ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996 TAG: 9611110058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO ERIC BRADY/STAFF
DATELINE: LEXINGTON
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
ON SATURDAY, owners entered their dogs in the trial's flat and steeplechase races.
Bean kept backing up and then hurling himself toward the fox tail, even though he was just an observer at this race and still on a leash. Lucy, meanwhile, indicated her excitement by repeatedly propelling herself straight into the air and yapping nonstop.
"If we didn't train him to do this, it's kind of denying him what he was bred for," Sheila Mason said of Cricket, explaining why she drove from Front Royal with her husband and parents to enter Cricket in his first races at the Old Dominion Jack Russell Terrier Trial.
"It's him," she said. "It's cold, and we wouldn't be out here on a day like this. But he enjoys it."
Owners said Saturday that it's their dogs' instinct to hunt and run that motivated them to bring them to the competition at the Virginia Horse Center, where more than 300 of the terriers from all over were entered.
"They will chase anything. They're just so alive," said Kelly Cutler of Bedford, attending with her husband, Jeff, and two terriers, Christian and Michael.
She enjoys the trials because they're "more focused on the value of the dog" and the dog's abilities, rather than showmanship.
The trials involved flat races and steeplechase races, where competitors had to jump over hurdles and finish by running through a small hole in a wall of hay bales. During the "go-to-ground," the dogs had to maneuver through a simulated foxhole and then scratch at a cage of rats at the end to show their hunting instinct. During the conformation part of the trial, dogs are judged on how well their appearance conforms with the ideal for a hunting terrier - compact body, straight legs, strong teeth, small chest and other criteria.
Jack Russell terriers technically are a strain of dog, encompassing a broad range of sizes, colors and types, rather than a pure breed.
Saturday's trial was sanctioned by the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America, which encourages breeding the dogs for their work attributes. The group opposes having the breed recognized by kennel clubs or registries because it's concerned that doing that will turn the dogs into a show breed, encouraging breeding for form instead of function.
The little terriers, which look like the stoic pet star of TV's "Frasier" but with a lot more energy, were bred in England for flushing foxes and other prey out of underground dens. To qualify for registration with the club, they must be small enough to fit down foxholes, energetic and able to locate prey underground and hold it until the hunter arrives.
"When we played with him in the yard, we could tell this was what he was bred to do," Mason said.
Most of the owners at Saturday's trials seemed happy just to watch their dogs race, not too concerned about how well they did. But as the championship steeplechase began, with the dogs chasing a fox tail lure on a string down the lane, owners offered words of encouragement to their racers and stood on the sidelines cheering them on.
One man cradled his pet under his arm as he carried her to the starting line. "This one's for all the marbles, kid."
LENGTH: Medium: 63 linesby CNB