Midwest Jack Russell Terrier Club Summer Celebration held in Sandwich

SANDWICH – Shelley Holland of Florida visited Sandwich last weekend for a family reunion, but not the typical kind.

Holland, whose Jack Russell terrier Will B. Quick won the Purina Incredible Dog Race three times, attended the Midwest Jack Russell Terrier Club’s Summer Celebration Trials at the Sandwich Fairgrounds.

The Summer Celebration Trial I was Saturday, Aug. 17, and Trial II was Sunday, Aug. 18.

More than 200 dogs took part in the weekend event, many of the dogs Will B. Quick’s children, grandchildren and relatives. Jack Russell terrier owners traveled from not only across the country, including Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Texas, South Carolina and Wisconsin, but they even came from Canada.

The Midwest JRT Club’s Summer Celebration Trials are approved and sanctioned by the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America.

“It’s more than a competitive event, it’s a reunion of dog families and friends,” Holland said. “We’ve all known each other for years, maybe 25 years or more, and events like this are the only time we meet. It’s more than having your dogs compete, it’s all about the camaraderie, the people and having a good time.”

Roy Izzo, the Midwest JRT Club’s president, described the event as a trial for the national competition, which takes place at the Washington County Agricultural Center in Boonsboro, Maryland, in October. Izzo and his wife, Debbie, the club’s trial administrator, live in Ohio and own three Jack Russell terriers.

“It’s a fun and competitive event and there’s a lot of training involved,” Izzo said. “Jack Russell bred the terriers in the mid-1800s in England and the dogs were used for hunting, to go into tunnels and find foxes. … Jack Russell terriers are tenacious, they’re super, super smart, they don’t give up and they’re not afraid of anything. They’re sweethearts. Every single dog has its own personality and its own specialty, each with their own skills.”

The trials featured numerous sanctioned and unsanctioned events, including racing, agility – which is similar to an obstacle course with hurdles – tunnels and a teeter-totter and conformation, or judging a dog’s structure and appearance in comparison with the breed standard.

The dogs’ hunting skills, including their sense of smell, were challenged in brush and barn hunts and go-to-ground and super earth. In brush and barn hunts, a rat safely contained in a tube is hidden in either leafy brush or hay. The dogs try to find the tube and are timed. In go-to-ground and super earth, the dogs race through a maze tunnel to find a safely caged rat at the end. Go-to-ground uses shorter tunnels with fewer turns than super earth.

Lynne McPherson, a brush hunt judge from Mississippi, described the hunting events as a way to “have the dogs put to use the skills and talents they were bred for.” McPherson has seven Jack Russell terriers, six Patterdale terriers and two Lurchers.

“The dogs use their nose to find the scent of the rat,” McPherson said. “Participating in the hunting events helps keep the dog’s desire and fire in their brain. It’s all instinct. It’s a lot of fun to watch your dogs compete and do well.”

The Somonauk-Leland-Sandwich FFA volunteered to help with the racing events. Jessica Carlson, a junior at Somonauk High School, has three Jack Russell terriers at home.

“My dogs don’t race or compete, but it’s amazing to see the breed’s speed and agility,” Carlson said. “My dogs are small and energetic, loyal and so loving. Seeing Jack Russell terriers in action and competing at events like this is so much fun.”