Ruckerhill Farm sits on 10 acres off of Rt 89, Irvine Rd, in beautiful Clark County Kentucky. We are often asked why the name Ruckerhill? Well, when we first moved to our Kentucky home we would give the following directions: Go south on Irvine Road (Rt 89) until you cross a small bridge past the Ruckerville store on the left, go to the top of the hill, past the Church, and we are the third house on the right. So, we always called it Rucker Hill. The name grew on us. Since then, the old Ruckerville store has been torn down, the road has been straightened, and more houses have been built. But this is still, our Ruckerhill, our Kentucky home.

Sheryl & I started with Jack Russell Terriers in 2000 after the passing of Jill, our Boarder Collie mix and best friend for all of 17 years. I was taken by the intelligence and tenacity of a little white dog named Digger while doing some Blacksmithing in the early 90s at the Chase Farm. Digger’s mission in life was to protect the two little girls that lived at the farm and to keep the barns and pastures clean of any vermin. After watching me a few minutes and figuring out that I meant no harm, Digger and I became great friends and I was hooked. I went home and told Sheryl that if we ever got another dog it would be a Jack. During a vacation, shortly after our boarder collie and best friend for 17 years – Jill’s passing to the Rainbow Bridge, my sons and I stopped at that very same Chase Farm and found that there was just one puppy left of a recent litter but was not yet old enough to be separated from Mom. On my way home from my next business trip in New England, “Missy” was quietly stowed in my bag under the Delta Airlines seat in front of me. That was just the start of our ongoing Jack Russell training and adventure.

From just getting a pet to where we are today has been a great learning experience and adventure. It started with a promise to the breeder to register Missy with the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America. We then started reading the “True Grit” club magazine and learning all the neat things this little dog could do. We made a call to local members Jane Griffin and then Phil & Susan Hawkins. Phil & Susan encouraged us to attend the Ohio “Buckeye JRT Trial” with them and we had a great time. We started attending more trials and we met Roger Shury judging GO-TO-Ground in PA. Roger took the time to show our sons (Tim & Andrew) how their dog could run the tunnel and bark at the rat, That was all it took for Tim and Andrew to start showing in Youth and Go-To-Ground. It has all moved pretty quickly since then. Missy whelped 2 litters and has produced 3 great hunters. I learned to work with the Terriers in the field from Glen Churchfield and Mal McEwen. We got a beautiful litter from Shirley Davis’s Elusive Diamond who at the age of 9 decided her new job was to be the farm’s great mouse and mole hunter. We now have working JRTs and all of them have a job; Missy is the #1 pet & bed warmer, Junior trains the young ones to hunt, Angel, Brisk & Hanna love to Show and Hunt with Junior. We love to travel to shows, compete, visit, and talk dogs with friends. Regulars that we enjoy learning from and connecting with at Terrier Trials are: Fred & Janet Settle (Royal Terriers), Ursula Schwalbe-McEwen (RebelStar Terriers), Diane Wright (Shingle Oak Terriers), Gaye Redpath-Schaeper (Conquest Terriers), and many, many, others too numerous to mention. We also want to thank Michelle Ward (Little Eden Terriers) for being a great friend, allowing us to add Little Eden Angel and Brisk to our family, and for being a wealth of information.

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lifes whole” –Roger Caras