Monday, December 14, 2009

White Fox-working Terriers Before John Russell



The picture, above, is by painter Sawrey Gilpin who was born in Cumbria in 1722, and died in 1803, some years before the Reverend John Russell ever acquired his famous first terrier, Trump. Gilpin was a painter that specialized in painting animals, particularly horses, cattle and dogs.

I bring this up, not only to show that riding hounds to fox was already being practiced, but to point out the little dog, to the right, that is featured in another Gilpin painting.

The dog in this picture is a terrier by the name of "Pitch," who was owned by Colonel Thornton.

The painting was done in 1790, and you will note that this is the very model of the (undocked) white fox-working terrier we know today as the Jack Russell Terrier, complete with spot above the tail end and split-head markings.

As I noted in a post written some time ago, white fox-working terriers predate the Reverend John Russell, who seemed to have no problem finding another one, of suitable type, to mate with Trump.

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