| Jagdterrier | ||||||||||
| Other names | Deutscher Jagdterrier German Jagdterrier German Hunting Terrier German Hunt Terrier |
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| Country of origin | Germany | |||||||||
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| Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) | ||||||||||
The Jagdterrier ( /ˈjɑːktɛriər/ yahk-terr-i-ər) is a type of working terrier, originating in Germany, that is used for hunting quarry both above and underground. This breed of terrier is also called the German Hunt Terrier.
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A typical appearance of a Jagdterrier is black, and tan with the tan being more of a rust colour on the muzzle and undercarriage, a light tan should be avoided and not within the breed standard. It can also be chocolate or liver brown with white markings although the white markings and the chocolate colouring should be avoided in breeding programs along with a brown nose. Black and tan/rust markings should be the goal. The breed standard calls for an animal that stands 33 to 40 cm (13 to 15.7 in) at the shoulders, with females weighing from 7.5 to 8.5 kg (16.5 to 18.7 lb), and males weighting from 9 to 10 kg (19.8 to 22 lb). The coat of a Jagdterrier can be either hairy, smooth or broken coat should be noted that all variates do shed. The tail is normally (but not always) cropped at 2/3 the natural length.
Jagdterriers were developed to be all around hunting dogs. Though often used for quarry that dens underground, especially badger, fox, and raccoon dog, Jadgterriers are also used to drive wild boar and rabbits out of thickets, and to blood track wounded animals, such as deer. Due to their intelligence and adaptability, Jagdterriers can make good pets, but it should be remembered that they are primarily a hunting dog with a strong prey drive.
Between the two World Wars, game managers in Germany were focused on getting rid of "foreign" or introduced species, and bringing back now-extinct species that figured prominently in the mythology of the nation.
One of the pioneers of this peculiar quest was Lutz Heck, the curator of the Berlin Zoo, who went on to "back breed" primitive cattle and horses to "recreate" the extinct aurochs (the kind of wild cattle seen in the cave paintings at Lascaux, France) and the tarpan (a kind of primitive forest pony). Heck was also instrumental in the recreation of an extinct species (or subspecies) of zebra called the "quagga".
Heck's interest in dogs was driven in part by his passion for hunting, and in part by an over-heated nationalism that was mixed with a desire to see what could be done with selective breeding. A social climber and decided sycophant, Lutz Heck and his brother Heinz Heck were men who courted power and counted among their friends both Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring.
Even as nationalism and an interest in genetic engineering were rising in Germany, terriers were also rising to the height of fashion in much of Europe and the United States. The Allied Terrier Show was taken over by Charles Crufts in 1886, and was the largest dog show in the world after World War I, while the first breed-specific dog publication anywhere was a magazine devoted to fox terriers. The Westminster Dog Show was begun in 1907, and the first winner was a fox terrier. A fox terrier won again in 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1915, 1916, and 1917.
A fascination with terriers, fervent nationalism, and a propensity towards genetic engineering were braided together when Lutz Heck presented four black and tan Fell terriers -- similar to what we now would call a Patterdale Terrier -- to Carl Eric Gruenewald and Walter Zangenbert. Gruenewald was a "cynologist" (a self-styled dog man with an interest in genetics) and Zangenbert was a dedicated hunter with an interest in fox terriers.
It did not take much prodding on Heck's part to convince Gruenewald and Zangenbert that what the world needed was a true German Hunt Terrier to compete (and of course trump) the British and American fox terriers in the field.
Gruenewald and Zangenbert added to their team Chief Forester R. Fiess and Dr. Herbert Lackner, men with land for a kennel, and the financial means to support it over a decade-long quest.
An early problem was that the Black and Tan Terriers selected as the core breeding stock and deemed "ideal hunters" based on color alone were, in fact, not all that great at hunting. As Gruenewald later wrote:
The breeding program for the Jagdterrier was German in every sense of the word: massive in scale and unwavering in its selection criteria. At one point the men had 700 dogs in their kennels, and not a single dog was allowed to be placed outside of the kennel. Dogs that did not look the part, or which were deemed to be not of the quality desired, were shot. Early dogs were both smooth and rough coat, but the breeding program moved to get rid of smooth coats and the coat of the final product can best be described as "slape coated" -- a short, hard and wiry coat that sheds water and dirt while providing warmth in winter.
After only 10 years time the dogs were breeding more-or-less true, with a Patterdale-like appearance, albeit with more red on the undercarriage.
The German Hunting Terrier Club (Deutscher Jagdterrier-Club) was founded in 1926, and the dog was warmly embraced in part because it fit well with the rising nationalistic sentiment within Germany at the time. It did not hurt at all that Lutz Heck was a darling of the Nazi regime and counted Hermann Göring among his closest friends.
In 1938, a German by the name of Max Thiel, Sr. bought his first Jagdterrier. Thiel hunted with this dog for only a few years before the start of World War II. During the war Thiel lost his dogs, but after the war he settled in Bavaria and purchased two female dogs, Asta and Naja.
In 1951 Thiel came to the U.S, bringing with him Naja. He soon sent for Asta, who was bred and shipped pregnant. In 1954, Armin Schwarz Sr., imported a "champion" sire named Axel, and a few more litters were promulgated. In March 1956, nine Jadgterrier owners met in St. Louis, Missouri, and formed the Jagdterrier Club of America, with the expressed goal of getting the dog recognized by the American Kennel Club. In fact, the club did not prosper and eventually died out.
The Jadgterrier did not become popular in the U.S. for several reasons, not the least of which was that in the U.S. very few people hunt fox to ground. In addition, American hunters had excellent hunting dogs of their own. U.S. pit bull crosses may be the finest pig dogs in the world, while American-bred bird dogs are far superior to any terrier. Experienced raccoon and squirrel hunters were not about to give up their Treeing Walker Coonhounds or Mountain Feist to embrace a new breed of dog that most people could not even pronounce.
In recent years, with the rise of interest in terrier work in the U.S., new lines of Jagdterriers have been imported to the U.S., but most are used for above-ground or barn work due to their size. For a Jadgterrier to do well working underground in the U.S., it has to be at the absolutely smallest end of the breed standard or even undersized.
It must be also noted that many of the newer/later imports to the USA are within the true FCI breed standard(correct size)and are being used successfully both above and bellow ground with many reports of their offspring making exceptional hunting, flush and retrieval dogs both on land and in water. Today in 2010 there are many hunters across the USA adopting this courageous intelligent breed as a hunt companion because of their ability to switch between various hunt disciplines and their intelligence and aim to please attitude which is very typical of the breed, to give you some idea as to the true intelligence of this breed, not a pointing breed but yet we have a many reports of hunters using these dogs on upland bird hunts with such remarks of incredible steadiness when on point making it real easy to shoot over.
www.den-tyske-jagtterrier.dk
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