landkeeper
Well-Known Member
Hard find them.like that now that'll actually work
Thinking of getting a terrier, talk me out of it
- Thread starter Siggy
- Start date
Bo Diddley
Well-Known Member
As you can see that photo was taken some time ago. Long before the hunting with dogs act started to take its toll on controlling foxes with dogs. Now it's all thermal & NV strapped onto a rifle doing the damage, much easier, but I believe it's nice to keep the old ways alive as long as possible.
LarryLightFoot
Well-Known Member
Does the name Keith Hall ring any bells for anyone ? Cumbrian chap who sold me my first Lk’y and I had a Patty off him to, he was friends with my old Keeper‘ing boss.
Bo Diddley
Well-Known Member
Seriously, I went ratting around some chicken sheds with a few lads that still do a fair amount of digging about a year ago, there must have been a dozen or more Patterdales and a couple of fluffy brown fell-type terriers there, the Patterdales spent the first hour trying to kill each other, the little brown fluffy tykes just got on with the job of killing the rats, to look at them you would have thought they should be perched on your nan's lap. Don't be put off by looks.
Magnificent 7
Well-Known Member
Yes I think I do recognise that name I need to troll through the memory banks
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Try the King of them all,the Airedale.
Bo Diddley
Well-Known Member
He only wants it for a bit of ratting
Siggy
Well-Known Member
Rumour has it that airedales got added to the mix of the GWP when they tried to make them better guard dogs between the wars…hard to get a working strain Airedale in the UK.
Had Borders for thirty years and trained them the same as my gundogs. When I retired the last one had gone to a friend. Wanted a little mate so got a teckel six months old. She was so nervous I didn't dare try to train her as obviously in her short life somebody had mistreated her. As soon as she saw her first dead deer everything seemed to drop into place and she changed totally. Now with calm measured commands she is perhaps 80 per cent there except when she is going at full speed to get to a dead deer. Wouldn't be without my little pal now.
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Siggy
Well-Known Member
Honestly, and nothing against earth work but a dog going to ground would be a major head ache for me - had a couple of jobs lately with rats in houses and a terrier would have been a lot easier than air rifles, traps and broomsticks!He only wants it for a bit of ratting
Hate using a dog in a manner other than originally intended, but it will be working
Siggy
Well-Known Member
We were thinking about a teckel, but the GWPs do the deer work - a terrier in the van with me at work seams like a better fit with the rat work. Also I run a lot and while I hear about dashunds that can do marathons I was leaning towards something that could keep up with a pack of foxhounds
Had a bitch that looked similar to that dog and she was the best working terrier I ever had or saw. Incredible nose, intelligent enough not to get too busted up, hard enough that there was only ever one hole dug and as placid a dog above ground as anyone could hope for. Whenever she'd hear my van coming home she was in that exact position at the back door waiting to see me and once she set eyes on me she'd bounce up and down like a kangaroo. She was from a line of breeding I had wanted for years as the two men responsible for the line rarely gave or sold dogs outside of their own tight circles and a friend of mine was lucky enough to secure an experienced worker from each mans line. The bitch was Star from Stevie "Batna" Barretts kennels. He was a legend of a terrierman that only lived a few hundred yards away from me when I was growing up, he always had a bit of Sealyham running through his stuff, usually white dogs and he never liked them too hard. If your terrier was open hunting and didn't return to you on the first call you weren't allowed bring it out again with him. He knew where hundreds of burrows and setts were around Cork. The sire was Prince from Pat Daniels kennels in Waterford, he had 1/16th of a pit in him and was as hard as they come, his locator collar got snagged and broke in ground one Sunday in a big rangy earth, it took teams of terrier men three days to find him and when he was found he was barely breathing and still on the game. After two weeks rest he was dug again at 6 feet.
I dug my bitch with my friend that gave her to me for years and he reckons she was the best that came out of the two of them even though she was from the last litter.
I bred her twice to two different lines of pure Patterdales and all 8 pups were outstanding workers and everything they threw were the same. There's a bit of her in a lot of the good stuff that's around Cork, Limerick and Kerry these days. She could have made me a lot of money but I never once charged for a pup on condition I'd get back a pup from the line in future if I wanted one. Her great grand daughter is boss around my yard for the last 6 years since her mother passed away, to look at her you'd think she was pure Patterdale.
johnnyha
Active Member
Amazing that there are so many responses which don't address the OP. The short answer is 'a lot', but only if care isn't taken.
splash
Well-Known Member
A Lakeland will easily run
as much as you, Find local terrier and long dog show then go and see what you like the look off,
J.kerslake
Well-Known Member
I have found they’re one way or the other…I have 2 Jack Russells here, one is as good as gold and soft as muck with anything that isn’t vermin, the other is a complete ring piece and has a hatred for anything that looks at him in the wrong tone of voice!! Including a bull x lurcher and a spaniel that wouldn’t say boo to a goose. Both jrt’s will go to ground and work as well.
8x57
Distinguished Member
That depends on the GWP.
I have a GWP and we also have a Jack Russel in the house which was the youngest daughter's until she went off to university and never returned.
The GWP allows the JR to rule the roost most of the time as the GWP is a complete wuss, until that is enough is enough and he firmly puts the JR in his place. The JR as hard as he is would not have lasted five minutes with my last GWP who was an entirely different character being your stereo typical GWP crocodile.
I'm not a terrier person but even I have to admit that the bloody thing has grown on me. The JR desperately wants to be my dog and I refer to him as my spare dog. Incidentally the pointer has taught him how to point.
Bo Diddley
Well-Known Member
Nothing wrong at all with keeping a terrier just for ratting, I've killed thousands with mine over the years. I think it's the best sport going, I'd rather a days ratting on the cover crops at the end of the year than stand on a peg shooting pheasants. Digging deep holes with a terrier is a young man's game, I'm too old for anything like that, and if I'm honest my heart has gone for that malarky. Good luck finding a nice dog
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
The problem is that dogs don’t do size comparisons, a small dog believes its as big as a lion and is happy to wade in to battle with something 4 times it weight and size.
Its not always the bigger dog that picks the row.
It may not live long enough to learn the error of its ways. My neighbour had a JR bitch that would snap and snarl at a GSP bitch I had. The GSP gave it several spankings but it never learned and it came over once too often…..the GSP wasn’t an aggressive dog, she was just bigger and stronger so she killed it.
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