GENERAL APPEARANCE
Shoulder height: approx. 37-39cm
Colour: White should predominate with or without black, black/tan or tan patches.
Coat: Smooth coated - Smooth, hard, straight and flat. Rough coated - Outer coat is dense, very wiry — the coat must be crisp and may be crinkly.
Gait: Smooth co-ordination with legs moving straight.
Standing boldly, Fox Terriers must be perfectly balanced. The dark eyes are full of spirit and are set midway between the flat moderately narrow skull and the powerful wedge shaped muzzle. The V shaped ears are high set with the tips falling forward. The clean muscular neck flows into sloping shoulders and the short, straight back finishes with a customary docked tail that is carried erect. Straight forelegs and well angulated hindquarters must be muscular and the small round feet must be compact.
CHARACTERISTICS AND CARE
Lively and active, as their name denotes, Fox Terriers were originally bred to go to ground after foxes. Clean by nature, they have readily been able to adapt to domestic life, and being intelligent they are easily trained. At times noisy, they are known to voice their protests if left out in a yard alone or tied up. The smooth coated variety needs only minimum coat care, but the wire coated variety needs to be stripped 3 or 4 times a year to be presentable.
HISTORY
From the late 18th century, Fox Terriers have been a distinctive breed having a definite job in the hunting field. Carried in boxes or bags by the horsemen, once the hounds had driven the foxes into their burrows, these terriers were released and their job was to force the fox from -its lair. Being extremely game, these little dogs were quite prepared to attack foxes twice their size. The breed is believed to have evolved from the old Black and Tan working terrier and later, in order to see the dogs better in the fields, crosses were made with dogs showing more white on them like the Bull Terrier and Beagle. Smooth and wirehaired varieties were crossed and produced both types in litters - a practice which has been discontinued today.