Saturday 17 October 2015

Save the Jack Russell... sign the petition!

Please sign the petition here

The Kennel Club seems intent on continuing with its plans to recognise the Jack Russell  - despite opposition from those who fear for the future of the breed if it is swallowed by the Kennel Club's lean, mean inbreeding machine.  (See my previous article here)

So today I am launching a petition that asks that the KC reverses its decision to recognise the breed - the first petition actually in PDE history.

You can sign the petition here.

Now petitions are a risky business - if people don't share your passion you're left looking a little foolish.  A few people have already asked me "what's the point... it's already a done deal". But on this occasion I'll risk it as I feel really strongly about this and feel a line in the sand needs to be drawn. I also hope it will help bring the debate to a wider audience.

It could be fairly claimed that in the UK the Jack Russell has been under the stewardship of the Jack Russell Club of Great Britain for the past 40 years. It vehemently opposes KC registration - and, indeed, successfully prevented a previous attempt at a steal by the Kennel Club.

On that occasion, the KC went ahead - but was forced to call its new breed the Parson Russell Terrier, leaving a large population of Jack Russells outside of the grasp of the Kennel Club.

In the US, meanwhile, the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America has successfully prevented the American Kennel Club from taking the breed under its dubious stewardship there, saying:
"Recognition, it is believed, will be detrimental to the preservation of the Jack Russell as the sound, intelligent strain of working terrier it has been for more than 100 years.
The AKC was forced to call the breed they adopted just the Russell Terrier.

That the KC now believes it can step in and take over the breed shows considerable chutzpah given the strength of feeling.

Make no mistake about it, the KC's move is a hostile takeover. And it will be the ruin of the breed - as it has destroyed so many others.

Again, you can sign the petition here.

The Kennel Club, meanwhile, is trying to present itself as some kind of saviour of the breed. In the Kennel Club's press release, KC Secretary Caroline Kisko even claimed:
"By recognising the Jack Russell as an official breed, we can help cement its heritage and protect its future as a much-loved traditional working dog and popular pet. By encouraging the bulk of the population of these dogs to fit a Breed Standard we can help to ensure that puppy buyers get a dog with predictable characteristics that is suitable for their lifestyle and that they are bred to be healthy, with good temperament and are fit for function."
It's bollocks of course.  The Kennel Club doesn't award rosettes for work. The dogs are judged for trotting round a show-ring. The Jack Russell in the UK has managed perfectly well without the Kennel Club's help and its great strength is its diversity - in looks and genetically. It comes in short and tall; in short and rough coats and this has helped keep the dog robust.

The KC goes on to to say that the Jack Russell will be "joining other well-known breeds such as the West Highland White Terrier."

But the poor Westie, once a scruffy, game little dog,  has suffered terribly under KC-recognition - a real shadow of its former self; beset with immune problems, including the often intractable "Westie Itch" - a skin condition sometimes so severe that the dogs have to be euthanised.

Here's what the show Westie has been reduced to - strung up on a table at shows and smothered in a product called Ducky White because nature didn't give them a white enough coat for a show judge.


Here's what they looked like 100 years ago, when they used to be able to see.


Then there's the Fox Terrier... look what Kennel Club registration did to that. Today's dog has had a rear-end shunt - and the dog's neck is as long as its back. 


As I reported recently, according to the Kennel Club's own data,  almost half of all Kennel Club recognised breeds are in trouble genetically - and a quarter are so genetically compromised that they may not survive. This is directly attributable to breeding practices promoted by the Kennel Club system. And whatever they may tell you, very little has changed.

There are conflicting reports as to how the KC is to manage the registration of Jack Russells should it really go ahead. The breed - well a version of it -  is already recognised in Australia and FCI countries where there has been little or no opposition from the working side of the breed.  The Australian dogs have a bad reputation for being horribly inbred though as the breed was developed on only a handful of founders.

The real Jack Russell deserves better.

Please sign the petition here.



38 comments:

  1. Jemima, I have a correction for your post. The AKC in American accepted the Parson Russell Terrier (same as the one in the UK KC) in 1997: http://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/parson-russell-terrier/

    In 2012, they accepted the more compact, short-legged version under the name "Russell Terrier." I believe this is the same as the Australian "Jack Russell Terrier" that has been shown in conformation for many years. I compete in many dog sports and am around thousands of dogs, but have never met or heard of anybody with a "Russell Terrier"--it seemed sort of a made-up breed. I figured it would only have a handful of registered dogs, something like the "Caucasian Ovcharka."

    However, when you posted about JRTs recently, I looked up the "Russell Terrier," breed stats and there are actually many more of them registered each year than PRTs... even though they only entered the club three years ago.

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  2. This is a can of worms already long opened and just as wormy as it ever was.

    Firstly it must be said that the "Jack Russell Terrier Club of Great Britain" defend/promote only a certain type of JRT, one type. This is the type already accepted into the KC and there called the Parson Russell Terrier or just Parson's.

    So already the JRTCGB excludes many JRT's from being registered with them, just as the KC will now be doing. They take their standard in part or entirely from the Jack Russell terrier Club of America which also has an agenda to promoting a single type, the one they deem the only type. The only real variation here is coat, broken or open both deemed acceptable, the dog may be slightly smaller or taller but never shorter in the leg. This is basically the Parsons outside the KCs which they consider the only true JRT. Depending on the dog or breeder or who you are talking to also a working dog or not at all.

    Then you have the "Show JRT" already a show dog which is another type which also happily has a working and pet number not part of the show bench closed registered JRT.

    The show JRT is a done deal, there's long been a show dog called the "JRT" the fact that the KC now wants it registered with them is neither here nor there, they're just late at the starting gate, very late from a global perspective. The American kennel club AKC were also late but they do register them now as "Russell Terriers".

    Seems "they're" running out of permutations of the words Jack Russell Terrier or its acronym JRT.

    So who are we signing the petition for?

    Is it for the JRT that no org presently wants? Because Im not sure that makes any sense. The KC doesn't want that scruffy variable spotty dog already, long, tall, short, wide working or pet and no one else does either. Or are we signing a petition for a show dog already bred in closed registries and shown across the planet? Because that doesn't make any sense either?

    I don't consider the dog the British KC now wants registered, the show JRT or its showing Parsons or the Parsons of the JRCGB or the JRTCA consider it the JRT or the RT the AKC has already registered, I don't consider any of them the only JRT or the only correct JRT or the real JRT. I also don't need to sign any petitions for them.

    I might be happier to sign a petition banning the KC from using the words "JRT" but not from wanting to register the dog they want to register because that dog is already your "done deal"?

    In any case the name JRT is already claimed by many many separate clubs in many many different parts of the world including the British JRT club, Swedish the Australian the Hungarian the Polish the Dutch the German the American JRT club etc etc etc........ so does it matter at all this stage if the KC now claims it too.

    I wonder?!

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  3. Ps the dog the KC is intending to register.

    http://valedocriz.homestead.com/lizie.html

    Is the dog already registered and bred within closed stud books. I imagine the British themselves are going to be doing more importing than showing for quite some time to come.

    Will preventing the rest also in closed registries from around the world showing at Crufts make any difference. I don't honestly think so.

    The KC will not be registering previously unregistered, none pedigree dogs. This is not a round up of everything calling itself a JRT. Its a very specific JRT type.

    Aren't they all?

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  4. The KC really, really take the biscuit. How they can say they will protect it and move it forward or whatever their stupid wording is, is incredible. English Setters, Flatties, Bulldogs, Sharpeis, French BDs, mastiffs, GSDs I could go on and on, the list is endless but these breeds were all under the safe guidance of the KC and are now in crisis as are many other breeds. All they want is money, they are hunting down "breeds" in order that their tills still ring to the tune of money. The "Poo" mixtures will be next, and any other strain of dog that breeds to a uniformity but unrecognised currently will be snapped up. The minute people can compare one dog with another in a show ring to win a piece of cardboard dogs health and wellbeing rapidly decline. Puppy farmers already exploit JRTs, they and their sort will have a field day churning out pups. The KC is not a law making body in this Country, people have subscribed to it because it brought about a uniformity, traceability, a sense of mutual interest and concern for dogs. The public will now believe that unless their JRT is registered it is worthless because snobbery will creep in and they must have the "dog of the day" aka KCreg pup. I have ped dogs, always had ped dogs because they were there but now that I understand so much more of what drives the dog world I despair, PDE has enlightened my thought processes and noe I full understand why it would be absolutely detrimental for JRTs to have involvement with KC pure bred registry systems.

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  5. I think the reason JRTCA was able prevent the AKC from recognizing JRTs because they have the trademark for "Jack Russell Terrier" in the USA. Other dog breed clubs that were against AKC recognition for Border Collies and more recently even non-working dog breed Coton De Tulears, were not successful.

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  6. The Petition will be a waste of time. This is about money, not dogs.

    We of the cavalier King Charles spaniel in the USA fought this battle in the early 1990s. The independent CKCSC,USA club members voted the AKC's invitation down by 92% to 8%. All that vote did was help the AKC identify to whom to talk -- the breeders in that 8%. And, that is what the AKC did. They induced the 8% to create a new club, and then the AKC invited that brand spanking new club into the AKC as the parent club for the cavaliers. --- Rod Russell, Orlando, Florida USA

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  7. Yes, and unfortunately I think the rival British Jack Russell Club is more open to KC-reg, which is not helping... They are certainly very obsessed with purity.

    http://www.britishjackrussellclub.com

    Chairman is Eddie Chapman whose wife breeds conformation JRTs...

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    1. Purity and type same as the American JRT club. Peas in the same pod, Im sure they would be most indignant to realise or even recognise the pea in the middle is no other than the KC.

      Its outrageous that the American JRT club seems to think it owns the trade mark "Jack Russell terrier"!!! No country...! I imagine if any country could its the British and not by any single club but by every JRT owner nation wide.

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    2. The JRTCA have a open registry, so they don't care about purity, only dog type. It is a smart idea for any breed club to trademark a dog breed/type, because having something that is legally recognized is more effective to protect a breed/type than just complaining about how a kennel club is going to change a breed. Probably too late for clubs of popular breeds, but is something that IMO should definitely be considered by future clubs for any unrecognized, rare, and future dog breeds.

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    3. They need a pedigree. Im not sure whose pedigree, I dont have time to read just leaving for the airport, but for registration they need a pedigree. I can ony imagine its their pedigree.

      Pedigree - A complete pedigree, signed by the breeder. Effective January 1, 1997 a complete four-generation pedigree is required for registration, with five generations preferred if available. Terriers under 10" or over 15" are ineligible for registration or recording with the JRTCA

      Etc.

      Its outrageous they cant trade mark a breed type! its not their invention or creation?

      They are no better or worse than the JRTCGB. Agenda to promote a single pedigree uniform type. That can or cannot work.

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    4. Once JRTs were in the ownership of professional handlers then the road to recognition was going to be paved with gold. The power and influence of so many wins internationally means that they have pretty well burned out and what better than to be able to show and win with a "newly recognised" breed. In reality these professional handlers could go into the ring with a brush and sweep around the ring, and win, such is their influence. So we will soon see JRTs fluffed up, pulled into whatever position is the most striking, eye catching pose, winning here there and everywhere, and off we go.

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    5. Yes absolutely and given the low numbers of this showing type JRT in the UK I reckon Geoff Corish believes he will be onto a gold mine.

      I have to say it's a lovely looking little JRT and would of course do so much better outside of the KCs as what it's meant to be, a wonderful lively and rather game pet and companion, however it's fate might not be quite so sealed with or without the KC.

      The type will almost certainly enter the wider JRT gene pool in the UK as it has else where, and there be tweaked at will. I reckon it's going to be difficult in the long run to find much that's not influenced by this type given its popularity globally. Already the smooth coated is vanishing in many countries as a result but then some breeders I know for a fact are already going outside the registry to fix that so......long may anarchy reign.


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    6. Just love the British Jack Russell Terier Club, "some unscrupulous breeders were crossing breeding their Jack Russell Teriers to produce superior dogs to win at dog shows".

      At least they call them superior?!

      It sounds like dog showing back in 1994 (not that long ago by any means) was 100% better and more interesting under the JRCGB than it is today under the BJRC and even the JRCGB today. To win at dog shows under the British Jack Russell Terier Club you must line breed and inbreed to the winning formula to win at dog shows. The level playing field is ring full of mutant inbreds?

      Thanks to the BJRTC their JRTs look like the perfect candidates for the British Kennel Club. Purity uber alles. It makes one wonder what the use is of "protecting" an old type of JRT is in fact when by doing so you are destroying the inherent breed characteristics, that of robust genetic health brought about by many many years of tweaking a type for various purposes using other breeds mostly in a diluted way.

      I reckon they think the JRT fell from the sky the perfect inbred dog. Heavens forbid that the Pastor sullied his beloved Trump with other terrier breeds or types. She just gave forth perfectly formed BJRTC candidates, immaculate conception?

      You have to laugh at the silliness of it all. All these working dogs were finely tuned on a constant basis with other types, it seems as long as they were a white game terrier of a small size no one gave a damn. And this certainly explains why the JRT is such an incredibly genetically diverse sound breed even today with all of the fractions trying to claim the original that never existed. Only their job criteria existed. If the BJRTC want to create and protect anything original about their dogs they better start tweaking and getting out the old shovel and start surprising a few foxes. Guaranteed the fox will let them know if they've succeeded.

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  8. Does it matter whether they are recognised by the KC? I have yet to see a litter advertised as being registered with any Jack Russell Club, and I think the same will happen with KC registrations. With JRTs selling for £200 or less, I can't see many buyers paying 3 times that just to say their dog is registered so demand will be limited! It is like Border Collies that exist in large numbers, but very few pet dogs are KC or ISDS registered

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  9. Signed. I feel really strongly about this too, but do fear there is nothing us mere mortals can do to stop recognition going ahead.
    Now, how long until we have the usual 'split' between show terriers and working terriers.....something the JRT has avoided in all it's years away from KC recognition.
    *sigh*

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    1. Oh no no no! The JRT hasn't avoided anything of the sort and long before the KC or even the FCI, the JRTCA or JRTC GB got involved.

      It hasn't damaged anything quite like the potential the KCs have for doing so, though.

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  10. JRTs in the main will be unaffected by this. This is nothing more than taking steps to make the Australian/FCI style Jack Russell showable in the UK. The many thousands of Jacks with variable ancestry we see here, there and everywhere in the UK and Ireland will not be of interest to this faction. This FCI Jack Russell is a niche interest animal and it won't stop the real working Jacks from being bred to do just that --- work. Neither, for that matter, will it stop the vast vast majority of Jack Russells in the UK from being bred and bought as feisty, hardy little family pets, as they have been for many generations now.

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  11. I would like to see a petition to force the K.Cs to change the ruling banning members from breeding dogs ineligible for registration.

    I believe that one rule change would make more difference than any amount of legislation and is the root cause of most of the problems besetting the domestic dogs today.

    Change that rule and you change the culture and the message being promoted by the K.Cs that they operate under, and that influences how society views dogs.

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  12. I completely agreed. Since the death of my own much-loved spaniel I have talked to breeders who know the problems with line breeding and would like to do something about it but don't through fear for their livelihoods. If only the KC could recast itself as a force for dog welfare as opposed to a sort of dog cartel things could start to improve.

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  13. The Jack Russell has been a recognised FCI breed for a long time. The country of origin is given as 'England' but it was developed in Australia. It looks like a very workmanlike little terrier, and seems to be free of the luxating patellae problem and epilepsy that plagues the type of terrier known as the Jack Russell in the UK, especially the smooth-coated bow-legged ones. I hope the recognition of the established breed will encourage JR producers here in the UK to breed healthier ones.

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    1. Um... could we have some data/refs please to support your claim that the non-KC-reg'd JRT is "plagued" with luxating patellas and epilepsy?

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    2. That's a predictable response Mary. Affraid the show JRT's blood is being tainted. Next time you walk down the street see how many bandy legged humans you can count. Maybe they should all be forbidden to breed? Heaven forbid we should all end up looking like jockeys. The tall the short the thin the robust, toes slightly in toes out none should be allowed to breed because we vant a super race? Should we also all be blonde by any chance?

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  14. The famous 'Jack Russell skip' is caused by their luxating patellae - it's so common in the type that vets refer to it by that name. Owners are often horrified that what they thought was a cute habit was actually caused by their dog being temporarily unable to straighten its leg without pain.

    Googling 'Jack Russell luxating patella' and 'Jack Russell epilepsy' will bring you plenty of examples for you to follow up.

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    1. It's common in many small dog breeds/types more so in individuals who also maybe have overly straight hinds. I wouldn't say it's only or particularily a JRT problem though.

      JRTs are far too variable for it to be so.

      Here's the thing anyway, affected JRTs with their inherent athleticism and musculature, plus small size are largely able to compensate for this, to an extent it isn't in fact much of a problem at all. Any vet that says otherwise is lying through the teeth. Though more angulation is preferable to pin legs the degree is not critical. Of course any extremes either way could potentially be trouble.

      The same condition in a large heavy loose dog would mean lameness and certainly more drastic problems including rupture. That's why it is indeed critical in these breeds that they have more muscle tone and athleticism, genetic robustness, which is for example completely lacking in many showing mastiff breeds today. This is why people end up paying thousands in vet bills just to get the dog to walk even though both its parents hold CH titles. In fact it might have held such a title itself! In some "toy" breeds it's also not as critical. Some show Pekingese for example have lovely angulation but it doesn't help them one jot smothered in their own hair and nose tightly pinched shut? Other breeds too, I saw a winning bulldog in the ring that had exceptional angulation, it could pump those hinds like a steam train. Yet the same dog ran out of steam in five minutes and was hastily covered in a wet iced towel the minute it left the ring, its lovely ribbons held aloft by a beaming owner. One minutes intermittent exertion going up and down four meters three times???! Makes you think doesn't it? What use is angulation to that dog? Zero.

      The show JRT might be judged on angulation of the hinds and straightness in front etc, and other individual details but in fact that's just as dangerously cosmetic as judging bulldogs in a final line up only on angulation. The dog as a whole is way more important. Simply because a dog that has the ability, athletism, musculature and normal drive is able to compensate for slight deviations no problems at all.

      The danger that the more athletic, sound JRTs disappear is far more important than their slight variations. They represent a far more important gene pool than the Show JRT. Even if some have perfectly dead straight hinds, loaded shoulders and feet going West. There's nothing to be afraid of in slight variation, nothing at all, it in fact allows for preference in the first place but most important it ensures a healthy breed.

      Continued...

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    2. When I see a judge taking their last crittical look at a line up at a dog show I immediately know that they are looking at all the wrong things and entirely.

      BTW in my oppinion what this JRT entering the KC registry should be called, is "The Show JRT" and not just JRT.

      I would definitely sign that petition.

      In breeding for perfection in front of a showing judge the dog is being completely compromised. Conformation is only a very small quite insignificant part of the whole.

      Any extreme deviations in conformation might not be ones to necessarily perpetuate but again it depends on how it all comes together when it counts and I don't mean a short trot up and down a tiny ring. This applies to both working or pet dogs but of course, why shouldn't it apply to show dogs?

      Breeding for example for a broader muzzel in a show JRT has absolutely no point at all, purely cosmetic, as is breeding only for broken coats. A fluffier cobbler dog taken to the logical showing extremes is where it's dog like function starts becoming compromised not when a slightly straighter hind loses over maybe better angulation. Especially not when the latter might be very well overall compromised in ability and purpose as a dog due to being bred and inbred for one thing alone, looks that conform to the standard as exactly as possible.

      A "snipey" pretty foxy nose besides being perhaps naturally, perfectly and exquisitely charming, not to mention refined, is just that and also bears no influence on the dogs ability and function as a dog either, why discriminate? It's your gene pool that just gets more and more impoverished by doing so.

      If I had a mirror that could look into the future what I I think I will be seeing for the Show JRT is going to be a generic Sealyham but without its abilities or function as a dog never mind a working dog. Already the ears appear to be migrating down the side of its head and its bone is getting heavier, not better for being straight, drive is petering out, what next, genetics too?

      The quickest way to producing yet another inbred show dog.

      Guaranteed those scissors are already out trying to perfect the perfectly useless model dog.

      For The Show JRT where ever it's registered at least and if breeders aren't careful the lights may indeed end up going out one by one, but not for the JRT, I'm pretty much convinced of that.

      Probably a few needless repetitions there but typing and editing on a hand held doesn't work so well for seeing the greater picture, much like breeding, the whole package the animal is what counts.

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    3. Mary, that is not evidence or a reference citation. Using Google to find other people's opinions on health problems on JR who are not purebred is a lovely example of confirmation bias - using the internet to find quotes and opinions that match your own way of thinking. No pun intended! However, I'd suggest you use google to look that up to understand how your thinking on pedigree dogs is warped.

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    4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18241019 PLL in the Jack skipping is one thing blindness another.. KC registration will help Jacks by encouraging and educating people about PLL

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  15. Any idea of the number who have signed the petition against the KC registering the Jack Russell terrier?

    I'm on the border with Burma and I can't make head nor tail of the site as its all in Thai.

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    1. Just shy of 500, River P... am pleased!

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    2. Yes and for all the right reasons it should rightfully be heartening (even if it's not possible to be sure of the numbers that truly have the JRT as a whole at heart and not their own agendas for the claim to the name and their single type) that the public care so much.

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  16. I notice just how selective you are with you choice of pictures of breeds in the 1910/15's compared today, to use just one image to represent a whole breed is a daft thing many of the breeds look (including the ones you chose) look the same, presentation of coat may appear to make them look different but they are not. As for JRT being a healthy breed I always remember Dr Keith Barnett saying that one of the worse breeds for cases of PRA was JRT, care to comment on that one?

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  17. This is the established breed that the KC is recognising:
    http://www.fci.be/Nomenclature/Standards/345g03-en.pdf

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    1. Any reason why this JRT type is called the JRT?

      What is this one then?
      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3137833/Prince-Charles-plays-wife-Camilla-s-Jack-Russell-Bluebell-Dumfries-House-Dog-four-day-Scotland-visit.html

      Maybe someone should inform these delutional and by the looks of it also extremely happy owners that what they've got is not a breed?

      What about this one:
      http://global.britannica.com/animal/Jack-Russell-terrier

      This lot maybe:
      http://www.conquestterriers.com/

      Gang Staff Gi-Gi perhaps??
      http://www.jacki.pl/43-Gang-Staff-Gi-Gi.html

      Or even this bunch?
      http://www.therealjackrussell.com/breed/difference.php

      Just wondering how they can compare breeds? When they're all the same breed? Giver or take an inch or two here and there whats the dfference? All JRTs

      Height - Standard for various JRT factions 10-15 inches, 12-14 inches, 8-12 inches, 10-12ideal, 10-12, 10- 12inches

      This is apparently the reason they are considerd different breeds, notice three have exactly the same measurments even!


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    2. Anyone who studies the history of the JR will realise next to nothing is known about Russell's own dogs which is why there is endless argument and speculation on what is the "right" type. My conclusion is that the term was used from around the beginning of the 20th Century for various mainly white working - type terriers and to distinguish it from the increasingly show- oriented Fox terrier ( which is what Russell's dogs were a type of Fox Terrier).Since the 1970's (not 1870's) people have been trying to standardised certain types which they believe or want to believe are similar to John Russell's dogs. There is documented evidence that John Russell's priority was how the dog did it's work, not how it looked. Rawdon Lee wrote not long after his death that Russell didn't care if a dog had three long legs and one short one.

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  18. Why would you be registering the Australian version as a Jack Russell Terrier when it is a recently made up crossbred terrier out of several or more breeds that shares no history or conformation to the terriers that John Russell used? The Australian version has a huge head, neck and chest which shows off its bad conformation which makes it next to useless as a working terrier let alone the type of working terrier used in the west counties where John Russell worked his dogs. A better and more relevant choice of name for the Australian version would have been the "Australian Den Dog".

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    1. Everyone seems to have a version they call JRT. This is the showing worlds version.

      I don't think the show JRT is built like you describe....least I haven't seen any recently with "a huge head, neck and chest". Im sure it will come, though the same "spanned by two hands" rule applies in the standard.

      Outside of that pedigree registered showing Australian (mainly) JRT type there are of course all sorts both in Australia and across the world. The influences on these other dogs can be varied, designed for working purposes or not. All generally referred to as JRTs.

      The showing JRT is not game and less likely to want to go to ground so "den" dog wouldn't be terribly appropriate. But it's also already registered as JRT across the world.

      Yes there is a drive in the show world to make these slender fine dogs more cobby particularly to increase the depth of the muzzle and size of bone which is a terribly stupid arse thing to do. Besides they also need to scrap the standard as it refers to a hunting dog which this isn't.

      This is all typical of what happens to show dogs, though. There are working versions in Australia.

      I honestly don't see the evidence of the use of corgi much, even as pets, corgi is not even a hunting dog. Quite some time ago you got true achondroplastic dwarf JRTs these were a result of using basset, they had big heads crooked queen Ann legs and a relatively large long body. These are rare these days. In fact I never see the type anymore not as pets and never as a working dog.

      The evidence of the use of the working Teckel wire haired and short these days is far more obvious in body size and shape, certainly as pet dogs as people prefer a smaller dog as they are mostly quite mobile companions. White bodies without stipping, a patch over the tail and head markings preferred. The evidence of Teckel has become diminished over the years in these too as it more closely resembles a little JRT. These are very game little dogs happily ratting at home and absolutely delightful as extreme high energy pets. They also make good working dogs being somewhat more intelligent than all terrier, big hearted and never giving up. The working types are less hefty and relatively higher on the leg, they also lack the massive front often seen with dachshund show dogs . Smooth and broken coats. To me these are every bit a JRT as any other version. A small white game adrenaline junkie terrier with a few patches of brown. Anyone should be more than happy to champion them as JRTs, pet owners and working owners.

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