by Hi, my name is Connie Mickey. And I’ve been involved with jack Russell terriers for approximately 30 years. My husband and I started off getting a puppy from someone that we met a couple hours from us, and things just kind of snowballed from there. And we’ve been very active ever since then. Brief history started in England, as most of the terrier breeds did, and the Reverend jack Russell really loved fox hunting, and he enjoyed terriers, and he saw a smaller white terrier bitch that he really fell in love with. And that was the foundation for the breed more or less, and her name was Trump. That’s where things basically started. And the breed was named after him because he was, he was known very well, in his area, he was quite a colorful, colorful character, evidently, that he started breeding this mostly white colored terrier, he chose the color white, because a lot of the terriers that were being worked at that time were solid, darker colors. And he wanted something that would differentiate between the terrier and the fox that they were going to supposed to be bolting out of their dens when the hunt would chase, when the hounds would chase the fox ground, then the terrier goes in to bolt, the fox so that the hunt could continue. The core purpose of the trial of the trials that we do that we put on and go to is to, to let the terriers do the things that they that they enjoy doing chasing things going to into tunnels with you know, we’ve got the go to ground and the super earth.
And it’s right up their alley for running, barking. Their prey drive, racing, they get to race and the races that we that we do. There’s a lot of events that we do at our trials. It’s not just confirmation.
So there’s there’s something for every dog, they may not do great in the confirmation ring. But they might shine in some other events so that everybody can come and have a great time and have a wonderful weekend with their terrier and meet new people that enjoy doing things with their terriers as well. They’ve been doing this particular trial, this is their fourth year here. There this this club, the tri state Club, which consists of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. They’ve been doing trials for for quite a long time. The club is not new. But this particular trial here in the in Shayla, this is a fourth year that they’ve been doing it. And you’ll find the West Coast doesn’t have nearly as many trials as they have in the East Coast. But there’s a number of them out here that we can participate in. The events we had at this trial, we’re confirmation, we have a go to ground, super Earth racing, trailing and locating and brush hunt. The purpose of brush hunt is for the dog to use its nose to locate a PVC tube with a rat in it, and it has holes in it for the scent to come out. So it’s in an enclosed area. And there’s piles of natural brush, and the rat tube is hidden. And usually there’s a tube with just litter in it, and then they’ll be two beds completely empty.
So the dog has to find the right tube that has the actual live rat in it. And it’s a timed event. So go to ground is you have different classes, you’ve got a novice tunnel, it’s a 10 foot tunnel with one turn that the that’s for beginner dogs, once they pass novice, they cannot come compete and novice again. So it’s just a two tunnels with one turn right at the end. And they have to go in and work the rat. And then they get bumped up into the open class. And that’s a 30 foot tunnel with at least two turns in it. And they have to go in it’s the same thing. It’s a timed event go in and bark at the rat, I’m sorry, has three turns not to go in and bark at the rat and, and work it that’s what we call working they can stare at it intently attracted to bars, but they have to show some interest in wanting to get to the rat, the rat is caged, there’s no harm that comes to the rat super Earth is basically go to ground on steroids. The the tunnel system is much more advanced, it’s quite longer. A lot of times we’ll put in bridges, or bump up where the dog has to go up and over. Many turns the tunnel we had this weekend was approximately 70 feet long has dead end. Sometimes you can have false exits false entrances. It’s, it’s based more for the dog to really think about what it’s doing. And as opposed to regular go to ground, which is just a set series of tunnels. If they enter, they really only have one way to go to Super Earth, they have to think and they have to find out where the rat is at the end. Work it for a minute. And it’s a timed event as well. Traveling and locating. So trailing and locating is where the dog really needs to use its nose because the scent is laid down on the ground and meanders along and there is a caged rat at the end. And the dog is scored on how well it stays on that scent trail. It’s not as if they can face that they just start with go from A to B and get the rat they have, they’re supposed to follow the scent trail. And the closer they stick to the scent trail, the better of score they get. Racing is is a crazy event. And people love racing dogs love racing. So there’s a start box there there can be six dogs at a time. And then classes are split by age and height. The box flies open when they’re ready, there’s a lower on a string attached to a battery runs down the track and there’s a barrier with a hole in it that’s supposed to be big enough just for one dog to fit in through at a time. And so it’s the first dog through the other side that is the winner. And as they come in first through six that’s that’s your placement. It’s a very fast frenzied event. But people love it the dogs love it. confirmation for jack Brussels is based the breed standard is based solely
on the dogs ability to go in the ground, which is what it was bred to do go into ground after its Corey men here in the United States, the acceptable Corey to earn a natural hunting certificate is groundhog possum, raccoon, Fox, which is great or red fox, badger and nutrients.
And so a lot of those animals have tunnel system in the ground. And it’s it’s very elaborate can be small. So that the confirmation of the terrier has to be flexible, small chest in order for it to fit in the ground. So the whole street standard really is based on that ability for the dog to go in the ground to do its job. To work. It’s Cory confirmation is is broken down in into three sections you have puppy classes, you’re working classes, which are dogs that have earned natural hunting certificates that have been in the field and worked natural Corey in the field. And then you have your open classes which are adults that have not earned any certificates as far as working and they are considered open and open classes. I would encourage anybody with a jack Russell to come out to any trial that they had the opportunity to go to jack Russells can excel in so many different things. They’re so intelligent, and for a person to come out and try to compete in the of the events that we do at a trial. It just gives out an outlet for the dogs energy. For one thing, it gives them something to do. It’s a structured environment, it’s fun, you get to meet lovely people, I have met some of the best friends ever through these dogs. And it’s just a really great weekend to come out and find something that your dog can be good at. You might know you might never know that your dog would be an absolute fantastic racer, you know, and then you get this bug of like my dog is so excellent at this particular event. And then you want to go to another one because he’s doing so well. Or the same thing with the go to ground. You know, you would never know if you didn’t come out and try it. And I would encourage anybody with the jack Russell to join the jack Russell Terrier Club of America and come out to a trial experience that talk to people learn and embrace everything that this wonderful breed is. It’s fantastic.
