tribunestory




Salt Lake Tribune, The (UT)

Salt Lake Tribune, The (UT)

July 16, 2001

Terrier Thrills 
Festival celebrates enthusiastic personality of frisky breed; Festival Features 
Jack Russell Terriers 

Author: JOHN KEAHEY; THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

Topics:
Human Interest
Index Terms:
Pets; Festivals; UTHuman Interest

Article Text:

FARR WEST -- The gate drops, and three tiny packages of muscle, heart and brain 
that make up the famed Jack Russell terrier take off after the artificial fox 
tail.

The small dogs -- marked with characteristic black and brown spots, some with 
freckles,others with pure-white fur -- leaped over wooden barriers and then 
disappeared through a tiny slot in a stack of straw bales at the course's end 
where the elusive fox tail has disappeared.

The winner of one of the informal heats, conducted in the midst of shimmering 
farmland a few miles north of Ogden, is 1-year-old Patches, owned by Crystal 
Sovereen, a 12-year-old Lehi resident. Another heat is won by Tootsie, all of 10 
inches high, owned by 9-year-old Shaylee Jackson of Hooper.  Both dogs were bred 
by Jim and Sally Parcher.

Both big-hearted puppies are as excited as their owners, and the eight or nine 
other high-spirited dogs running in the friendly, unofficial races share the joy 
as well.

With Jack Russel! l terriers, it's not the winning that counts; it's the thrill 
of the chase, whether overland or deep within burrows that hide foxes, raccoons, 
badgers or rats.

These small terriers, with legs barely longer than a human index finger, 
certainly are thrilled as they run the course at the Farr West Russell Fest on 
Saturday and Sunday.

There are longer-legged Russell breeds as well, and some differ slightly from 
one another in their coats, described as smooth or rough.

Records show the dogs were around as early as the late 16th century. They were 
bred to participate in fox hunts. Larger hunting hounds would chase a fox. When 
the terrified fox would hide in a burrow, the human pursuers would take the 
smaller Russells -- they usually didn't get taller than 15 inches -- out of 
their saddle bags, place them near the burrows and wait while the dogs with 
short legs and narrow, but muscular, chests would burrow in and drive out the 
fox so the hunt could continu! e.

Over the centuries, different kinds of terriers evolved for different kinds of 
tasks. Some are taller and broader -- generally known by the full name "Jack 
Russell terriers" -- than the majority of smaller dogs, known simply as 
"Russell," at the Farr West event.

A few hundred feet from the noise of the day's activities, nestled deep in the 
cool interior of the kennel's birthing hut, sits a rough-coated mother with five 
2-day-old puppies.

"We don't now yet whether any of them will be rough-coated or smooth, said 
kennel co-owner Sally Parcher, who with husband Jim retired to Farr West from 
California two years ago.

The breed is catching on in popularity to the point where Sally Parcher says she 
rarely has to advertise.

At this terrier fest, the small dogs are on their best behavior. They sit 
quietly at heel, and only erupt in happy jumping when someone bends down to 
offer a pat on the head.

"A lot of people believe Russells are rambunctious, noisy and destructive," says 
Crystal's mother, Janeen Bennion. "But Patches has never destroyed anything in 
the house, except chew toys, and once she gets her daily exercise, she can just 
settle in and be with Crystal everywhere she goes."

Parcher agrees that many people believe the breed in general is overly 
rambunctious, but the trick to keeping them calm and relaxed like Patches and 
the other dogs at the weekend Russell Fest is how they are treated -- both in 
the kennel and later at home.  

People need to remember, she says, that the Russell is a working breed. They 
have to exercise daily, and once that is accomplished, they usually are content 
to relax at the side of their human counterpart.  People also need to know that 
these "Russell Terriers" are a breed apart from the longer legged Jack Russell 
Terrier.  They are not typically "hyper" as the Jack Russell Terrier is known to 
be.

Bennion, watching her daughter take Patches over a series of jumps, each one 
progre! ssively higher, can attest to their loyalty. In the year her daughter 
Crystal has had Patches, "the two have really bonded. They are inseparable. She 
is just the sweetest dog."

john.keahey@sltrib.com

Caption:
RUNNING OF THE RUSSELLS Winston hurries for a come-from-behind win when Star 
loses her footing in the steeplechase competition Sunday. Several terriers 
squared off in the Farr West Russell Fest in Farr West.

Leah Hogsten/The Salt Lake Tribune 









(c) 2001 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the 
permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.
Record Number: 100E8D5ACC98D606