does anybody work the irish terrier??

[danny300 2,240]

There was an article in the Countryman's weekly april 20 2011 from Tim Allen about my dog Mister Mac :

 

TIM ALLEN tells of his joy at finding working dogs at Crufts

 

Mister Mac as he is known, was bred in Holland but now lives in the UK. He has a

blend of Dutch, Irish and Czech bloodlines in his pedigree. Most importantly for me

he has worked on various quarry and with some success.

A tad talle rthan i like to see, he is nevertheless a fine racy terrier with plenty of

substance and good muscle tone. Now a veteran he won his class at Crufts 2011

and may also have won my vote. I'll let you know what happens.

 

Tim Allen and me decided after long talks that we have to start building a working line of Irish Terriers.

So we mated Mister Mac with his working bitch Killygoan Red Lady and in june 2011 we had a litter

of 5 puppies, 3 dogs and 2 bitches.

 

The aim for me was with the first pick of the litter to look for a very strong and sturdy dog,

so i picked Killygoan First Class van Leeuwen better known as Mister Percy,

Tim kept the best bitch out of the litter so we made a good start for the working line.

 

At 6 months old Mister Percy already weighing 16,2 kg. he looks very promising and has already a big hunting

drive and works shoulder to shoulder with Mister Mac on the fields in Kent.

 

Coming june he will be available as a studdog so please contact me if you want to know more

 

Jean Nicolas Soeters (www.irish-terriers.info)

not being smart but the dog will only be 12 months in june so he aint a working dog yet .

[dev 226]

I was thinking the same Danny, hardly a tested working dog to start a working line with! What a kind of "work" are these irish terriers doing? Running after rabbits?

[Stabs 2]

Genuine question, is 35lb+ for a 6 month old Irish Terrier normal?

[Bosun11 537]

I was thinking the same Danny, hardly a tested working dog to start a working line with! What a kind of "work" are these irish terriers doing? Running after rabbits?

 

Thats it exactly Dev, what one man would call working, is a milloin miles from anothers. I'd take anything like that with a big pinch of salt. As the saying goes 'buyer beware' !!!!

[Traditionalhunter 93]

there is someone who uses Irish terriers for hunting on this forum but I cant remember who it is, search through past threads and you may find him.

[Big bald beautiful 1,231]

As a bushing /ratting terrier that you dont want to go to ground they could be ideal, still a stupid price for any dog

[liamdelaney 2,585]

Read the info on that bullshitters web page he said he has them catching hares.Now Ive heard it all. Lets cut to the chase Irish Terriers are full of shit just like Kerrys they can give it but cant take it.

[Mossdog 27]

I can shed some light (not a lot, admittedly!)

First up, as most of you know, Irish are never and will never be 'working terriers' in the true sense, in that they don't have the build or the character to go to ground.

Due to many years of being bred for the show ring and having their show hey-day when the show brigade thought terriers should be on their toes, bursting with nervous aggression and flying off the handle every 2 seconds (because that's how they interpreted 'gameness' - doh!) Irish do need to be allowed to mix with and find their place in the world with a lot of steady dogs as youngsters, or they can develop the 'lash out first - think later' mentality that they are known for.

What they do have, by accident rather than design - but it's there nevertheless, is an excellent nose and bags of stamina. They are also very trainable. My old dog was a good retriever and was reliably soft-mouthed on game. It was possible to teach him a reliable 'stop' and a recall and he could be sent out to retrieves and was a good marker too.

There are Irish Terriers in Austria and Germany that are used as search and rescue dogs. I used to 'body' (pretend to be lost!) for a friend who was training her collie and it was easy to teach my dog to 'speak' on command and to carry out a search over a small area and bark at the body.

I know of a couple of men who have found they make useful deer-tracking dogs and having recently seen a dog that had never tracked before do really well at a working trials training day (human scent) and knowing my old dog, I am confident in saying there is potential for their use as deer tracking dogs. I also know of Irish who work in a beating line without incident!

There are a lot of people in the breed who say 'OH- they all do that - oh, they'll be good at that....' whatever you mention. Sadly, this is utter bullshine! Any dog that you intend to work outside either alone or in the company of other dogs needs (in my opinion) to be rock steady around livestock; have a bomb-proof response to the stop whistle and generally know how to behave. 99% of people I know with Irish can't / won't master even these basics and think that just because one day their dog tanked off after a deer, or gets his nose down and will hunt that he's a 'working dog' (when they actually mean - 'he's a dog')

I'm sorry to say there seem to be a lot of Irish round at the moment with dodgy temperaments - largely because they seem to have taken off as the pet of choice for the Boden-wearing, Aga-hugging, Middle Class Bored Housewife - and these are the good folk who are pumping out puppies without really understanding bloodlines or knowing about the temperament or conformation of the dogs behind the sire and dam. They are also the ones who have pushed up the price to ridiculous levels. I suppose with the recession, something has to pay for the skiing holiday!

No way is a 6 month Irish a 'working dog' or even a 12 month Irish. Let's put it into context: my working springer is 10 months old and will stop to the whistle, recall, hunt in a tight, controlled pattern, do simple memory retreives....is she 'working?' Is she bugger! We're having lots of fun chanelling her natural ability and her desire to work - but we're making damn sure we put in the groundwork so she's a pleasure to take out on shoots when the time comes for her. This is a bitch bred worker to worker since the Year Dot.

Anyway - sorry to ramble! I just wanted to give a more honest take from someone who has done some work with their Irish.

I do know of an Irish who has started his deer-tracking training in Scotland and by all accounts is doing very well. Sadly, he snapped at a member of the family and they have decided he'd be better off with either a single person or a couple who are both confident handling a large terrier. He came from a breeder who only cares about showing and treats her dogs appallingly, so he arrived utterly unsocialised, emaciated and freaked by the outdoors! They have put so much work into him and would love him to go to another home that would carry on with his tracking work.

So - in conclusion: I think they are great little dogs and can be entertaining pets; definitely good guard dogs; can be trained to work as rough-shooting dogs, pickers-up or in the beating line WITH PROPER TRAINING LIKE ANY OTHER DOG and also some take to ratting and can work as bushing dogs - same caveats apply. With Irish, it's very much a case of 'what you put in - you get out' and you have to remmeber they are a very sensitive and reactive breed, so the temperament doesn't suit everyone.

Well, that's just my honest opinion

[Mossdog 27]

Another thing! The breed standard says the ideal weight for fully grown dogs is 25lbs. There are a lot of over-sized Irish around - but as they are too big to go to ground anyway, I guess it's not a big deal. Realistically, an adult male of around 20" at the shoulder can be a hefty beast - and there are a lot of over-weight Irish about!

Edited January 4, 2012 by Mossdog

[tillearthdouspart 100]

There was an article in the Countryman's weekly april 20 2011 from Tim Allen about my dog Mister Mac :

 

TIM ALLEN tells of his joy at finding working dogs at Crufts

 

Mister Mac as he is known, was bred in Holland but now lives in the UK. He has a

blend of Dutch, Irish and Czech bloodlines in his pedigree. Most importantly for me

he has worked on various quarry and with some success.

A tad talle rthan i like to see, he is nevertheless a fine racy terrier with plenty of

substance and good muscle tone. Now a veteran he won his class at Crufts 2011

and may also have won my vote. I'll let you know what happens.

 

Tim Allen and me decided after long talks that we have to start building a working line of Irish Terriers.

So we mated Mister Mac with his working bitch Killygoan Red Lady and in june 2011 we had a litter

of 5 puppies, 3 dogs and 2 bitches.

 

The aim for me was with the first pick of the litter to look for a very strong and sturdy dog,

so i picked Killygoan First Class van Leeuwen better known as Mister Percy,

Tim kept the best bitch out of the litter so we made a good start for the working line.

 

At 6 months old Mister Percy already weighing 16,2 kg. he looks very promising and has already a big hunting

drive and works shoulder to shoulder with Mister Mac on the fields in Kent.

 

Coming june he will be available as a studdog so please contact me if you want to know more

 

Jean Nicolas Soeters (www.irish-terriers.info)

not being smart but the dog will only be 12 months in june so he aint a working dog yet .

All most ready tho....

[danny300 2,240]

There was an article in the Countryman's weekly april 20 2011 from Tim Allen about my dog Mister Mac :

 

TIM ALLEN tells of his joy at finding working dogs at Crufts

 

Mister Mac as he is known, was bred in Holland but now lives in the UK. He has a

blend of Dutch, Irish and Czech bloodlines in his pedigree. Most importantly for me

he has worked on various quarry and with some success.

A tad talle rthan i like to see, he is nevertheless a fine racy terrier with plenty of

substance and good muscle tone. Now a veteran he won his class at Crufts 2011

and may also have won my vote. I'll let you know what happens.

 

Tim Allen and me decided after long talks that we have to start building a working line of Irish Terriers.

So we mated Mister Mac with his working bitch Killygoan Red Lady and in june 2011 we had a litter

of 5 puppies, 3 dogs and 2 bitches.

 

The aim for me was with the first pick of the litter to look for a very strong and sturdy dog,

so i picked Killygoan First Class van Leeuwen better known as Mister Percy,

Tim kept the best bitch out of the litter so we made a good start for the working line.

 

At 6 months old Mister Percy already weighing 16,2 kg. he looks very promising and has already a big hunting

drive and works shoulder to shoulder with Mister Mac on the fields in Kent.

 

Coming june he will be available as a studdog so please contact me if you want to know more

 

Jean Nicolas Soeters (www.irish-terriers.info)

not being smart but the dog will only be 12 months in june so he aint a working dog yet .

All most ready tho....

but not as a stud dog at 12 months he's not proven

[tillearthdouspart 100]

Of course what I ment was he aint far of working at 12mths. I should have just read it all.

[wippydoo 12]

informative and interesting reply mossdog

[mighty dino 9]

They are alright crossed with a greyhound make a decent lurcher for fox!

[danny300 2,240]

They are alright crossed with a greyhound make a decent lurcher for fox!

true mighty dino have one hear but if you were to start a first x now don;t think you would find the right terrier now