THE OFFICIAL STANDARD


FCi classif/tion:gr.3 small terriers with working ability
Country of Origin: England
Country of development: Australia
Austr.Champ. Roj. Maximus	Austr.Champ.Carisbr.Casablanca

The jack russell terrier takes its name from the Reverend John(called "jack") Russell from Devon,who in 1850 created his own line of Fox-terriers.Thoses dog's purpose was to keep up with hounds for fox-hounting and have the courage to go underground to force the fox come out,without killing it.

Till then,two variaties have develloped:the "Parson russell terrier",big model,"square" in his proportions,recognised by the english kennel club in 1990 and the "jack russell terrier",small model,longuer than tall in its proportions,who the english kennel club refused to recognise.In 1972 the Jack Russell Terrier Club of Australia was founded. It is said to be the developer of the breed in Australia. Then in 1991 the Jack Russell(and the parson russell terrier) was recognised as a pure breed,by the "australian kennel council"(ANKC).Australia is the country who is almost entirely responsible for the development of the breed.Other countries,as New Zealand and Holland followed Australia in official recognition.Which leads us in Octobre 2000 where jrt was officially recognised by FCI(international cynologic federation).Thus little jacks are allowed to participate in dog-shows,as a pure breed and obtain CAC as being in a 10 years stage,whereas they will be able to have CACIB's.

A strong ,active ,lithe working terrier of great character with flexible body of medium lenght.Its smart movement matches his keen expression.Tail docking is optional and the coat may be smooth,rough or broken.

The key word here is "lithe",which means flexible,supple and slimly built.THe chest cannot be too wide or deep, otherwise the measurement of 40-43 cm cannot be spanned,especially when the height is relative to the weight.Which means that a 25 cm(10") high dog weighs approximately 5kg and a 30.5cm (12") high dog weighs 6kg.

Remember jack russell terrier is a small dog that is required to enter a fox hole and must be built with the ability to turn around in the hole.

A sturdy,tough terrier ,very much on his toes,measuring between 25.5-30.5 cm at the withers.The body lenght must be in proportion to the height and it should present a cmpact ,balanced image,always being in solid,hard condition.

Avoid roached backs,too long or too short ones and deep chests.Body longher than tall,not square as a Parson.

The dog should not be agressive.It should look to be enjoying himself.It should neither be nervous or shy.

Sound temperament and character are essential ingredients of the breed.They have a pleasant personality and are very brave of their size.They enjoy hunting just as much as a good romp in the garden with the children.

The skull should be flat and of moderate width gradually decreasing in width to the eyes and tapering to a wide muzzle with very strong jaws.There should be a well defined stop but not over pronounced.The length from the stop to the nose should be slightly shorter than from the stop to the occiput with cheek muscles well developed.The nose should be black.

The skull should not be domed or apple-headed.The snippey muzzles should be avoided.The stop should be neither over pronounced nor too slight.(not as a border terrier but certainly more than a fox terrier).The planes of the skull and foreface should be parallel.

The head is one of the most essential elements of jrt.It reveals the expression of the animal.But you should remember that a jrt head is just as good as the body he stands on.It is very difficult to describe the correct head of a jack,because of the great variations who exists for the moment out there.A well builted head should be slightly pronounced between the ears and ends up to a large , strong muzzle which is shorter than the distance between the stop and the occiput.In comparison we should admit that a correct jrt head is somewhere between a Welsh and a Border terrier.(photos soon).

Small ,dark and with keen expression.MUST not be proeminent and eylids should fit closely.The eylid rims should be pigmented black.Almond shape.

Light eyes are a fault as are large,round eyes which spoil the expression.The pigment on white-faced ,young dogs may sometimes be slow coming through,while this may be recognised,it cannot be taken into consideration whilst judjing as there is no way of knowing at the time whether it will correct itself or not.White faced dogs who have black,well pigmented eye rims and nose should not be penalised.Puppiescould be lack of pigment around the eyes,on the nose and lips:take it into consideration when inspecting males for stud.

Texture should be soft and fine to touch,not coarse or heavy.No preference should be given to either button or dropped ears,butthe last ones should not be large,hound-like or low-set.A hound type drop ear is lower set and heavier than is that of Jack russell.The ear must NEVER stand erect ("pricked"),neither one or both.A dog working underground needs ear cover.

-Button ear:the ear flap folding forward,the tip lying close to the skull so as to cover the orifice and pointing toward the eye.

Deep,wide and powerful jaws with tight-fitting pigmented lips and strong teeth closing to a scissor bite.

A hunting terrier needs a full set of teeth with a correct scissor bite.Any other variation is a serious fault and no other bite is acceptable.However,as a working terrier may incur damage to teeth,broken or missing teeth,clearly due to accident and provided that the bite is correct,should not be penalised.

The neck ,clean and strong,gradually widens towards the shoulders.A strong neck is required for working in confined spaces.

Forelegs: straight in bone from the shoulder to the toes whether viewed from the front or the side and with sufficient length of upper arm to ensure elbows are set under the body with sternum clearly in front of shoulder blades.

Shoulders MUST be oblique,well laid back( otherwise,hackney movement).Legs must be STRAIGHT.Avoid "bench or cabriole leggs,toes out,out of elbows,down in pasterns,knuckled over.Examine very close,rough coats,as some faults may not be easily visible.

Chest deep rather than wide,with good clearance and the brisket located at the height mid-way between the ground and the withers.The body should be proportioned marginally longer than tall,measuring slightly longer from the withers to the root of the tail than from the withers to the ground.

Ribs should be well sprung from the spine,flattening on the sides so that the girth behind the elbows can be spanned by two hands-about 40cm to 43 cm.

Correct jack russell terrier	Dog slightly longer than tall(25-30cm),short loin,back level
	Leggs height=chest height
	Leggs straight,elbows under the body
	Good angulated hindquarters,tail well setted
	Correct head,ears well setted
Not correct	Short in back ,benched back,too much color
	Leggs less than 50%of the body height
	Deep chested
	Sturdy with no elegance dog
Parson russell	Square dog Higher ,33cm females,36cm male Head similar with the JRT

Spanning is a hallmark of the breed,familiarise yourself with your own spann and remember the 40cm-43cm guide.Extremely important is also a 50% leg length to 50%deep of chest.

Many jack russells are too wide in chest.A wide chested dog will be stuck in a confined space ,trying to turn on its side to ener the gap.

Remember,"marginally longer than tall".A jack russell is NOT a square dog as is the Parson russell ,neither is it a long dog like a Skye terrier or a Dachshund.

The lenght of the legg is 50% of the total height.In other words,the leggs are equal in length to the depth of the body.Therefore leggs are NOT short ,they are in proportion to the size of the dog.

The Australian terrier is a "low set dog" nad may well be described as short legged.Fox-terriers are neither leggy ,nor too short which implies 50:50 proportions..The Cesky,Dandie Dinmont, Norfolk,Norwich,Scottich,Skye and west Highland white terriers ,all have forelegs described in their standards as being short,but NOT the jrt.

Jrt are not simply PARSONS WITH SHORTER LEGS.The Parson is a square dog ,the jack is just marginally longer.The proportions of leg length to body depth in parsons are 50:50,the same as a jrt.Legs are "short" when the proportion is 60:40.

May drop at rest.When moving should be erect and if docked the tip should be on the same levels as ears.

The tail may drop at rest and this must not be penalised.This feature is not usually associated with terrier temperament ,however,quite a few drop their tails whilst standing yet still exhibit terrier temperament.

"If docked the tip should be on the same level as ears":being a working terrier,the tail is used to hold the dog;if it is docked too short,there is no handgrip.A long undocked tail is permitted,but when the dog moves it must be erected and not curled over the back.

Correct, Arched Waved

elbows close to

the body

elbows bloqued out -mov/ment cross stepping

The movement may not be correct often because of short upper arms and upright shoulders.They must have good reach and drive with a springy,buoyant,cocky movement.If we see them move in loose lead,many are narrow behind.The rear pasterns should be parallel in mouvement.Watch for unsound movement,hopping,patella problems,hackney action.

Rough coat should not be wooly or silky.Be careful of rough coat that looks like a smooth coat because of extreme grooming.Rough coats should be stripped,but an important stripping weakens coat who looses its resistance and its is then no longer weatherproof.

Broken coat should be smoothish but with whiskers ,eybrows and sometimes a beard.It is not an out of condition rough coat.

White must definitely be the main colour.Parsons must have, according to their standard , >70% of white.Jacks are more coloured at about >51% of white.

The weight in kg being equivalent of 1 kg to each cm in height,i.e.a 25 cm high dog should wrigh approximately 5 kg and a 30 cm high dog should weigh 6 kg.

A jrt that exceeds 12 ins,is encroaching on the height standard of the Parson.If under 10ins it is likely that will not be balanced or may have a cabriole front.

The height/weight ratio indicated a lightly built dog.Most males should be at the upper end of the scale.If a dog is too lightly or too heavily built it may not be balanced.

Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.However,the following weaknesses should be particularly penalised:

NOTE:Males should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.

Photos:(c) Missirlis M ,exept for "milo face" (c) M.Tallberg,"aust champ Rojen Maximus (c) Jolanda de Jong," aust champion Carisbrooke Casablanca" (c) Rita Francis Little,"Caitlin of jack's paradise" (c) M.C.M Bastiaansens,"Brutus of King Bassies " (c) A-M Hoogenidhjk : use prohibited without permission!

	pricked ears
	semi-pricked ears
	"rose" shaped ears
	correct ears