What to Look For, and When to Look Elsewhere

Here are 10 Rules of Thumb if you are seriously looking to get a working terrier:

1. If the breeder does not own a locator collar, look elsewhere.




2. If the breeder tells you chest size is not important, look elsewhere.




3. If the breeder brags that their dogs are "not bayers" and work silent, look elsewhere.




4. If the breeder's web site has no pictures of their dogs working, look elsewhere.




5. If the breeder's working pictures are all barn hunting, look elsewhere.




6. If the breeder thinks go to ground in a wooden tunnel is work, look elsewhere




7. If the breeder is selling someone else's kennel name or pedigree, look elsewhere.




8. If someone tells you they are breeding "draw dogs," look elsewhere.




9. If someone does not know the chest size of their dogs, look elsewhere.




10. If the breeder advertises on "Nextdayspets" or "Bay Dogs Online," or any of the Pit Bull sites, look elsewhere.

What should you be looking for? Different strokes for different folks, but here's what I would be looking for:

1. Size, specifically chest size. Put nothing before this, and you will never regret it. I want a chest size of 14 inches or so (a little less is not a fault), which means I want a dog that is 11-12 inches tall if the terrier is coming from working stock where chest size tends to be about 2 inches over height. Remember that a dog that has a chest of 14 inches at the age of one year is likely to have a chest of 16 inches by age 7. Chests spring out with age, and tend to get harder too. If my fingers cannot overlap by two joints at age one, the dogs is too big for my tastes.



2. A Jack Russell or a Teckel from working lines. The reason I like Jack Russells is that they have stood the test of time in the field. Not all are bayers, and not all Patterdales or Fells are hard, but to some degree there is a bias among breeders at work here, and the bias to a hard dog is the wrong bias if you hunt often enough on fairly tough quarry. No serious hunter wants or needs a dog that gets itself wrecked often, costs money to fix, takes time out of the field, and may result in heartache. I would avoid a Border terrier, a Fell terrier, a Patterdale terrier, a Jagd terrier or a cross-bred terrier unless it was an older puppy (eight months) or young adult (up to 13 months), as the chance of getting too large a dog with these breed is too high. If I was getting a Jack Russell terrier puppy, I would look for a JRTCA-registered dog, as you at least have some good idea of size and working track record going back several generations. A Kennel Club dog? Not a likely worker and probably too big. The Kennel Club pedigree tells you nothing. The best advice, even with a JRTCA dog, is to get an older puppy or young adult so you can be sure to get a small dog. Another plus here is that you will get into the field quicker. Finally, look carefully at what is available in rescue. I would not turn my nose up at a small dog with a small chest if that dog was in rescue. Most Jack Russells will hunt if given enough experience and opportunity. Yes, a great working dog is a rare combination of powerful genetics and a lot of excellent experience, but a very good working dog (and in truth, you need nothing more) can be made from most properly-sized rescue dogs provided they are given real experience in the field under knowledgeabke hands. Remember that a lot of terriers in rescue got there because they were True terrors Terriers!



3. If getting a puppy, get a female. If I was getting a puppy, I would always get a female. A female dog will generally end up being smaller than a male, and will also stop growing sooner.



4. I would look for a smooth coat or lightly broken coat. This reveals my prejudice against muddy dogs and combing out burrs, but also reflects a simple fact: it's much easier to see (and treat) gashes and cuts on a smooth coat. A good tight smooth coat will do fine in winter, by the way -- just make sure the dog has a decent coat on its undercarriage.



5. I would avoid an all-white dog unless it comes BAER-clear. As a general rule, you want a dog BAER-tested before you acquire it, but you MUST have a BAER-tested dog if the dog is all-white or predominately white. Deafness is associated with all white-dogs, and is much, much rarer in dogs that are beagle-patterned or are colored dogs (such as Border terriers, Patterdale terriers, and Fell terriers).



6. I will not take an ugly dog. Life is too short to have an ugly dog in the house for 15 years. Most dogs that are run at the right weight are not ugly, but there are exceptions.



7. I will not buy a dog sight unseen, and especially not from another country. Would you marry a woman (or man) this way? Buy a house this way? Does anyone seriously think that people will sell better-than-average dogs to people they have never met who live in countries they have never visited, and are far away? If so, sober up!

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