How many of you work your terrier? Working Dogs

after getting involved in hunting recently, the common dogs that are out (other than the pack of fox hounds) are lurchers and terriers...

now im not usually a terrier fan, but being around them so much recently im starting to take a shine to these fiesty little creatures

what i wondered, is how many of you that own terriers, work them, either ratting, rabbiting etc?

i love watching them work

would any of you that breed terriers for the show ring, let one go to a working home too? alot of the terriers i see are crosses... usually border x lakeland or along those lines.

i dont get a chance to but would love to if i got the chance

I don't - my terrier has to live as family with rats and rabbits - I don't think it would be wise to suggest to her that not all terriers snuggle rats

my dogs live happily with my rabbit but show them a rabbit in a field and its all over

I don't work my dogs and I doubt a person who wanted to work their dogs would be interested in mine.

I go to terrier shows with Parker and the judge just laughs and says "shouldn't you be at Crufts?" because they all see terriers as just being small working dogs (as per that article in dog magazine last month).

However, I was taking part in a Kennel Club afternoon where they were judging potential judges to award the Good Citizen scheme and one of the (real) KC judges said to me "Nice working dog you have there" after seeing Parker do some heelwork in the ring.

I don't think he would be much cop at getting rabbits or small furries though as he is too soft but we like him that way!

My JRT is 100% pure lap dog

She's like a little hippy terrier - loves all creatures. I was planning to do flyball and agility with her but she's too laid back to be bothered. When she's off lead she usually just walks by my side.

Used on rabbits for both pest control and the pot though they are usually a bit battered but to feed the dogs are more than fine, and rats and moles to keep down numbers. Both of mine are happiest when working, "Dulcie" is very very keen and a typical russell in that she has bags and bags of drive. Never worked to fox as it's never been what's required of any of our dogs. A lot of my family have and for a lot of years have had, varying shapes and sizes of terriers.
You say of show breeders etc, not all terriers nowdays would have the correct temperament or drive for work, and some may struggle due to their conformation, I stress some not all. There are just some breeds which the workability and drive has been lost unfortunately. It greatly comes down to what exactly the individual breeder is breeding for, and whether the whole package and respectful preservation of the breeds origins is to be considered.
Borders, some strains of lakelands, some strains of parsons (I stress some), seem to all still be worked and have lots of drive, then you have your working types which are obviously still very work orientated; jrts, patterdales, working lakies and bedlingtonsetc. And some breeders attempting to revive certain breeds as with sealyhams by working and in some cases outcrossing. In other breeds however drive and workability is hovered over by a bit of a question mark.

do you not think then that your terriers wouldnt have the drive to work? is that what you mean?

i think alot of the dogs i see are crosses, there is a couple of pure lakelands and a patterdale but mainly crosses between borders and lakelands etc.. i was looking at irish terriers, but imagine they are too big to get down holes?

No My dogs have the drive to work and a couple have accidently caught and killed.

I think a lot of people who breed working terriers don't believe that a show bred terrier could work so they are unlikely to come to me for a dog.

ahh so you would let them go to a working home if someone came to you for one, its just that people dont as they thing a show dog cant work?

Every potential owner gets vetted regardless. If its a good home its a good home.

Ratting and rabbiting isn't really regarded as true terrier work to the 'working lads'. With regard to ground work, one of my borders would be too soft, my other bitch would be far to hard. The keener one has caught the occasonal rabbit, rat and magpie.

Comes down to what's needed of the dog really, pest control is pest control, mine have always been used to catch the above stated, and bushing etc, never had the call or desire to use them on fox. In the case of "Dulcie" the russell she comes from a line from the stud of primarily fox dogs, she would be far too hard though and would end up quite battered if used on fox. As I said, different strokes for different folks just comes down to what you exactly need the dogs to work. Borderdawn's Breeze works as a gundog, that'd get some interesting response from a lot of working folk, then again too many working folk like heavy set dogs with lots of bull that end up looking like they have half a face though! Work is work in most's eyes, lots of people keep specific lines especially in russell's, for ratting, bushing etc.

Terriers I've been watching are trained to foxes (runs and hides) what do you mean too hard and too soft etc? I'm new to this So not quite sure of terms also is an Irish terrier too big for going down holes? By looking at them and reading the standard 18inches seems pretty tall (I measured it against my leg with the tape measure )

I'm no expert as have never worked a dog to fox in my life and have no intention of doing so . A soft dog perhaps won't even enter to fox, or will enter and then keep returning back to the surface without really doing much. A hard dog will battle with the quarry rather than flush it or hold it until it can be dug down to.

Well...... not really, but she does some modelling.... in a sense.

She did this for TillyMint:








She certainly enjoys 'terriering' around..... sticking her nose in places and scenting.



She could make a good worker, but she isn't very ..... brave. She screamed for her life when a cat chased her

Yes I work my to a reasonable degree in different fields. Flushing, beating, retrieving, marking/pointing, tracking blood trails, Squirrel retrieving (cant use dogs to kill them now) Ratting. I do NOT use my Terriers on Rabbits. I would be FURIOUS if one of them went to ground after a Rabbit and I had to dig them out! If they were still alive by the time I got to them that is, rabbit warrens are lethal to terriers.

I do not do any fox work now.

I would most likely let one go to a working home providing I was happy it lived as part of the family and had a home for life.

the terriers i watch dont go after rabbits either, they are used to bolt the foxes out.. they have these little tracker collars too, which i found amazing didnt even know such things existed..

one of my favourite terriers out at the moment is a patterdale with the funniest name ever... hes caled KEITH