Devon Working Jack Russell Terriers

02/22/2025

Who are you?

02/19/2025

02/08/2025

02/06/2025

Just as important as our hunting rifle, shotgun, muzzleloader and bow, is our hunting dog or hound. Animal extremists are continually trying to stop the

01/14/2025

A great way to start off the New Year! Make your plans to join us in 2025.
We have a great roster of judges BUT you’ll have to check back soon to see who is on the list

12/17/2024

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas
(Photo courtesy of Kylie Ghim)

11/28/2024

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

10/24/2024

That’s a working dog!

10/10/2024

Dates are a few years back but still relevant

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE JRTCA

The 42nd JRTCA national trial starts Friday, and runs through Sunday, near Boonsboro, Maryland. In honor of that, here’s a brief history of the organization.

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Five years after the American Working Terrier Association was created, Mrs. Ailsa Crawford, one of the first Jack Russell Terrier breeders in the U.S., founded the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America (JRTCA).

Ms. Crawford and the early founders of the Jack Russell Terrier Club put a lot of thought into structuring the JRTCA so that work remained front and center.

Towards that end, the club decided that its highest award — the “Bronze Medallion” — would not go to show dogs, but to working dogs that had demonstrated their ability in the field by working at least three of six types of American quarry — red fox, gray fox, raccoon, groundhog, possum, or badger — in front of a JRTCA-certified field judge.

In the show ring the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America decided to ban professional handlers as it was thought this would make the shows less serious (and more fun) while keeping the focus on the essential element of work.

Instead of mandating the kind of narrow conformation ranges demanded by the American Kennel Club for their terrier breeds, the JRTCA decided to divide the diverse world of the Jack Russell Terrier into three coat types (smooth, broken and rough), and two sizes (10 inches tall to 12.5 inches tall, and 12.5 inches tall to 15 inches tall).

“Different horses for different courses” became the watchword, with overt recognition that different quarry, different earths, and different climates required different dogs.

Unlike the Kennel Club, the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America also decided to maintain an “open” registry so that new blood might be infused at times. At the same time, the JRTCA discouraged inbreeding and eventually restricted line breeding to a set percentage.

To balance off an open-registry with the desire to keep Jack Russell-type dogs looking like Jack Russells, the JRTCA decided not to allow dogs to be registered at birth or to register entire litters. Instead, each adult dog would be photographed from both sides and the front, with each dog admitted to the registry on its own merit. In addition, each dog had to be measured for height and chest span.

This last element turned out to be quite important, as it meant that the height and chest measurements of adult dogs were recorded as they were registered. Over time, both height and chest size of adult dogs could be tracked through pedigrees — an essential element of breeding correctly-sized working terriers.

The JRTCA was not shy about their rationale for these rules: they openly and emphatically opposed AKC registration, maintaining that time had show that dogs brought into the Kennel Club quickly grew too big and often lost other essential working attributes such as nose, voice, and prey drive.

Today the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America is the largest Jack Russell Terrier club and registry in the world, and its Annual National Trial attracts approximately 1,200 Jack Russell terriers from all over the U.S. and Canada.

The JRTCA’s small professional staff cranks out a bimonthly magazine that is 80-100 pages long, holds a regular schedule of dog shows.

Post written in 2009

09/29/2024

Genetic insight is an invaluable tool for managing negative impact to the breed.

Yet it falls short as a wholistic stamp of quality for a well bred hunting dog to be used for its intended work in an individual breeding program.

09/27/2024

So silly I had to post again