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Old School Russells


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1st dig to him yesterday in just over a year,didn't think I would be digging him again.

A warm ride home after a long wet day

I go on about this sort of thing to my kids all the time. I walk around my old council estate now and see nothing but shite, un kept gardens, rubbish everywhere and just no pride. When I grew up every

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id be into the larger type russells if they could be got,it'd be great to see them make a come back.I know their not gone away but be great to see the numbers rise of single handed working dogs,if anyone breeds a litter from well worked parents and theres maybe 1 a bit too big,I got a good home here for her/ /him :angel::D ...some very nice terriers here.gives one hope for their future,lol

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nice cut of a terrier there jig saw,bit a leg in him anyway,i never fancied them bow legged yolks with the turned out paws

. The best earth dog I have seen was one of them bow legged yolks with the turned out paws ,no earth was too big and he never failed always made it look easy ,unfortunately he never threw anything ,a one off ,but he set the standard that very few have failed to reach.Love to see the Russell's best of luck!
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Thinking back on Old School Russells reminds me of a terrier born back in the late 80s. I won't give his owner any credit as he turned out to be a dog thief.

But in Crumlin in Dublin in the late 80s a first cross staff / russell called "Bully" (Dublin had plenty of good , solid, staffs in those days) was put over a russell bitch called "Mini". Mini changed hands a few times as she had a hatred of children but was a good sensible russell who'd bay all day, never had a tooth put on her and never put a tooth on anything (other than any children who annoyed her.).

One of these pups "Tiny" was in a pet home until 2 years of age and ended up being sold to a lad from Kells , Co. Meath.

So this 3/4 russell ,1/4 staff little terrier did around 6 or 7 seasons before being killed by a cur of a lurcher.

I was on an awful lot of Tinys digs and although he was never put anywhere deep he always was there at the end.

Now , the lad who owned Tiny didn't keep a season. He dug 3, 4 or 5 days a week and I don't lie when I say that Tiny was often dug to 3 or 4 times a day.

Add it up. If Tiny was dug to anything between 6 and 10 times a week accounting for anything between 6 and 12 head of game over a 52 week period it works out at hundreds of head of game a year.

How many of our modern dogs see that nowadays ?

Tiny as far as I know covered one bitch who got an infection and lost the pups.

Also Tiny used to sleep on the couch in his owners house and the dog would be that stiff from work he was often carried to the first earth, he never got hit and worked just like his mother.

The funny thing is, there were probably plenty of terriers around like him in those days.

Sometimes not the gamest of animals but certainly often the most useful.

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Think in those days , we were young keen and green and didnt think much to resting dogs , or permission lol

I remember having a terrier stuck in a scrap yard once in the middle of town :laugh:

But at the end of the day we all came through it and hopefully abit wiser :yes:

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Thinking back on Old School Russells reminds me of a terrier born back in the late 80s. I won't give his owner any credit as he turned out to be a dog thief.

But in Crumlin in Dublin in the late 80s a first cross staff / russell called "Bully" (Dublin had plenty of good , solid, staffs in those days) was put over a russell bitch called "Mini". Mini changed hands a few times as she had a hatred of children but was a good sensible russell who'd bay all day, never had a tooth put on her and never put a tooth on anything (other than any children who annoyed her.).

One of these pups "Tiny" was in a pet home until 2 years of age and ended up being sold to a lad from Kells , Co. Meath.

So this 3/4 russell ,1/4 staff little terrier did around 6 or 7 seasons before being killed by a cur of a lurcher.

I was on an awful lot of Tinys digs and although he was never put anywhere deep he always was there at the end.

Now , the lad who owned Tiny didn't keep a season. He dug 3, 4 or 5 days a week and I don't lie when I say that Tiny was often dug to 3 or 4 times a day.

Add it up. If Tiny was dug to anything between 6 and 10 times a week accounting for anything between 6 and 12 head of game over a 52 week period it works out at hundreds of head of game a year.

How many of our modern dogs see that nowadays ?

Tiny as far as I know covered one bitch who got an infection and lost the pups.

Also Tiny used to sleep on the couch in his owners house and the dog would be that stiff from work he was often carried to the first earth, he never got hit and worked just like his mother.

The funny thing is, there were probablyn plenty of terriers around like him in those days.

Sometimes not the gamest of animals but certainly often the most useful.

neil it sounds exactly like the Russell's we used to use they were never hard, just out n out buyers and accounted for some head of game and we used to walk past the police station on the way home with hardly ever a mark on the terriers. They're my fav type of work style
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Talking of police. Another around the same time happened to a few friends I dig with, again it was to an old russell cross.

The lads were just crowning in to the dog when they heard some roaring and shouting.

An English man who'd just moved into the area had come across to the lads with his teenage son and was screaming "badger baiters" and using a pitchfork held the boys back while the son went to meet the police who had been called.

The boys were lucky enough to have had their terrier out and got a shovel in to block the dig.

Soon enough here comes a Sergeant and an officer.

He asked the boys had they permission.

They said "yes".

He asked the boys were they badger baiting.

They told the Sergeant to lift the shovel.

He did and 2 foxes bolted immediately.

"Right" said the sergeant "I've seen enough".

Turning to the two English men he told them to get off the land immediately before he done them for trespass with a deadly weapon.

The boys backfilled and went home.

They were sitting in one of their mothers kitchens drinking tea when they seen the Sergeants car pull up.

They thought "Oh shit".

In comes the Sergeant and says "you boys told me lies, you's didn't have permission."

They said "Sorry".

The Sergeant says back "well you's do now and that farmer has some badgers he wants gone."

Happier, simpler times and I'm not talking about a hundred years ago either.

 

OH, and there's an even happier ending (I think).

A few months later we were on the beer in Drogheda when we seen the English fellow in a pub.

One of the lads flattened him with a bar stool,

I was there for that one.

  • Like 12
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Talking of police. Another around the same time happened to a few friends I dig with, again it was to an old russell cross.

The lads were just crowning in to the dog when they heard some roaring and shouting.

An English man who'd just moved into the area had come across to the lads with his teenage son and was screaming "badger baiters" and using a pitchfork held the boys back while the son went to meet the police who had been called.

The boys were lucky enough to have had their terrier out and got a shovel in to block the dig.

Soon enough here comes a Sergeant and an officer.

He asked the boys had they permission.

They said "yes".

He asked the boys were they badger baiting.

They told the Sergeant to lift the shovel.

He did and 2 foxes bolted immediately.

"Right" said the sergeant "I've seen enough".

Turning to the two English men he told them to get off the land immediately before he done them for trespass with a deadly weapon.

The boys backfilled and went home.

They were sitting in one of their mothers kitchens drinking tea when they seen the Sergeants car pull up.

They thought "Oh shit".

In comes the Sergeant and says "you boys told me lies, you's didn't have permission."

They said "Sorry".

The Sergeant says back "well you's do now and that farmer has some badgers he wants gone."

Happier, simpler times and I'm not talking about a hundred years ago either.

 

OH, and there's an even happier ending (I think).

A few months later we were on the beer in Drogheda when we seen the English fellow in a pub.

One of the lads flattened him with a bar stool,

I was there for that one.

the police are dicks, we were never bothered by day but at night the kunts would follow us over the ards carriageway and shine their spotlights into the fields shouting and screaming to scare everything. And on our way home they would stop us passing the police station and give us all sorts of hassle about badger baiting at night, they had our blood boiling quite a few times. But they ended up telling us they were bored and thought by following us would pass their night in. That's dundonald police station...... And in the mid 90s when we were in high school fs. Baastards Edited by BIG G wheton machine
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