Kennel Kutcher-Chan history

Josef KUČERA

Lover of hunting and patron of the Parson Russell terrier breed

This article (interview) was written and published in the magazine "The world of dogs" 2016/4 by editor Dalibor Pačes. I thank him for the opportunity to say a little about myself and my beloved pack of parsons.

Since 1997, Josef Kučera from Moravany in Pardubice has been breeding and especially hunting Parson Russell terriers.

He got to the "parsons" thanks to his other lifelong hobby - horses. A conversation about the spirited terriers, who grew close to his heart, will be a small gift for his 60th birthday this year.

How would you briefly characterize a parson?

As an unusually spirited little "dog", who doesn't miss anything, he is interested in everything, explores new things and loves to learn. He is playful, non-conflicting with people and considerate of children.

Can you describe how you came to Parsons?

At the end of the 1990s, I brought foals for breeding to the foal barn in Smrček u Chrasti. There were two small tri-colored dogs running around, which I didn't pay attention to at first, because there are countless such spotted dogs in the villages. However, the owner of the colt farm revealed to me that they are not stilts, even if they look like that at first glance. They were purebred Parson Russell terriers, the first bred in our country. I had to write down the name of the breed because I kept forgetting it. I came for a foal in a year, that is, actually for a yearling. The little speckled knots grew into handsome devils, but instead of accompanying horses on rides, they devoted themselves to chasing roe deer and mouflons. After repeated warnings from the gamekeeper, they had to remain locked in the pen. Their owner knew that I was a hunter and into hunting dogs, so he asked me to try to do something with them. I brought them home in 1998, with both of them I completed a spring descent. Aron stayed with me and Arnold, who was a little scared because he was once hit by a car, went to a horse breeder, where he lived to be a beautiful 12 years old. My Aron Parry Equicanis, renamed Tonda, started hunting with me. He surprised me with his hunting passion in the burrows and on the black hunt.

So you started training him…

Yes, and I also entered him at the show, where he became the winner of the breed and was subsequently kept. After covering four females, I was able to buy my own "parson's club" named Ajša Mandylion, at the time for the fabulous sum of EUR 800, at least for me. But I absolutely do not regret the money, Ajša compensated me handsomely. She was an excellent fetcher without practice and an even better waterman. She proved both in 2008 at the first year of the competition for the cup of the insurance company Halali. She received a four out of all the disciplines of the special tests for water work and took third place in the competition of 16 hounds. As the first parson in the history of the Terrier Breeders' Club, she passed all-round tests, twice. She won the titles Best Working Terrier of 2007, Champion of Beauty and many others. At the same time, the successes of the puppies from my Kutcher-Chan breeding station came. For example, Aryna, the daughter of Tonda and Ajša, was declared the club's best working terrier for 2006, Beryl won the title of BOB in our country and in Poland, Don won the Miroslav Říha Memorial, which consists of forestry and coloration trials of hounds, and became Champion of Work 2011 and Club winner 2012. Ery was the club's best working terrier in 2012. At 15 months old, Gera passed aptitude tests in the 1st prize, then burrowing with full points, forest tests and special water work tests also in the 1st prize. With all my wards, I take hunting tests from skills to fields, water and the forest. I want to thank my wife and my family for these successes and upbringing.

Do you have experience with other breeds of hunting dogs with a similar working focus?

The year I got Tonda, my female Velster Cedra from Pine Garden died of heart failure. She was an excellent hunter. Foxes were always brought alive from stacks and burrows, they were no competition for her. She had a life and death battle with an adult fox. Tonda, on the other hand, choked on everything and didn't even bite an old fox or a badger. I have come to the opinion that Welshmen and Parsons work similarly, they are fearless, tough, persistent and non-confrontational with people.

Do parsons have any special nutritional and care requirements?

I make no exceptions in nutrition. I cook poultry or beef for the dogs, add a measure of collard greens, oatmeal, rice and a measure of vegetables to the broth. When there is no time to cook, I feed them pellets with a meat content of 30%. I only give special granules to pregnant bitches from mid-pregnancy onwards. Sometimes I add a teaspoon of minerals. Dogs from the age of ten receive rather light pellets. All of them are in kennels all year round, both indoor ones built from former stables and outdoor ones. They have durable shacks insulated with polystyrene so they don't get cold.

Parsons need daily movement, perhaps just in the backyard in the form of chasing each other, chasing away sparrows and all living things. They must not be closed, then they get bored and get old quickly. For short-haired dogs, it is necessary to comb the fur often with a plucking comb, the Foole brand has worked for me, otherwise there are white hairs everywhere. Coarse hair must be trimmed "barely" three times a year.

As for the vets, they like to check the ailments of our dogs. That is why so far optional tests before breeding are expensive, starting with blood tests for DNA somewhere in Germany and ending with putting the dog to sleep to check for deafness and blindness. Previously, these ailments were revealed by performance tests, without which no individual got into breeding. The vets came in today

Is the parson demanding in education and training?

Parson is a very perceptive and docile versatile dog, who even demands exercise by his behavior. A hound training friend of mine claims that in the time he trains one hound, I can train two Parsons. That says it all. Parson is more of a dog of one master, but he gets attached to the new owner very quickly. Especially when she is actively working with him and having fun with him...

How do they get along with dogs of the same or different breeds?

He is very tolerant. On hunts, he looks after his work and does not look for conflicts. But he's a terrier, so he doesn't like everything. At home it's a bit more complicated, there's a pack hierarchy. You have to spot which dog he can be with.

Are parsons loud?

This is quite individual, every dog is different. The whistle-blower really got it from God. You wait your whole life for such a dog. I had it, but I sold it... It can be improved with training, but that's not it. Bitches report very bravely underground, and that is enough for digging. A sharper dog usually tries to grab the "harmful" one, and with a full muzzle, reports badly.

Parson as a vole - what is your experience with it?

The ferret is passionate, sometimes too much so. He does not back down, even when he receives a "load" from a stronger opponent. Dogs make contact, bitches report. It happens that during hunting, your dog slips into a hole after a fox, and then it depends on the local hunters, how well they know their hunting and how they can lead the owner of the dog to such places. But don't worry, I've only "succeeded" twice so far and it was always a fox chased by a dog that was looking for rescue in a hole.

Do you have them on a leash or are they free?

It depends on the dog's experience and the environment in which the obedience takes place. The leash cannot be used in thickets, fields of corn and canola, so the dog has to fend for himself. My Cedra is taking time off from her hunting trials where she refused to go on a leash. She likes to wait for a slow master. Other dogs don't mind the leash.

As for cloven hooves, is the parson a one-size-fits-all or does it favor a particular species?

What is a parson fetcher?

What advice would you give to aspiring parsons practitioners??

The softer nature and great fixation on the master does not allow parforce or other coercive training. A few "educational pillows" have to fall, it's not possible without them. Training from the puppy's age is very important. It's enough, for example, in the yard, every day for a quarter of an hour - sit, lie down, walk by the leg and reward with a treat. It is good to take the puppy to the area with an older, experienced dog. But nothing should be overdone, it is enough to go once with an adult dog, and then three times with the puppy alone, because otherwise the young dog will quickly get used to working in a pack and may not want to work alone. Hunting experience will give him the most. You cannot replace one successfully completed sequence with ten artificially created colored tracks.

Could you add some parsons hunting story at the end?

We had snow this January. Three centimeters, which is quite enough for the Polabsk Plain. In the morning, my friends from the neighboring hunting lodge called me to say that they were going to go burrowing. A colleague let a three-year-old fox into the hole, and within a minute the fox was out. So a twelve-kilogram fox, the first catch. But that was not all, after a few minutes another fox appeared and was caught again. We crossed to a channel about two hundred meters long, I released Ery and Frona and waited. After a while, two shots rang out. Result: leaf, 5 kg. Another crossing followed, this time to a canal about 500 meters long, quite challenging but passable. A longer wait and then a cannonade from three colleagues. This time the success was half - one fox "lay", the other disappeared in another melioration system, more than half clogged with clay. The labors of both my dogs were in vain till dark. Nevertheless, we parted with the good feeling of four foxes caught. The next morning, another phone call, this time somewhat unusual: four pieces of black game appeared in our hunt! I rushed out immediately, but even a two-hour search for clues yielded nothing. But when I was returning home, near the neighboring village, I see wild boars running from the neighbors to us in the field! I quickly parked the car behind the windbreak and ran past the first cherry tree, just in time. Black ran almost to me. After the morning, one wild boar broke, the others ran to the neighbors, where we hunted foxes the day before.

The next morning their hunting owner calls: I'm sitting on a stack and instead of a fox I have three wild boars! I'm going to see them, I might need your dogs. At 11 o'clock another phone call: leave everything immediately and come! We caught up with them after ten kilometers all the way to Chrudim! Colleagues were waiting by the overgrown hillside near the village of Vestec. Spruces, brambles, rosehips, simply impenetrable thickets. I released both adult dogs and "junior" who just celebrated his first birthday. In a deep voice they reported the black in the spruce, but they didn't really want to go inside. Not me either, I didn't care for a poke in the ribs. That's when Ery appeared and emphatically "lashed out" at the wild boars. Two of them started out of the thicket, after the first one I managed to shoot. He rolled like a hare, but immediately got up and back into the spruce! The second was shot by a colleague behind the slope, the third ran away unharmed. We withdrew the gunner, saying that there was nothing left in the thicket. The dogs were still running through the thicket and suddenly they started reporting again, this time about 100 meters from us. According to the voice, definitely black. We quickly split up again. I followed the voice to the dogs, who were circling around a clump of spruce trees in which the shot wild boar was hiding. One of the dogs attacked him, the wild boar turned and ran off to the side. Two shots and it's over. It turned out that all three dogs were hanging onto the wild boar, so that the successful shooter could not place the shot and waited for a better position. The opportunity came only when the potter swung and threw the dogs away. This is how young dogs learn the true art of hunting. Unfortunately, some pay for their passion with health or even death.

Dalibor Paces

Photo archive of Josef Kučera and editors

"We will miss you forever dad." ... George, Your daughter and a pack of Your parsons.