# Jack Russell Terrier Breeding



## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Having very recently lost my last jack russell who was everything I wanted in a small dog, I am on the look out for another pup. I can't imagine my life without a jrt in it.

I had purchased this dog from an elderly terrier man who unfortunately I can no longer trace. He was not a young man. In the same district, there is a breeder of working terriers who has been breeding them for near forty years, albeit commercially. By that I mean he has a lot of dogs in a lot of pens, and apparently dogs are sent up to him to be bred from the corners of the British Isles.

This fairly ageing man is blind, his ageing sister I think, helps him out or runs this breeding scenario which comprises of a pretty large tin shack with some outbuildings up by the forest.

I went visiting there a couple of years ago, and whilst I was quite shocked at the set up....tin shack, outside yards, no real warmth providing materials for wee jrts in -6 degrees C during the day, I really quite liked this elderly terrier man.

I am curious to this....how would a blind man know he was producing very good quality ?

Any thoughts anyone ??


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## Randy Allen (Apr 18, 2008)

Wow!
I'd certainly be circumspect too. Dogs are read, and themselves, read so visually I don't know how the blind could be an actual breeder. Amazing!
Have you asked him?

I'd make the trips to visit some of his prodigy (maybe in your new BMW?).


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## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

maggie fraser said:


> I am curious to this....how would a blind man know he was producing very good quality ?
> 
> Any thoughts anyone ??


I'm guessin the same way he knows when to stop wiping his @$$.


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## Timothy Saunders (Mar 12, 2009)

I would think from the feed back of his customers.


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

Timothy Saunders said:


> I would think from the feed back of his customers.


I would agree, quality of offspring is usually judged as adults...unless they are terrible...that is sometimes evident earlier..


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Do you have any terrier men in the area that would go with you? 
Being blind I think the biggest problem he may have is putting two stud dogs in a yard to breed....but he can probably read braile. :wink:
In all honesty if your just looking for a family companion and not a hunter I suspect his dogs are pretty well the same if he's been breeding for a long time. 
I've hunted over here with a few terrier men from GB and most of their breeding is pretty tight. 

Would that old terrier man possibly be Eddie Chapman? He pretty much ruled the JRT world in GB for the past 40-50 yrs.
I thought he was a southerner but "dogs sent from all over the isles" sounds like Eddie.
A lot of the working dogs here in the states were from him or related.


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

Oh no ! The dogs live outside ??


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Bob Scott said:


> Would that old terrier man possibly be Eddie Chapman? He pretty much ruled the JRT world in GB for the past 40-50 yrs.


He wrote _The Working JRT_, right? And maybe a couple other books?


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## Terrasita Cuffie (Jun 8, 2008)

Well, I don't know, I'd go and check it out and and ask him in person. I walked the field with a blind herding handler for a trial and that showed me an entirely different side of things. Quite frankly, I can see that he could use his sense of touch in terms of structural quality of a dog. Shoulder layback, angles proportion, head planes, etc.--he can feel that. You don't go by what you see. As far as someone buying, I would be more concerned about what I saw in terms of quality---not necessarily what someone thinks or is selling to me says is quality. Okay the environment isn't what you would choose but how do the dogs look to you in terms of attitude, structural quality, temperament, condition etc. As far as working traits/quality,word of mouth in the JRT community can tell you that. 


Terrasita


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Connie Sutherland said:


> He wrote _The Working JRT_, right? And maybe a couple other books?


That's him! I've hunted with him over here and have a couple of his books personally autographed. 
It's been 12-14 yrs since I've seen him.
Got my pic taken with him also. He's a little short fella so I stood in a dip in the ground so he didn't have to smell my armpit. :lol: :lol:


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## Tanith Wheeler (Jun 5, 2009)

In Britain is it far more unusual to find people keeping dogs outside - it's actually pretty rare with the exception of serious dog breeders etc.
I had my working spaniel kennelled in the garden - in a 6X12 foot kennel. Was only kennelled at night or if I was out but someone called the RSPCA who had to come out and investigate. That's how unusual it is.

As for the OP, see if you can meet some adult dogs... is the pen clean or dirty? Do the normal checks and get references. Being blind may just mean that he gets help with certain checks etc. I wouldn't rule him out just because of that.


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Jeff Oehlsen said:


> Oh no ! The dogs live outside ??


Aye ! And not only that  no bedding in their little wooden box, concrete slab and no natural vegetation or artificial stimulus. These Jacks were all short and smooth coated and being near to the ground, were feeling the cold. The dogs were cold...I don't suppose many if any of them died from it but why the hell wasn't there some straw or shavings or something in those boxes to help keep them warm?

Giving it all a little more thought, I don't think I'd like to support that kind of practice, so will probably take my business elsewhere. Not the outside bit, but the lack of provision for such extreme weather which can and does occur.


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Bob Scott said:


> Do you have any terrier men in the area that would go with you?
> Being blind I think the biggest problem he may have is putting two stud dogs in a yard to breed....but he can probably read braile. :wink:
> In all honesty if your just looking for a family companion and not a hunter I suspect his dogs are pretty well the same if he's been breeding for a long time.
> I've hunted over here with a few terrier men from GB and most of their breeding is pretty tight.
> ...


 
Nah Bob, his name is Jack....maybe even Jeff Lolol. I don't know any terrier men round here, fortunately I know what I am looking for and looking at really, I'm just looking to bypass all the pet breeding of jrts which has become popular in the last ten years or so. 

As it happens, someone has heard of my losing my Jack and is offering me a choice of a farm bred litter, I will go and have a look see shortly.


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Terrasita Cuffie said:


> Well, I don't know, I'd go and check it out and and ask him in person. I walked the field with a blind herding handler for a trial and that showed me an entirely different side of things. Quite frankly, I can see that he could use his sense of touch in terms of structural quality of a dog. Shoulder layback, angles proportion, head planes, etc.--he can feel that. You don't go by what you see. As far as someone buying, I would be more concerned about what I saw in terms of quality---not necessarily what someone thinks or is selling to me says is quality. Okay the environment isn't what you would choose but how do the dogs look to you in terms of attitude, structural quality, temperament, condition etc. As far as working traits/quality,word of mouth in the JRT community can tell you that.
> 
> 
> Terrasita


Well that's what I reckon too, he could feel easily enough what he has physically, but other than that he would be totally reliant on his feedback from his customers as has already been mentioned. Plus, where are all these pups going and for what ?? A good working jrt was not hard to find round here, they pretty much all were working dogs, no-one really kept them much as pets until really quite recently. Folks were scared of them :-D me included in my younger years.

Anyway, the dogs looked good enough in themselves, all appeared very good natured with perhaps one drawback for me. When I had arrived at the shack :-D (and it was a good, never seen by me kind of large shanty town shack in Scotland before), I got out the motor tentatively as there were two or three jrts running free and barking at me.

I expected at least one of them to come and have a wee go or at least threaten at me. They didn't, so were lacking a bit of confidence for my liking, but that was just an impression.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

"Folks were scared of them







me included in my younger years".

 Those sweet little angels?!! :lol: 
I've seen my share of "pets" that wound up in the field because they couldn't be managed in the house.
Ya gotta love the little rats on crack! 
A terrier lacking in confidence???? 
RUN Maggie, RUUUUUN!!!!


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## Tiago Fontes (Apr 17, 2011)

maggie fraser said:


> Aye ! And not only that  no bedding in their little wooden box, concrete slab and no natural vegetation or artificial stimulus. These Jacks were all short and smooth coated and being near to the ground, were feeling the cold. The dogs were cold...I don't suppose many if any of them died from it but why the hell wasn't there some straw or shavings or something in those boxes to help keep them warm?
> 
> Giving it all a little more thought, I don't think I'd like to support that kind of practice, so will probably take my business elsewhere. Not the outside bit, but the lack of provision for such extreme weather which can and does occur.


 
If the dogs were good, that would be the reason why I'd buy a dog from him... Its called being raised rough... Odds are, those dogs have good resistance to cold, heat, etc... 

When it comes to my raising, yes, I'd put some straw in the boxes, but they would be outside regardless of cold or heat. 

Different strokes, different folks.


Regards


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Tiago Fontes said:


> If the dogs were good, that would be the reason why I'd buy a dog from him... Its called being raised rough... Odds are, those dogs have good resistance to cold, heat, etc...
> 
> When it comes to my raising, yes, I'd put some straw in the boxes, but they would be outside regardless of cold or heat.
> 
> ...


As far as I am aware Tiago, you don't get -20 C in Portugal. There is not quite the need for it as here.

Jacks are traditionally here farm dogs where they live outside, but have the scope to find themselves somewhere warm to sleep if not kept in outbuildings with at least straw and perhaps other bodies to help keep them warm.

Outside is not a problem.


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## Tiago Fontes (Apr 17, 2011)

You are correct about the temperature, however, I was just stating my thought process, whether in agreement with yours or not. 

I tend to believe breeding stock should not have an easy life (which is different from abusive). As a good friend says: 

"Life is hard if you're soft. Be raised hard and life will become soft". 


Best regards


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