A New Little Man Coming to the House

This happy little fellow stands 11" tall and was made in America.

The day I started looking for a new dog, just two weeks ago, an 11" tall, smooth male out of working stock seemed a tall order to fill.

The good news is that this blog seems to be read by the right people, and so I got emails from seven people in four countries who thought they might have the right dog for me. The first email was from Wales and the dog looked a cracker, but things did not quite come together.

Two of the emails were about this dog, however, and neither one was from the breeder.

The first email was from Cson Johnson, who I have periodically queried over the years seeing if she knew of any small, smooth males out there. She has "good radar," is active in the JRTCA, and seems to know most everyone. She also knows how much I value small working dogs and why.

The second email came from Sherri Rossmiller who happens to own an 11" female with identical breeding to this little male dog. She too knew what I wanted, and why I wanted it.

I shot an email to Dawn Weiss at Briar Run in Illinois. Dawn breeds working terriers, and yes this dog was available to the right working home, and she thought I might do!

We went over the fundamentals, and we were both on the same page: testicles stay on, breeding rights forever, and work the dog like God and John Russell intended.

Check, check, check.

Possum (the name of the dog) is BAER-tested and CERF-clear, and his sire is a bronze medallion dog, as are several others in his pedigree, which includes a long litany of working dog kennels. This little man has already worked an opossum, but due to the ups and downs of the economy in the last 18 months (mostly downs), he has not seen the field-time he deserves, hence his availability to me. Perfect!

Possum comes to Washington, D.C. one week from today (knock on wood), and he will spend August working the go-to-ground tunnels in my backyard, and spending quality time with me, the missus, and the other dogs. A month of assimilation at Casa Terrierman should do him well, and I expect we will both teach each other a little. In September, of course, we hunt!

Much thanks to Dawn for making this dog available to me. I assure her no one could ever give a working dog a better life or appreciate it more.


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• Related Links:
  ** So You Want a Dog?
  ** Finding the Right Dog
  ** Ten Reasons to Join the JRTCA
  ** The Real Jack Russell Terrier: A Complete History
  ** A 15-Year Mistake
  ** What is a Terrier?
  ** Searching for the Questing Beast
  ** A Question of Breed
  ** These are the Good Old Days
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