Russell Terrier

Russell Terriers are usually extremely intelligent, obedient, highly energetic, agile and watchful dogs. They enjoy tennis ball retrieving and playing playing Frisbee. Russell Terriers have a very keen sense of smell enabling them to participate in earthdog trials.

They have a great reputation as a family dog, however careful training may needed with them to avoid development of "small dog syndrome".

They can get overly focussed on the activity at hand meaning it may be difficult to disengage them from the activity or behavior, especially concerning barking, or chasing wildlife or other dogs.

Russell Terrier History:

The Russell Terrier is also commonly thought of as the Jack Russell Terrier. In the early 19th century the Reverend John Russell used his working fox terriers to breed predominantly white working terriers, giving them an innate ability to hunt and to flush out foxes from underground but would not harm or kill them.

Trump, John Russell’s first terrier, is attributed as the foundation of his strain of working terriers. John Russell established his strain of fox terriers bred strictly for working, and the terrier we know today is much the same as the pre-1900 fox terrier. In the USA, a Terrier conforming to the Australian/FCI standard is simply called a Russell Terrier by the American Kennel Club.

Following Russell’s death it is believed that some of his bloodlines were crossed with the Welsh Corgi and other terrier breeds, leading to a different type dog, the "Jack Russell Terrier." Jack Russell Terriers are a type of working terrier, which have a broad genetic make-up. Hence the term Jack Russell is widely used to describe a multitude of small white terriers.