The Jack
Russell Terrier was first bred in the south of England in the mid-1800's
to hunt European red fox, both over and underground, for the sport of
kings. The Jack Russell ran with horse and hound as the hunt
trailed the fox across the fields and along the hedgerows of the Devon
countryside. When the hounds drove a fox to ground the terrier followed,
baying to bolt his quarry so that the chase could continue.Everything about the Jack Russell Terrier says fox hunting; his
conformation, character, attitude, and intelligence. He is of balanced
and flexible build with straight legs and a narrow chest. He measures
ideally between 12-14" in height. Coats are broken, dense, straight,
harsh, and tight so as to give a smooth appearance from a distance. His
height gives him the length of leg to follow the fox over ground, and
the narrow chest, flexible frame and tenacity lets him follow a fox into
the den. He is bold though cautious in temperament; an independent,
thinking terrier accustomed to working alone with only his instincts to
guide him. Indeed, many a tale has been told of a Jack Russell finding
the fox before the hounds could!
The Jack Russell is named for the most renowned of British
huntsman, Reverend John Russell, "The Sporting Parson" (1795-1883),
whose passion for fox hunting, hounds, and working terriers is
legendary. John Russell and his compatriots bred with care uniform
terriers measuring 14" in height with 14" to 16" in chest circumference
and 14-16 LB in weight. Parson Russell's own terriers were known to be
of a distinct type; white or predominantly white with tan or black and
tan markings confined to the head and base of tail.
 John Russell was a founding member of England's Kennel Club in
1873, and in 1874 he judged fox terriers for the KC. In his day John
Russell was called 'The Father of the WireHaired Fox Terrier', at a time
when it was thought that wire coats were a passing fad. John Russell's
bloodlines are found in the pedigrees of early Smooth Fox Terriers, for
as a breeder of broken coats he often bred to smooth-coated fox terriers
to improve coat quality. His bloodlines are also found on both sides of
the wire-coated bitch, L'il Foiler, dam of the well known wire
champion, Carlisle Tack. Many Jack Russell Terrier breeders today
regard Carlisle Tack as the ideal Russell type. The Jack Russell
is the original white fox terrier and is the foundation stock from which
today's modern Fox Terrier was developed.
Fox hunting in the southern parts of Great Britain was and is
today comprised primarily of mounted hunts riding over the fields of the
countryside. Terriers working these hunts were required to be baying
dogs. Parson Russell demanded that his terriers be "steady from riot",
for the hunt ended if the fox was attacked underground. If the fox did
not bolt, the terrier man, listening to his Russell bay down in the
tunnel, dug to the spot and released the fox. In the south, hard
Russells who tried to kill the fox underground were suspected of
carrying undesirable bull terrier blood (hence the brindle
disqualification in the standard). In the northwest of England, near the
Scottish border, fox hunts are not mounted, and man and dog follow the
fox on foot over rocky terrain. Northern terriers are often expected to
be hard dogs who can latch onto their quarry and drag it from the earth,
as the rocks and hills make it difficult to dig. In the north, hard
Russells were suspected of carrying Lakeland or fell terrier blood
(hence the faulting in the standard of a curly or wavy coat that does
not lie flat).
The Jack Russell was, and should remain, a baying terrier
whose job was to bolt, not kill, his quarry. This part of the breed's
history affects both its correct type and its attitude in the show ring
today.
After John Russell's death, the name "Jack Russell" was
misused to describe all mix and manner of working and hunt terriers,
many of which bore little, if any, similarity to Russell's own terriers.
The mounted style of fox hunting in southern England had been hampered
by expanding agricultural practices and the sport became expensive.
Those without sufficient land or resource took to fox and badger digging
for terrier sport. Terriers were carried to known sets and released down
an earth to attack whatever they found, no horses or hounds required.
These terriers were more aggressive than intelligent, and needed not the
leg, stamina, nor common sense of the early Jack Russell. The public
came to know a "Jack Russell" only as a game working terrier, regardless
of shape or size. Unfortunately, it was this kind of terrier;
bull-headed, long-backed, short-legged, prick- eared, frequently
achrondroplastic and of questionable temperament, that was imported to
America incorrectly bearing the name "Jack Russell" and who can be found
all over the media today. Parson John Russell and his compatriots would
not have recognized these terriers, not as Jack Russells or Fox
Terriers, nor as suitable for fox hunting, for indeed they are not.
The first Jack Russell breed standard was drafted in 1904 by
Arthur Heinemann, who founded the Parson Jack Russell Terrier Club in
1914. The standard calls for a 14" terrier and accurately reflects the
original Jack Russell. This Parson-type Jack Russell was kept alive by
sportsman in southern England and recorded through the years by
well-known dog fanciers.
In England in the early 1970's, a 10-15" height standard was
devised to  encompass
the myriad of commonly popular post-war breed distortions. The 10"-15"
standard calls for a 'balanced' terrier as does the 12-14" standard.
From a breeders stand-point the 10-15" standard is impossible to
reproduce, as a 10" balanced terrier has none of the bone, substance, or
stature necessary to satisfy breed function.
In January of 1990, the Jack Russell was recognized on the 14"
standard in England by The Kennel Club as the Parson Jack Russell
Terrier, a working variant of the fox terrier. The Parson Jack
Russell Terrier Club of Great Britain (PJRTC) is composed of working
terrier people who felt the breed was seriously endangered by the
practices of those who advocated a 10-15" standard, and they took the
breed to Kennel Club recognition to protect the original standard.
To date, the Parson Jack Russell has been recognized under the
F.C.I. umbrella by News in Germany, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark,
The Netherlands, Italy, South Africa, and Australia. The northern
European countries have a strong showing of good types, particularly in
Germany, Finland, and Sweden. In Australia, the ANKC has recognized both
the Parson Jack Russell (12-14") and the Jack Russell (10-12") on the
basis of entirely separate registries.
T he quality of the breed in the United States is highly
regarded: "Indeed,
it has to be admitted, that American-bred Russells are probably the best
in the world at present, in terms of their depth of quality." Sheila
Atter, Jack Russell Terriers Today 1995. We hope to be able to
continue the trend.
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