Farmcliff History

Our first introduction to Jack Russell Terriers was in 1982 through Ann Shepard who worked with Genie in the Glastonbury Tack Shop (equestrian supplies). Ann's bitch, Buns, had whelped a litter and we purchased Buster from Ann. Unfortunately, Buster met an untimely demise so we sadly accepted Ann's offer to let us have "pick" from Bun's next litter. There was only one puppy in that 1983 litter and that was Joshua.

From the beginning, we realized Joshua was special. Josh was about two inches taller than either his sire or dam and had that perfect broken coat plus a keen hunting instinct.
When Josh was almost 2 years old, we heard of a terrier trial in CT and decided to check it out. We arrived with Josh on a string lead and wandered around looking at the trial set-up. A very nice lady approached us and asked if we had ever been to a terrier trial and as we had not, she offered to show us around. She explained the go-to-ground and the race track and suggested we enter both of these events as well as the appropriate conformation class. "By the way" she says, "I really like your dog. But, I guess I probably shouldn't say that because I am the conformation judge today". This was our introduction to Teddy Moritz, one of the foremost terrier people in the USA. That day Josh was reserve racing champion and got 2nd in conformation sandwiched in between two Border Terriers. Needless to say, we were hooked on terrier trials.

Joshua did well in JRT Trial competitions over the years in spite of the fact that other breeders soon began importing excellent JRTs from England. Joshua was even awarded Best Veteran Terrier at JRTCA Nationals once. We eventually purchased two female JRTs and began breeding ourselves. We sort of grew up with the JRTCA and made Farmcliff a kennel name well known within the JRTCA world. Over the years, our terriers won numerous National Championships - mostly in racing but also in agility and trailing and locating as well. Farmcliff Teddy was probably our most famous racer ever followed closely by Farmcliff Barney, Kathy and Kermit as well as Long Hope Mickey and Lickity Split Sassy (the latter two resulting from stud fee picks). Now we have Farmcliff Liz, Peggy, Tipper and Joe - who have been successful in racing and Farmcliff Snowflake and Spencer - two excellent agility and trailing and locating performers.

But, we have always tried to breed overall performance terriers. Numerous Farmcliff bred terriers have achieved Bronze Medallions in Natural Hunting and many more have earned one or two Natural Hunting Certificates. Also, Genie has trained and directed several of our terriers to JRTCA National Agility Championships as well as high placements in other, all breed agility competitions. Some of our terriers do well in obedience competitions and as Therapy Dogs visiting with patients in hospitals.

Little did Genie and I know while we were growing up in Kansas (Bob) and Missouri (Genie) that we would some day be living in Connecticut with a kennel full of Jack Russell Terriers as the primary focal point of our lives. What a great retirement hobby which both of us thoroughly enjoy and love.