working terrier

English

A working Jack Russell terrier exits a den pipe.

Noun

working terrier (plural working terriers)

1. a terrier bred to hunt a small mammal, such as a badger, fox, raccoon, rat or opossum.
   • 2008, Stanley Coren, The Modern Dog (page 90)

     A working terrier absolutely must bark when it is the least bit excited or aroused because in earlier times this alerted the hunters to the location of the burrow where the dog had pursued an animal into its den.

See also

• rat-baiting
• ratting