In so many ways, the Jagdterrier is a singular breed.

Certainly at the top of the list is the breed’s unequaled energy level, an unparalleled ferocity for hunting that makes the dog regard anything with a pulse as fair game. One of our favorite authorities on functional, working purebred dogs is Richard Reynolds, an AKC judge best known for his work promoting working terriers and for founding the Ryder’s Alley Trencher-fed Society (R.A.T.S.), which hunts rats with terriers in New York City. Reynolds has pointed out that, in the United States, fully 80% of Jagds are entered to hunt boar, an unusual quarry for a terrier.

Hard to keep, hard to train, and downright destructive if they don’t hunt regularly, it was noted in a marvelous interview by Dan Sayers that “adequate care” of a Jagdterrier is to throw it a live chicken every so often. It is a vivid, if hyperbolic, way to hint that owning a Jagd isn’t like owning most other terriers.

In this post, however, we point out one more thing that makes the Jagdterrier special, and that is that the Jagd is one of the very few dog breeds whose standard directly compares chest circumference to height at the withers by using a specific numeric range. Instead of relying on vague wording or hand-span descriptions, the standard spells the relationship out clearly, almost like a formula. That level of precision is uncommon in dog breed standards. While the Jagdterrier isn’t the only dog where chest size matters, it is one of the only breeds where the rule is written like a math problem. From the FCI breed standard: “Proportion of chest circumference to height at the withers: The circumference of the chest is 10 to 12 cm more than the height at the withers. Body length to height at the withers: The body is insignificantly longer than the height at the withers. Depth of chest to height at the withers: circa 55–60% of the height at the withers.”

The purpose is functional—to ensure the dog can enter earths while retaining lung capacity—and, as noted, the comparison is written into the standard itself and not left to interpretation.

Image of Jagdterrier by kisscsanad/Deposit Photo