Keeping Up With the Joneses – The Norwich Terrier in America
January 10, 2013 by Pam Seifert • Categories: History
Long before the American Kennel Club recognized the Norwich as a breed, a small terrier type had arrived in Pennsylvania taking the foxhunting fraternity by storm. He was called a Jones Terrier who, along with his eventual counterparts, set the stage for Norwich in America.
February 20, 1936, the AKC registered its first Norwich Terrier, thanks in large part to the efforts of AKC Secretary Henry D. Bixby and G. Gordon Massey. Sounds simple enough, but truth be told the story of Norwich in America is a libation like no other. Mix equal parts of legend, lore and likelihood, add a dash of two different ear carriages, and you have a potion whose ingredients will be debated well into the next millennium. Take for example William Jones, the first dog of its breed type to be seen in America. He was not called a Norwich, rather a Jones Terrier, his ears were not erect, they were cropped, and while a prolific sire his name will not appear in any AKC registered Norwich pedigrees. Known by his owner as “Willum” he was purchased in England by popular Philadelphia sportsman Robert Strawbridge and brought to these shores in 1914, destined to become a hit amongst the vested gentry from Vermont to Virginia and points south. Willum was bred by one of the breed’s founding fathers, an Irish born character named Frank Jones, hence Willum’s surname and hence the oftnamed Jones Terrier. Nobody could have predicted then that this twelve pound mongrel, “all teeth and hair, like a rat-catcher’s dog” would pave a path to the popularity Norwich enjoy today. Read more »
An Old Breed with a New Club
March 22, 2009 by NTCA Webmaster • Categories: History
The Norwich Terrier Club of America — Established January 1, 2009
There is a popular saying — Everything old is new again — and this truism certainly applies to the Norwich Terrier Club of America.
In 1936, the American Kennel Club recognized the Norwich Terrier, a breed with one name but two types of ear carriage, the prick-ear and the drop-ear. Read more »
Division At Last
May 1, 2008 by AKC Gazette Breed Columnist • Categories: Breed Columns, History
The ballots were counted on November 26th and the yea’s had it at last. After no less than five previous votes over the years the Norwich and Norfolk Terrier Club has finally decided to divide into two separate breed clubs—a landmark event. Of the 436 members who cast ballots, 298 ( 68.3 %) voted to divide, while 138 voted “no.” According to the NNTC Constitution, a two-thirds majority of those voting was needed for passage (66.7%).
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