Mr. J. J. Pim's Irish terrier "Spuds."
This image comes from Hugh Dalziel’s British Dogs (1897 ed.)
All terriers were cropped as a rule until the practice was banned in 1899.
Yes. Britain has had an ear-cropping ban that has been around for over a century.
The law grandfathered in any dogs that were cropped within in ten years of the ban, but after that date, there was no more ear-cropping in Britain.
it is said that it was edward 7th, when prnce of wales that had ear cropping stopped. he apparently hated it so wrote to the kennel club who stopped it. not sure if this is true but that is what i have read. rev russell didnt like ear cropping or tail docking either so none of his dogs were done.
thankgoodness too as i see no need for cutting up dogs ears to make them into a point and as for tails well ive said what i thnk of that before too.
I’ve heard that about Edward VII, and I do think that was the main reason why it was banned.
Can you provide me a source about the Rev. John Russell?
I would love to see that in writing. Traditionally, they show that painting of what’s supposed to be Trump to show that Russell liked his dogs to look something like Eddie from Frasier. The dog in the painting is cropped.
i emailed you a link last week with a photo of rev russell and also the details of a book i have wrtten by his son dan, its called jack russell and his terriers by dan russell, isbn num 0-85131-276-4. in it he states “russell never cropped nor docked his terriers. he said of trump that she was the first and last of his terriers he evr owned with cut ears and tail. he liked his dogs to have their tails on as, when one was to ground, he had something to get hold of to pull the dogs out. if one pulls a dog by the hind-legs, one can permanently damage his back”
that is a passage taken straight out of the book. he also says talking of show terriers.
” they have so intermingled strange blood with the real article that, if he were not informed, it would puzzle professor bell himself to discover what race the so called fox-terrier belongs too”
and of two dartmoor terriers who he considered to be “true terriers” the process is simply as follows (to make a good terrier) “they begn with a smooth bitch terrier;then to obtain a finer skin, an italian greyhound is selected as her mate. but as the ears of the produce are an eyesore to the connoisseur, a beagle is resorted to, and then little is seen of that defect in the next generation; lastly, to complete the mixture, the bulldog is called in to give the necessary courage; and the composite animals, thus elaborated, become after due selection the sires and dams of the modern fox terrier. the bulldog blood gave courage, but not too much of it. the old pit dogs were bred to kill and a proportion of their blood in a terrier makes the dog too hard. he goes into a hole to kill and not to bolt the fox.”
im guessing he means the old bulldog not the modern one, and a pit dog perhaps not quite the same dog as modern pittes either. anyway its a good little book and f you can get t im sure you will find it intrestng. im not really into terriers myself preferring spaniels but find dog history intresting so if i see an old dog book i get it. i was surprised and pleasantly pleased to read the good reverend wasnt into chopping bits off his dogs.makes t even more wrong somehow that modern jack russells that carry his name have that done to them, thankfully they do atleast keep there ears now which is to me far worse than docking which i do hate but can understand in a working dog, but will not except in a pet.
tracey
Given that prick ears are pretty easy to obtain, I really have never understood why it seems necessary to crop. Obviously “hound ears” won’t stand up, but it really wouldn’t be that hard to get a Doberman with say, the prick ears of a rough collie or a Belgian shepherd. Much easier and without the drawbacks of the NBT gene (Boxers/ Corgi breeding project). Of course that would require a less than vacumn-tight closed studbook.
And there are no health issues associated with prick ears. Prick-ears are the natural ear!
Given that a really functional (to keep the ears from being grabbed or torn) crop removes pretty much the whole ear flap, there’s really no reason other than appearance to crop a dog who doesn’t have to, say, fight off wolves or catch boar, is there?
Yeah. Dobermans,boxers, and Danes have long show crops that would have no advantage in those situations.
Well — all three of those breeds used to be cropped short, like pit bulls are now. In all three cases, the style has “evolved” just like the style of grooming a poodle has.
The reason people do not want a naturally erect-eared dog of these breeds is because to be honest, it’s powerfully ugly. I’ll send you pictures if you’re interested.
I’m glad that at least this breed is now off the mutilation list.