May be smooth, or broken or rough. Must be
weatherproof, preferably unaltered.
The standard allows for 3 coats,
smooth, broken and rough that must be weather proof. This causes some judges
great anxiety.
When dogs broken become rough etc. Despite the fact that
the standard calls for coats preferably unaltered, it world be rare to find a
dog in the show ring "au naturale" Therefore, I suggest you think in terms of
smooth and coated. Some dogs will present to you virtually in undercoat only, or
what I call "ducks down". There are two reasons for this - firstly the trimmer
is a rank amateur whose only ambition is to get the bulk off to establish an
outline. You may find that the dog has not been hand striped but cut with
thinning scissors the night before! The second is that the coat is very
incorrect in so much that it is soft, linty and abundant, no matter how you
strip this coat, it will always remain soft. To keep it in any condition at all,
it should be raked and hand stripped every week. Even so, it will never be harsh
or weather proof.
The correct coat is close or tight jacket, harsh to
the touch but not overly so, and when the top coat is parted, undercoat is
present at the base of the hair shaft. Top lines are often raked and stripped
more than other parts of the body and may not give a true picture of the coat
condition. A better site is the neck, shoulders or sides. Where a colour patch
appears, it is easier to find the requred undercoat, as it will be a variant of
the colour. White on white is hard to find. Jack Russells are not a breed that
is known as double coated, but some undercoat should be
present.
Soft, linty coats are objectionable and should be
considered a serious fault as they sre very hard to breed out. Breeding with a
smooth coated dog strengthens this type of coat. This is the reason why the
three coat types have never been separated and are always judged togethwe. .
DOG
ON LEFT IS BROKEN COAT. DOG ON RIGHT IS SOFT, LINTY, VERY INCORRECT
AND OBJECTIONABLE COAT
