The Jack Russell Terrier The Parson is in the Details

Parson John Russell, for whom the Jack Russell terrier is named, "remains a puzzle for those who try to define his character for their own purposes." Such is the persuasion of Jean and Frank Jackson, authors of Parson Jack Russell Terriers.

Those whose purpose is the application of a romantic egg wash to the Jack Russell legend emphasize the parson's skill as a purveyor of bloodstock, but he also displayed considerable talent as a preacher of bromides; and even though he may have been "a confirmed rebel," the Jacksons explain, "[he was] still a staunch supporter of the establishment."

Wild West Country

Russell was born in Devon, England, on December 12, 1795. He inherited a love for hunting, through not for classical learning, from his clergyman father. Indeed, the younger Russell was nearly expelled from Oxford for keeping a small pack of foxhounds with a neighboring blacksmith. (Previously, he had nearly been expelled from the Tiverton school for a similar offense.) He eventually earned bachelors and masters degrees from Oxford, where he won notice for his proficiency in elocution and boxing, then returned to Devon, where he spent the remainder of his 88 years.

Magnificent Obsession

According to D. Brian Plummer, author of The Complete Jack Russell Terrier, Russell was "an almost obsessional hunter [whose] predatory menagerie of ferrets, terriers and hounds were his lifelong pets and companions." Russell made the most celebrated addition to that menagerie while he was still at Oxford. In May of 1819, as most accounts have it, he acquired his first "Jack Russell" terrier, a bitch named Trump, whom he bought from a milkman. Russell was so taken with Trump, it has been said, that he bought her on the spot the first time he saw her. The spiritual if not the linear mother of today's Jack Russell, Trump was a type of fox terrier. She stood approximately 14 inches at the shoulder, was predominately white and had a rough coat. Most observers contend that the parson's strain of terriers were all descended from Trump.

Ministers and Monkey Shines

John Russell, then 24, was ordained in 1819. Soon afterward he became curate of the small parish of George Nympton near South Moulton in Devon. One of his first tasks was the assembly of a pack of hounds that he used to hunt otter. He also found time during the winter to assist the Reverend Jack Froude, another hunting parson, in the pursuit of fox. Plummer reports that Froude, who apparently believed that the Lord giveth and the parson taketh away, "ran a gang of disreputables who terrorized the villages near his parish, burning, stealing and looting according to whatever took their fancies." Another of Russell's associates, Templer of Stowe, rode to hounds with a monkey strapped to the saddle of a horse. Thus, Plummer argues, despite the tendency of some writers to romanticize Russell, a "sporting, hunting, shooting, fishing parson was by no means an exception in the Devonshire of the Victorian era."

Hunting Packs and Parishes

In 1826 Russell married Penelope Bury, who shared his love of country life and hunting. Russell was fortunate that she did, for in later years she was able to take over as master of his pack of hounds when the Bishop of Exeter, Russell's superior, demanded that he give up that stewardship.

About the time he was married, Russell became curate to his father at the parish at Iddesleigh. He received his final appointment - perpetual curate at Swymbridge and Landkey - in 1833. During the 45 years he spent in that capacity, he is said to have improved his parish and church "out of all recognition." He also became during that tenure one of the leading fox terrier breeder-dealers in the West Country. He produced a strain of rough-coated fox terriers that were distinctive enough to be regarded as a separate breed that eventually became his namesake. He also helped to set standards for dogs by serving as a judge at agricultural and hound shows. Moreover, he was one of the founding members of the Kennel Club of Great Britain.

Judgement Day

Russell died on April 28, 1883, in his 88th year. A widower the last eight years of his life, he continued his ministry and his hunting until shortly before his death. More than a thousand mourners attended his funeral and accompanied his body to its final resting place. They wept as they walked and, in a final tribute to the hard-riding parson, filled his grave with the wildflowers that he loved.

The Great Jack Russell Debate

The Jack Russell terrier is not so much a breed as it is a type of dog - one that was developed to go to ground in pursuit of game such as fox and badgers. Going to ground is a many splendored affair that involves following quarry into a tunnel or a hold without hesitation, then pursing said quarry until it bolts out the other end of the tunnel or is trapped underground. In the former event a pack of hounds with which the Jack Russell is in collusion usually take up the chase. In the latter event the Jack Russell terrier is expected to bark energetically to indicate the location of its quarry and to stay at the task until the hunter comes along to unearth the dog and whatever it has cornered. This procedure sometimes requires the assistance of earth-moving machinery.

Motley Ancestors

Although the Jack Russell terrier was named after the hunting parson who developed the original strain, the parson's stock "had little or no influence on the evolution of the modern Jack Russell," says D. Brian Plummer in The Complete Jack Russell Terrier. After Parson Russell's death in 1883 "his kennels were dispersed," reports Plummer. Some of the Russell's dogs reputedly went to Squire Nicholas Snow of Oare, and these became the foundation stock of Arthur Heinemann, who is often credited with being the last breeder of the "true" Jack Russell terriers. 

Be that as it may, other breeders certainly put their spin - and whatever stock they found appropriate or convenient - on the Jack Russell. Thus, says Plummer, "any white-bodied working terrier of dubious ancestry simply came to be known as a Jack Russell;" and by the middle of this century hunt terrier shows "were indeed extraordinary sights, with the most amazingly variable types of dog being proudly shown as genuine Jack Russells; some of the displayed hints of collie, or, not infrequently, dachshund, in their lineage." 

One thing these dogs did have in common was the fact that they were not recognized by the organizations that register dogs and license dogs shows. This situation prevailed because most of their owners liked it that way, an ironic development as the Parson himself was one of the founding members of the Kennel Club in Great Britain.

Who Speaks for the Jack Russell?

The Jack Russell's size, impishness and undeniable cuteness, however - not to mention its frequent appearances in movies, advertisements and television shows, have conspired to ensure it a high profile about the general public. Search any newspaper or magazine database and you are sure to find at regular intervals someone somewhere writing an article that anoints the Jack Russell as the latest "in" dog.

This popularity breeds contempt on the part of some persons who fear that favor is the path to perdition for dog breeds. Worse yet, say the defenders of the Jack Russell faith, recognition by the various associations would be tantamount to the post-coital embrace of certain female spiders.

Nevertheless, the Jack Russell terrier, under the sobriquet the Parson Jack Russell terrier, has been recognized by the Kennel Club in Britain. Moreover, a variety of the Jack Russell has been recognized by the United Kennel Club in this country. Thus far, the American Kennel Club recognition has not been secured, though the Jack Russell Terrier Breeders Association in the United States is dedicated to that objective.

Persons who seek recognition for the Jack Russell believe, as Jean and Frank Jackson wrote in Parson Jack Russell Terriers, that "official recognition provides a framework of authority, access to reliable services, a means to national and international influence, and opportunity to become involved as equals with other recognized breeds, which can only be of benefit."

Other Jack Russell fanciers disagree. The Jack Russell Terrier Club of America (JRTCA), founded in 1976, believes that the breed's future "can be greatly endangered by attempts to standardize this terrier into yet another show breed, encouraging breed for form rather than function, with little to no concern to the true nature of the dog."

The JRTCA registers terriers that meet its breed standard, have been examined by a veterinarian and certified free of genetic defects and are not the result of any inbreeding (parent-offspring or brother-sister matings). The club also sponsors Jack Russell competitions designed to simulate the kinds of tasks that working Jack Russells perform and operates a breed-rescue service. Through all this activity the JRCTA's overriding mission is to preserve the working qualities of the breed.

This mission is questioned by some people who own working Jack Russells. The assumption that Kennel Club recognition will ruin the working qualities of the Jack Russell "is a little ludicrous," scoffs Plummer, "if one examines it closely with a modicum of thought and common sense (sadly rare commodities in dog breeders, I'm afraid). For the Kennel Club has little or no influence" over what it's members do with their dogs. "It remains the duty of breeders and exhibitors to ensure that the dog is kept as a working breed."

The notion of preserving the working qualities of the Jack Russell - or of any dog - in an increasingly suburbanized society is problematic. The Jack Russell was originally bred to assist the foxhound in its work, but how many people in this country ride to hounds any more? The Jack Russell has also been used to hunt badgers and rats, the latter in the decidedly incorrect sport of competitive rat killing; but how many people in this country engage in organized, count-and-weigh-the-kill rat slaughter? (For the record, Plummer's Jack Russells took three tons of rats in 1977.)

The JRTCA's various Jack Russell competitions - terrier races, go-to-ground trials, etc. - are attended by a small percentage of Jack Russell owners. One suspects that the club's greatest services to the breed might lie in warning off unsuitable owners and in placing rescued Jack Russells in more suitable homes than those in which it was their misfortune to have been sent originally.

One further suspects that the Jacksons may have a point when they write, "What appear to be growing threats to the existence of field sports... introduce the possibility that at some time in the future it may no longer be possible for many of these breeds to follow their traditional occupation. Recognition might, therefore, by offering alternative activities be regarded as an insurance against the possibility that these breeds might disappear along with their traditional activities."

John Russell's Standard

The kind of terrier Parson John Russell admired is similar to the kind specified in the standard of the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America (JRTCA) today. The ideal terrier, said Russell 126 years ago, is "a small, energetic terrier of from 14/16 lb. in weight, standing about 14 inches at the wither [shoulder]."

The JRTCA's standard is a little more flexible, calling as it does for a height of 10 to 15 inches. In addition, whereas the parson said the Jack Russell's coat should be "good, rough, weather-resisting [and] a trifle wiry," the JRTCA standard accommodates three kids of coats: smooth, rough and broken.

Like his foundation bitch, Trump - whom Russell described as "white with just a patch of dark over each eye and ear, with a similar, but not much larger than a penny, piece at the root of the tail" - the modern-day Jack Russell is predominately white, at least 51 percent white. Most significantly, the JRTCA's observation that the Jack Russell should "present a lively, active and alert appearance [and] should impress with its fearless and happy disposition," is entirely in keeping with Russell's notion of what the ideal terrier should be.

The Die Hard Dog

Seven years ago a Jack Russell terrier named Mugsy, who belonged to Viola Tiszi of Severna Park, Maryland, was hit by a car. Tiszi's boyfriend, Glenn Maloney, rushed out of the house to help Mugsy, but it was too late. "I picked Mugsy up," Maloney told People magazine, "but he died in my arms."

Maloney buried Mugsy in a hole about three feet deep in a wooded corner of the property. The next morning at 5:30, Tiszi and Maloney were awakened by a scratching at the door. When Maloney went to investigate, there stood Mugsy, covered with dirt and a little red-eyed but very much alive. "I couldn't believe it," said Maloney. "His tail was wagging 90 miles and hour."

Tiszi credited Mugsy's heritage for his survival. "Jack Russells are bred to burrow after foxes," she said. "I guess when he woke up, he just thought it was another old hole and he dug his way out, not knowing it was supposed to be his grave."

Warning Label

It any dog would not know when it was supposed to be dead, the Jack Russell terrier is it, yet this same tenaciousness that accounts for the Jack Russell's success in the field can lead to its failure as a house pet. "I have owned dogs most of my life," says one Jack Russell owner, "but this little JRT is unlike any dog I have ever come across. The word no does not seem to exist in his vocabulary, nor does the word rest. I have never had any problems training previous pets, but I think I will need some help with this one."

Not surprisingly, the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America (JRTCA) suggests that prospective owners consider "the unique needs and character" of the breed. These are dogs that love to dig and to bark, are ceaselessly aggressive and follow a scent with a single-minded passion. If Jack Russells do not have an outlet for these natural instincts, there is likely to be hell to pay. They will chase cars, dig tunnels in (and sometimes out of) the yard, jump all over anyone who will tolerate their attentions, take off after a squirrel in the middle of an otherwise peaceful walk and chase down the family cat. In fact, wards the JRTCA, "raising a puppy with a cat does not guarantee the cat's lifelong safety."

Nor can anyone guarantee that a Jack Russell will put up with mistreatment, unintentional or not, at the hands of a child. Thus, Jack Russells are not recommended for anyone with children younger than six unless that person has had previous, non-catastrophic experience with the breed.

In addition to needing a lot of exercise, Jack Russells need a lot of watching. They are, says the JRTCA, often aggressive with other dogs, particularly dogs of the same sex, regardless of breed. Therefore, "it is strongly recommended that no more than two Jack Russells (of opposite sex only) ever be permitted to stay together unattended."

The Jack Russell terrier is not a suitable tenant for an apartment of a condominium, no matter how cozy life appears on "Frasier." Jack Russells are ordinarily too boisterous for close-quarters living. They need considerable exercise and a brisk walk on a leash will not serve to discharge their considerable energy. To be sure, says the JRTCA, Jack Russells are country dogs. "Unless your schedule permits many hours at home and a lot of outdoor activity, with a safe place your terrier can run, this is not the dog for you."

Jack Russell terriers "require a long-term commitment to obedience, activity, exercise and entertainment. Their unique character, intelligence and high energy level can frustrate you, will undoubtedly entertain you and can bring you great joy (when they're happy) or great grief (when they're not)."

The Jack Russell owner quoted above corroborates that statement, "As much as this little dog is trying my patience, I have to say not a day goes by that he does not make me laugh."