This is a real working terrier:
You can’t use them to dig groundhogs out of the ground, but seeing as groundhogs are found only in North America, you can’t base all of working terriers on groundhog digging or digging out red foxes for that matter.
European badgers are bigger than any burrowing animals in North America, so of course the largest size of dachshunds and many jadgterriers are bigger than Jack Russells.
In addition to badgers, earthdogs in Germany have to contend with introduced raccoon dogs, which are also larger than a red fox or any other burrowing animals native to eastern North America.
So just keep in mind, when you get advice from the internet, each person who writes information about dogs includes his or her own personal biases into the equation.
I am trying my best avoid it here, but of course, this is next to impossible.
But that’s very different from people who deliberately mislead with supposed “just the facts” commentary.
Also one should keep in mind that the Anglo-Saxon tradition of keeping lots of specialized dogs is really an unusual way of breeding and keeping dogs. Because of simple economic factors, most people in the world have kept dogs that could do a variety of tasks, including hunting a variety of game.
The Germans have always been about breeding versatile dogs, and until Americans began to copy the British traditions, we kept curs, feists, and shepherd dogs that were good for hunting, herding, and guarding the farm.
The Germans do not have the same tradition of hunting dogs that the British do. British hunting traditions have always been elitist, but since the failed revolutions of 1848, the people who lived in the countries that eventually became Germany were given access to the forests to hunt. Germany has an egalitarian hunting tradition, and the number of hunters in Germany is on the increase. In the UK, it’s on the decline.
Germany has to deal with an increasing wild boar population, and they have introduced raccoons and raccoon dogs to worry about. Germany also borders on Eastern Europe and beyond that lies Russia, both of which are far wilder than any place in the British Isles.
Wolves are recolonizing the country, and brown bears aren’t too far off.
In Britain, the biggest predatory mammal is the European badger, which is protected by law (though there is a huge debate about culling them.)
Having been to both countries, I can tell you my assessment. Britain is essentially an island with a bunch of gardens on it. Germany lies at the crossroads of Europe, where wildness and civilization are in quite close proximity.
The idea that we can decide what is a legitimate working animal based solely upon one country’s traditions and wildlife is really quite preposterous.
It us not any different than all the nonsense we hear from the dog show people.
