
JRT’s have a lot of “long legged” terrier blood in them. When looking at pedigrees you quite often find notes like BT (for Bull Terrier) or Lakeland (both white and red), so I don’t think the “leginess” can be attributed to crosses with Italian Greyhounds.
She does have a very upright shoulder, very much like you would expect from a Fox Terrier, not a JRT.
They do have Italian greyhound in them, unless you’re going to call the Rev. John Russell a liar. Further, her temperament is more like an Italian greyhound than a terrier. (See the link in the post).
A Jack Russell is an older form of fox terrier. If you look at old fox terriers, they are Jack Russells, and the Rev. John Russell called his dogs fox terriers. He was a co-author of the original smooth fox terrier standard.
The American version of the fox terrier type is the rat terrier, and they never deny Italian greyhound ancestry.
The ones with bull terrier in them are way too much for the average person to keep. Those are almost entirely found in JRTCA dogs. The ones that are promoted by the JRTCA are simply not the type I like. Too dog aggressive.
“The process,” replied Russell, “is simply as follows: they begin with a smooth bitch terrier; then, to obtain a finer skin, an Italian greyhound is selected for her mate. But as the ears of the produce are an eyesore to the connoisseur, a beagle is resorted to, and then little is seen of that unsightly defect in the next generation. Lastly, to complete the mixture, the bulldog is now called on to give the necessary courage; and the composite animals, thus elaborated, become, after due selection, the sires and dams of the modern fox-terriers. This version of their origin,” continued he, “I received from a man well qualified to speak on the subject.”
That’s from his Memoirs.
“His” memoirs weren’t actually written by him… And bull blood (bull terrier, not bulldog) introduction in the breed is usually attributed to Arthur Heinmann, who used his dogs on badger.
Both JRTCA dogs and AKC PRT have bull terrier blood in them (you will see in the pedigrees a few dogs that were clearly “bully” types). To the trained eye the features are very easy to distinguish. I am yet to see one that I think that has clear features of Italian Greyhound blood in it.
When I said Fox Terrier, I meant the modern Fox Terrier. I know the history of the breed. I just mean that such an upright shoulder has no place in a working breed (but, unfortunately, it happens).
Regarding them being “dog aggressive”, or too much for the average person to keep (they are not a dog for the average person, not because they are aggressive, but because they are terriers), I guess you just got unlucky or haven’t looked in the right places.
I actually like the “leginess”, even if you want to call it “Italian greyhound” inheritance. I think it’s much nicer than the clear daschund or corgi appearance some of the shorties have.
I know he didn’t write them, because if you’d bothered to go to the post where I discuss it, you would have seen that I attribute it to the book. There is reason why Russell’s comments are in dialog. You usually don’t write like that unless you’re Bob Dole.
Please drop the “working terrier” crap. I actually have known dogs from JRTCA breeding that were too wild and too hard for the average family to keep. And if you bring up a certain terrier blogger, it’s an automatic ban from this blog.
This dog’s mother and her litter sister are dwarfs. Her father was a wire-coated JRT who was chosen for stud because he gets along with other dogs very well. The breeder doesn’t breed working dogs. He breeds healthy family pets that have a lot of genetic diversity. That means he uses lots of different dogs that are called Jack Russells from a variety of places. Willie, the short-legged dog standing next to Rhodie, is probably the smartest Jack Russell I’ve been around. His father was a German import.
The future of this dog is in being a nice pet, which is what this dog and all the others in these posts have been bred for. These dogs like kids, don’t fight at the drop of a hat, and can generally be trusted not to walk off with the neighbor’s cats.
Not everyone wants to go out with post hole diggers and bust groundhogs. Groundhog meat is nasty anyway, so I don’t get the point.
BTW, none of the JRTCA dogs I’ve know has been built like this dog. They’ve had legs, but they haven’t approached the greyhound at all.
I hate to correct people, but I did hint more than once that the quotation attributed to John Russell was misplaced regarding the JRT. That quote refers to how a show Fox Terrier were bred. That’s why he says “I received from a man well qualified to speak on the subject”.
I have seen, touched and lived with a fair share of Jack Russell Terriers, even though I have never seen or dug a groundhog. But they are a working breed, and denying them is, in my opinion, disrespecting this little dogs. The good ones will make nice pets, are easy to live with (given that you are an experienced dog owner), and will be your joy and pride.
My dogs love children, don’t get into fights, I can keep bitches in season together, but they still work. I don’t see the point in breeding this little dogs purely as pets. Someone who does that has no love or respect for the breed.
This dogs aren’t working dogs at all.
Unless you need tennis balls fetched.
The simple demographics and historical trends say that Jack Russells will not survive as “only a working breed.’
Virtually all dogs are like this. I’ve written about it extensively.
https://retrieverman.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/intellectual-honesty-on-the-effects-of-trials-and-shows/
I don’t think we’re going to have the majority of border collies herding sheep. Nope. They will be doing frisbee and agility.
The JRTCA dogs I’ve known loved to fight, had to actually work on groundhogs regularly, and were not suitable for families with cats or small children. Older children, yes, but not toddlers.
No breed is a working breed forever. Dog breeds exist within the context of the human cultures that breed them.
That’s why there will never be a huge following of earth dogs in the United States. Our native working terriers are the feist and rat terriers, and they work above ground:
https://retrieverman.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/what-the-hell-is-an-american-working-terrier/