Working terrier
Encyclopedia
A working terrier is a small type
of dog which pursues its quarry into the earth. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the name dates back to at least 1440, derived from early modern French (chien) terrier - from the medieval Latin terrarius from the Latin terra (earth).
With the growth of popularity of fox-hunting in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, terriers were extensively bred to follow the red fox, and also the Eurasian badger, into its underground burrow, referred to as "terrier work" and "going to ground". The purpose of the terrier is that it locate the quarry, and either bark and bolt it free or to a net, or trap or hold it so that it can be dug down to and killed or captured.
Working terriers can be no wider than the animal they hunt (chest circumference or "span" less than 35 cm/14in), in order to fit into the burrows and still have room to maneuver. As a result, the terriers often weigh considerably less than the fox (10 kg/22 lbs) and badger (12 kg/26 lbs), making these animals formidable quarry for the smaller dog.
Terrier work has been condemned by British animal welfare organizations such as the League Against Cruel Sports
, the International Fund for Animal Welfare
, and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
, because it can lead to underground fighting between the animals, causing serious injuries. The British National Working Terrier Federation denies that underground fighting is an issue, arguing that the terrier's role is to locate, bark, and flush out the hunted animals, not to attack them. Hunting below ground with terriers is largely illegal in Britain under the Hunting Act 2004
, unless conducted in accordance with strict conditions intended to protect game birds. Terrier work is legal in the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa and much of continental Europe.
If a dog is too large, he will not be able to get past turns in the tunnel, and will have to be dug to every few feet. If a dog has to dig to the quarry when the tunnel tightens down (as it invariably will), the dog will have to push dirt behind it to progress, which can result in the dog being “bottled” by dirt from behind. In such a situation the dog will have a very difficult time getting out on its own if it cannot turn around.
With two animals underground (dog and quarry), it is essential that a flow of air be maintained to avoid asphyxiation. The tighter a dog is in the pipe, the more that air flow will be constricted. In addition, a small dog is able to maneuver better in order to avoid being bitten. As a consequence, small dogs often receive less damage underground than larger dogs, which are more likely to find themselves jammed in a den pipe, face to face with the quarry, and unable to move forward or backward. No good can come from such a situation.
Other important requirements of a working terrier are an essential gameness, a good nose, and an ability to problem solve in order to avoid coming to harm underground.
, groundhogs (also known as woodchucks), raccoon
s, opossums, nutria (also known as coypu), European and American badgers.
According to a 1994 survey by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation
, 9% of foxes killed by UK gamekeeper
s were killed following the use of terriers.
Terrier work is not a very efficient way of hunting vermin, though over 500 members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons argue that it is a humane way to reduce fox numbers, and is quite selective. Because of these characteristics, terrier work is considered an ideal way to control certain nuisance wildlife in farm country.
The inefficiency of terrier work means that, unlike poisons and traps, there is no danger that a species can be wiped out over a large area, and little chance that an adult will be terminated with unseen young still in the den. In addition, collateral damage, in the form of killing non-target species, is zero.
Though inefficient, a team of terriers, when coupled with an enthusiastic digger, can control red fox, raccoon or groundhog on small farms where their presence might be a problem for chickens, geese, wild bird populations, and crop production. Because terrier work is selective, animals can be dispatched, or else they can be moved and relocated to nearby farms, forests or waste areas where they will do no harm.
Movement in the late 18th Century in England. With enclosure, people were moved off the land and into cities and towns, and sheep and other livestock were moved into newly walled, hedged and fenced fields. Vast expanses of enclosed open spaces proved perfect for mounted fox hunting – a sport that had arrived in the UK from France in the late 17th Century.
The first mounted fox hunts were described by Sir Walter Scott, who also described the first working terriers in the UK. The first true breed of working terrier that bears a resemblance to what we see in the field today is the Jack Russell Terrier
. The Jack Russell Terrier is named after the Reverend John Russell
, whose long life (1795–1883) encompasses the entire early history of mounted fox hunts in the UK and who is credited with breeding the first fox-working white-bodied terrier used in the field today.
With the rise of the Enclosure
Movement in the late 18th Century and early 19th Century came the control of sires and the rapid improvement in livestock herds. As breeds were improved, livestock shows were held to display these improvements. From these livestock shows grew the first dog shows.
The first dog show appeared in the UK in 1859, the same year that Charles Darwin
’s the "Origin of Species" was first published. Both Darwin’s book and the first dog shows drew much of their inspiration from the rapid “speciation” of new livestock breeds that had first begun with Robert Bakewell’s efforts to control sire selection. If livestock breeds could be rapidly “improved” through controlled breeding, clearly the same thing could be done with dogs.
Between 1800 and 1865, the number of dog breeds in the UK climbed from 15 to over 50, and it exploded even further with the creation of the Kennel Club in 1873.
With the rise of Kennel Club dogs shows, every manner of rough working dog was soon being put up as an "ancient breed." In fact, most of these breeds were very new or even one-off dogs, and most histories were invented or dramatically elaborated on by get-rich-quick breed promoters.
The "Fell Terrier
" is the original non-pedigree colored working dog of the north. From this diverse gene pool has sprung the Kennel Club Welsh Terrier
, the Lakeland Terrier
and the Border Terrier
. Today, only the Border Terrier is occasionally found in the field. This is not to say the working Fell Terrier has disappeared—it still exists by that name among working terrier enthusiasts.
Today's working Fell Terrier may be brown, black, red, or black-and-tan, and may be smooth, wire or broken coated. The dog may be called a Fell terrier or a "working Lakeland" or a "Patterdale Terrier
." A German variety of the Fell Terrier is called the "Jagdterrier
," but the standard for this dog is on the large size, and as a consequence it is most useful in large pipes, artificial earths, or when it has been bred down to a 12-13 inch size.
From the southern part of England have come the white fox-working dogs whose origins are the same as those of the Jack Russell Terrier
. Kennel Club breeds derived from these mainly-white coated dogs include the Smooth Fox Terrier
, the Wire Fox Terrier, the Sealyham Terrier
and (most recently), the Parson Russell Terrier
and Russell Terrier
. None of these Kennel Club breeds are commonly found working in the field today.
The absence of white-bodied working dogs in the Kennel Club does not mean that white fox-working dogs have disappeared. The working Jack Russell Terrier
is still very much alive and is as common as ever, presenting itself in an astounding variety of coats (smooth, broken and wire coated or rough), sizes (10 inches to 15 inches tall with most working dogs sized 10 to 13 inches tall), and coat colors (from pure white to 49 percent colored with tan and black markings). There is even a new type of working Jack Russell – the “Plummer Terrier
” first created by Brian Plummer
in the 1970s and breeding true since the mid 1980s.
What of all of the other Kennel Club breeds of terriers? Most of these terrier were never true working terriers. Some were small farm dogs used to catch rats and keep foxes from invading the farm yard. Some saw work as turnspit dogs or were used by farmers to bust rabbits from hedges and thickets. Most, however, were created as pets and remain as pets to this day.
The rather pedestrian history of most of the terriers breeds created between 1850 and 1910, is that these dogs were created for the show ring by for-profit breeders and show ring enthusiasts. Most of these terrier breeds never saw underground terrier work of any kind. Occasionally an early breeder of one terrier type or another is reported to have worked his or her dog, but the story is generally vague and almost always episodic. Let it be said simply: the fact that a handful of prototype dogs of a given breed allegedly did a small bit of work more than 100 years ago does not qualify the breed to be considered a "working dog." Terrier work is not something that disappeared with schooners, candles and buggy whips; it is a continuing pastime, and the dogs working in the field today are the same type of working terrier that have always existed.
The only “modern” piece of equipment found in a terrierman’s kit that would look foreign to a terrierman from the late 18th Century is an electronic radio collar used to help locate the dog underground and speed the dig. Locator collars have greatly increased the safety of dogs when underground, and no sensible digger will put a dog to ground without one today.
groups in the UK, particularly in connection with fox hunting
, where terriers may be used to flush out a fox who has gone underground. This has led to the terriers attacking the foxes rather than flushing them out, causing a very distressing and prolonged death of the fox, serious damage to the terrier or even death of the terrier on occasions. The Countryside Alliance
have been challenged on their statements of claiming that no distressing and prolonged deaths occur during digging out or flushing out of foxes.
Organisations such as the League Against Cruel Sports
have produced a range of reports on the working terrier. Alan Williams
MP proposed a private members bill, the Protection of Dogs Bill seeking to ban the activity in 1994, but it was not banned in the UK until the passage of the Hunting Act 2004
. The Act outlaws terrier work unless it complies with a number of strict conditions designed for gamekeeper
s.
Dog type
Dog types are broad categories of dogs based on function, with dogs identified primarily by specific function or style of work rather than by lineage or appearance....
of dog which pursues its quarry into the earth. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the name dates back to at least 1440, derived from early modern French (chien) terrier - from the medieval Latin terrarius from the Latin terra (earth).
With the growth of popularity of fox-hunting in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, terriers were extensively bred to follow the red fox, and also the Eurasian badger, into its underground burrow, referred to as "terrier work" and "going to ground". The purpose of the terrier is that it locate the quarry, and either bark and bolt it free or to a net, or trap or hold it so that it can be dug down to and killed or captured.
Working terriers can be no wider than the animal they hunt (chest circumference or "span" less than 35 cm/14in), in order to fit into the burrows and still have room to maneuver. As a result, the terriers often weigh considerably less than the fox (10 kg/22 lbs) and badger (12 kg/26 lbs), making these animals formidable quarry for the smaller dog.
Terrier work has been condemned by British animal welfare organizations such as the League Against Cruel Sports
League Against Cruel Sports
The League Against Cruel Sports are an animal welfare organisation that campaigns against all blood sports including bull fighting, fox hunting and hare coursing. It also campaigns to ban the manufacture, sale and use of snares, for the regulation of greyhound racing and for an end to commercial...
, the International Fund for Animal Welfare
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
The International Fund for Animal Welfare is currently one of the largest animal welfare and conservation charities in the world.The group says its mission is "to improve the welfare of wild and domestic animals throughout the world by reducing commercial exploitation of animals, protecting...
, and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a charity in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. In 2009 the RSPCA investigated 141,280 cruelty complaints and collected and rescued 135,293 animals...
, because it can lead to underground fighting between the animals, causing serious injuries. The British National Working Terrier Federation denies that underground fighting is an issue, arguing that the terrier's role is to locate, bark, and flush out the hunted animals, not to attack them. Hunting below ground with terriers is largely illegal in Britain under the Hunting Act 2004
Hunting Act 2004
The Hunting Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The effect of the Act is to outlaw hunting with dogs in England and Wales from 18 February 2005...
, unless conducted in accordance with strict conditions intended to protect game birds. Terrier work is legal in the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa and much of continental Europe.
Requirements of a working terrier
The primary criterion of a working terrier is that it has an owner or keeper who works it. A terrier is not a working terrier by virtue of its breeding alone. The second most important quality of a working terrier is small chest size. Though the chest size of the working terrier that can be used in any given situation may rise or fall depending on the size of the den pipe, smaller dogs generally do as well or better than larger dogs. The reason for this is rather simple: a small dog can get to the quarry without having to dig, and arrives at the quarry without fatigue.If a dog is too large, he will not be able to get past turns in the tunnel, and will have to be dug to every few feet. If a dog has to dig to the quarry when the tunnel tightens down (as it invariably will), the dog will have to push dirt behind it to progress, which can result in the dog being “bottled” by dirt from behind. In such a situation the dog will have a very difficult time getting out on its own if it cannot turn around.
With two animals underground (dog and quarry), it is essential that a flow of air be maintained to avoid asphyxiation. The tighter a dog is in the pipe, the more that air flow will be constricted. In addition, a small dog is able to maneuver better in order to avoid being bitten. As a consequence, small dogs often receive less damage underground than larger dogs, which are more likely to find themselves jammed in a den pipe, face to face with the quarry, and unable to move forward or backward. No good can come from such a situation.
Terrier work as vermin control
A wide variety of game is worked below ground with terriers, including red foxRed Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
, groundhogs (also known as woodchucks), raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
s, opossums, nutria (also known as coypu), European and American badgers.
According to a 1994 survey by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation
British Association for Shooting and Conservation
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation is a non-profit making Industrial and Provident Society, whose mission is to promote and protect sporting shooting and the well-being of the countryside throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. With around 130,000 members and 105 staff BASC...
, 9% of foxes killed by UK gamekeeper
Gamekeeper
A gamekeeper is a person who manages an area of countryside to make sure there is enough game for shooting, or fish for angling, and who actively manages areas of woodland, moorland, waterway or farmland for the benefit of game birds, deer, fish and wildlife in general.Typically, a gamekeeper is...
s were killed following the use of terriers.
Terrier work is not a very efficient way of hunting vermin, though over 500 members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons argue that it is a humane way to reduce fox numbers, and is quite selective. Because of these characteristics, terrier work is considered an ideal way to control certain nuisance wildlife in farm country.
The inefficiency of terrier work means that, unlike poisons and traps, there is no danger that a species can be wiped out over a large area, and little chance that an adult will be terminated with unseen young still in the den. In addition, collateral damage, in the form of killing non-target species, is zero.
Though inefficient, a team of terriers, when coupled with an enthusiastic digger, can control red fox, raccoon or groundhog on small farms where their presence might be a problem for chickens, geese, wild bird populations, and crop production. Because terrier work is selective, animals can be dispatched, or else they can be moved and relocated to nearby farms, forests or waste areas where they will do no harm.
Early history
Terrier work, as it is known today, began with the rise of the EnclosureEnclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
Movement in the late 18th Century in England. With enclosure, people were moved off the land and into cities and towns, and sheep and other livestock were moved into newly walled, hedged and fenced fields. Vast expanses of enclosed open spaces proved perfect for mounted fox hunting – a sport that had arrived in the UK from France in the late 17th Century.
The first mounted fox hunts were described by Sir Walter Scott, who also described the first working terriers in the UK. The first true breed of working terrier that bears a resemblance to what we see in the field today is the Jack Russell Terrier
Jack Russell Terrier
The Jack Russell terrier is a small terrier that has its origins in fox hunting. It is principally white-bodied smooth, rough or broken-coated which is commonly confused with the Parson Russell terrier and the Russell terrier with the term "Jack Russell" commonly misapplied to other small white...
. The Jack Russell Terrier is named after the Reverend John Russell
Jack Russell (dog breeder)
John "Jack" Russell , known as "The Sporting Parson", was an enthusiastic hunter and dog breeder as well as an ordained cleric....
, whose long life (1795–1883) encompasses the entire early history of mounted fox hunts in the UK and who is credited with breeding the first fox-working white-bodied terrier used in the field today.
With the rise of the Enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
Movement in the late 18th Century and early 19th Century came the control of sires and the rapid improvement in livestock herds. As breeds were improved, livestock shows were held to display these improvements. From these livestock shows grew the first dog shows.
The first dog show appeared in the UK in 1859, the same year that Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
’s the "Origin of Species" was first published. Both Darwin’s book and the first dog shows drew much of their inspiration from the rapid “speciation” of new livestock breeds that had first begun with Robert Bakewell’s efforts to control sire selection. If livestock breeds could be rapidly “improved” through controlled breeding, clearly the same thing could be done with dogs.
Between 1800 and 1865, the number of dog breeds in the UK climbed from 15 to over 50, and it exploded even further with the creation of the Kennel Club in 1873.
With the rise of Kennel Club dogs shows, every manner of rough working dog was soon being put up as an "ancient breed." In fact, most of these breeds were very new or even one-off dogs, and most histories were invented or dramatically elaborated on by get-rich-quick breed promoters.
Rootstock
In the world of working terriers, there are but two roots – colored dogs from the north (Scotland), and white dogs from the south (England and Wales). From these two roots spring a variety of Kennel Club dogs and every type of working terrier commonly found in the field today.The "Fell Terrier
Fell Terrier
Fell Terrier refers to a regional type of long legged working terrier, not a specific breed of dog.- Description and purpose :Fell terriers are types of small working terriers developed in the Fell country of northern England and used as hunting dogs. They may be crossbred or purebred...
" is the original non-pedigree colored working dog of the north. From this diverse gene pool has sprung the Kennel Club Welsh Terrier
Welsh Terrier
The Welsh Terrier is a British breed of dog. It was originally bred for hunting fox, rodents and badger , but during the last century it has mainly been bred for showing. Despite this, it has retained its terrier strength of character and therefore requires firm, non-aggressive handling...
, the Lakeland Terrier
Lakeland Terrier
The Lakeland Terrier is a dog breed, which takes its name from its home of origin, the Lake District in England. The dog is a small to mid-size member of the Terrier family. While independent in personality, it interacts well with owners and all family members, and is mostly hypo-allergenic...
and the Border Terrier
Border Terrier
The Border Terrier is a small, rough-coated breed of dog of the terrier group. Originally bred as fox and vermin hunters, Border Terriers share ancestry with Dandie Dinmont Terriers and Bedlington Terriers....
. Today, only the Border Terrier is occasionally found in the field. This is not to say the working Fell Terrier has disappeared—it still exists by that name among working terrier enthusiasts.
Today's working Fell Terrier may be brown, black, red, or black-and-tan, and may be smooth, wire or broken coated. The dog may be called a Fell terrier or a "working Lakeland" or a "Patterdale Terrier
Patterdale Terrier
The Patterdale Terrier is a breed of working dog that originated in the Lake District of Cumbria in Northwest England. The name Patterdale refers to a small village a little south of Ullswater and a few miles east of Helvellyn....
." A German variety of the Fell Terrier is called the "Jagdterrier
Jagdterrier
The Jagdterrier is a type of working terrier, originating in Germany, that is used for hunting quarry both above and underground. This breed of terrier is also called the German Hunt Terrier.-Appearance:...
," but the standard for this dog is on the large size, and as a consequence it is most useful in large pipes, artificial earths, or when it has been bred down to a 12-13 inch size.
From the southern part of England have come the white fox-working dogs whose origins are the same as those of the Jack Russell Terrier
Jack Russell Terrier
The Jack Russell terrier is a small terrier that has its origins in fox hunting. It is principally white-bodied smooth, rough or broken-coated which is commonly confused with the Parson Russell terrier and the Russell terrier with the term "Jack Russell" commonly misapplied to other small white...
. Kennel Club breeds derived from these mainly-white coated dogs include the Smooth Fox Terrier
Fox Terrier
Fox Terrier refers primarily to two different breeds of the terrier dog type: the Smooth Fox Terrier and the Wire Fox Terrier. Both of these breeds originated in the 19th century from a handful of dogs who are descended from earlier varieties of British terriers, and are related to other modern...
, the Wire Fox Terrier, the Sealyham Terrier
Sealyham Terrier
The Sealyham Terrier is a dog breed of the terrier type. The Sealyham Terrier was originally developed in Wales.- History :thumb|right|A Sealyham Terrier photographed in 1915....
and (most recently), the Parson Russell Terrier
Parson Russell Terrier
The Parson Russell Terrier is a breed of small white terrier that originates from the Fox Terriers of the 18th century. The breed is named after the person credited with the creation of this type of dog, the Reverend John "Jack" Russell...
and Russell Terrier
Russell Terrier
The Russell Terrier is a predominantly white working terrier with an insatiable instinct to hunt formidable quarry underground. The breed was derived from the Reverend John Russell's fox working terrier strains that were used in the 19th century for fox hunting. The Reverend's fox working strains...
. None of these Kennel Club breeds are commonly found working in the field today.
The absence of white-bodied working dogs in the Kennel Club does not mean that white fox-working dogs have disappeared. The working Jack Russell Terrier
Jack Russell Terrier
The Jack Russell terrier is a small terrier that has its origins in fox hunting. It is principally white-bodied smooth, rough or broken-coated which is commonly confused with the Parson Russell terrier and the Russell terrier with the term "Jack Russell" commonly misapplied to other small white...
is still very much alive and is as common as ever, presenting itself in an astounding variety of coats (smooth, broken and wire coated or rough), sizes (10 inches to 15 inches tall with most working dogs sized 10 to 13 inches tall), and coat colors (from pure white to 49 percent colored with tan and black markings). There is even a new type of working Jack Russell – the “Plummer Terrier
Plummer Terrier
The Plummer Terrier is a working terrier, and like all working terriers, it is a composite animal.- Origins :The Plummer Terrier is mostly made out of Jack Russell Terrier, with a strong dash of Beagle , and Bull Terrier...
” first created by Brian Plummer
Brian Plummer
Brian Plummer was a Welsh writer. He became famous after an appearance in 1977 on Richard Whiteley's Calendar regional news programme, in which a ferret became 'latched' onto Whiteley's fingers.Growing up in the austere years around World War II, Plummer based some of his biographical stories in...
in the 1970s and breeding true since the mid 1980s.
What of all of the other Kennel Club breeds of terriers? Most of these terrier were never true working terriers. Some were small farm dogs used to catch rats and keep foxes from invading the farm yard. Some saw work as turnspit dogs or were used by farmers to bust rabbits from hedges and thickets. Most, however, were created as pets and remain as pets to this day.
The rather pedestrian history of most of the terriers breeds created between 1850 and 1910, is that these dogs were created for the show ring by for-profit breeders and show ring enthusiasts. Most of these terrier breeds never saw underground terrier work of any kind. Occasionally an early breeder of one terrier type or another is reported to have worked his or her dog, but the story is generally vague and almost always episodic. Let it be said simply: the fact that a handful of prototype dogs of a given breed allegedly did a small bit of work more than 100 years ago does not qualify the breed to be considered a "working dog." Terrier work is not something that disappeared with schooners, candles and buggy whips; it is a continuing pastime, and the dogs working in the field today are the same type of working terrier that have always existed.
Tools and technique
The tools used for terrier work have essentially remained unchanged for more than 400 years – a small-chested and very game working terrier, a good roundpoint shovel, a digging bar, a brushhook to clear away hedge and bramble, fox nets, water for the dog and digger, and a snare to remove the quarry or a gun or blunt instrument to dispatch it.The only “modern” piece of equipment found in a terrierman’s kit that would look foreign to a terrierman from the late 18th Century is an electronic radio collar used to help locate the dog underground and speed the dig. Locator collars have greatly increased the safety of dogs when underground, and no sensible digger will put a dog to ground without one today.
Controversy in the UK
Terrier work has come under criticism from animal welfareAnimal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
groups in the UK, particularly in connection with fox hunting
Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
, where terriers may be used to flush out a fox who has gone underground. This has led to the terriers attacking the foxes rather than flushing them out, causing a very distressing and prolonged death of the fox, serious damage to the terrier or even death of the terrier on occasions. The Countryside Alliance
Countryside Alliance
The Countryside Alliance is a British organisation promoting issues relating to the countryside such as country sports, including hunting, shooting and angling...
have been challenged on their statements of claiming that no distressing and prolonged deaths occur during digging out or flushing out of foxes.
Organisations such as the League Against Cruel Sports
League Against Cruel Sports
The League Against Cruel Sports are an animal welfare organisation that campaigns against all blood sports including bull fighting, fox hunting and hare coursing. It also campaigns to ban the manufacture, sale and use of snares, for the regulation of greyhound racing and for an end to commercial...
have produced a range of reports on the working terrier. Alan Williams
Alan Williams
Alan John Williams is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Swansea West from 1964 to 2010.-Early life:...
MP proposed a private members bill, the Protection of Dogs Bill seeking to ban the activity in 1994, but it was not banned in the UK until the passage of the Hunting Act 2004
Hunting Act 2004
The Hunting Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The effect of the Act is to outlaw hunting with dogs in England and Wales from 18 February 2005...
. The Act outlaws terrier work unless it complies with a number of strict conditions designed for gamekeeper
Gamekeeper
A gamekeeper is a person who manages an area of countryside to make sure there is enough game for shooting, or fish for angling, and who actively manages areas of woodland, moorland, waterway or farmland for the benefit of game birds, deer, fish and wildlife in general.Typically, a gamekeeper is...
s.
See also
- American Working Terrier AssociationAmerican Working Terrier AssociationThe American Working Terrier Association was founded in 1971 by Patricia Adams Lent to encourage and promote the ownership and working of earthworking terriers of correct size, conformation and character to be usable for their intended purpose. The organization currently includes about two hundred...
- BaitingBait (dogs)Baiting or dog baiting most commonly refers to the act of setting game dogs against a chained or confined animal for sport. The dogs bite, and tear to subdue the opposing animal by incapacitating or killing it. Baiting is a blood sport used for entertainment and gambling...
- Fox hunting legislationFox hunting legislationFox hunting legislation refers to various laws and legislative history related to fox hunting in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.-History:Hunting has been regulated for many centuries, most often for the benefit of the upper class. The word "paradise", for example, comes from a Greek word for...
- Jack Russell TerrierJack Russell TerrierThe Jack Russell terrier is a small terrier that has its origins in fox hunting. It is principally white-bodied smooth, rough or broken-coated which is commonly confused with the Parson Russell terrier and the Russell terrier with the term "Jack Russell" commonly misapplied to other small white...
- Jack Russell Terrier Club of AmericaJack Russell Terrier Club of AmericaThe Jack Russell Terrier Club of America is the largest Jack Russell Terrier club and registry in the world, and is the National Breed Club and Registry for the Jack Russell Terrier in the United States....
- Patterdale TerrierPatterdale TerrierThe Patterdale Terrier is a breed of working dog that originated in the Lake District of Cumbria in Northwest England. The name Patterdale refers to a small village a little south of Ullswater and a few miles east of Helvellyn....
General references
- Burns, Patrick. American Working Terriers, 2005. ISBN 1-4116-6082-X http://www.amazon.com/dp/141166082X
- Chapman, Eddie. "The Working Jack Russell Terrier," 1994. No ISBN http://www.terrierman.com/terrierbooks.htm
- Fischer, John, "Vulpicide in South Nottinghamshire in 1865"http://www.terrierman.com/vulpicide1865.doc
- MacDonald, David. "Running With the Fox." 1987. ISBN 978-0044400844 http://www.amazon.com/dp/0044400845
- League Against Cruel Sports campaign against terrier work
- "Badger baiter banned after terriers hurt", Sheffield Today, August 8, 2005
External links
- Hunting with Terriers: The Basics
- Jack Russell Terrier Club of America
- Jack Russell Terrier Club Great Britain
- Teckel Club of North America
- Patterdale Terrier Club of America
- Tips for Tunnel Training Terriers
- American Working Terrier Association
- A Pictorial History of Terriers and Terrier Work
- Border Terrier Show Results in the U.K.