PRESENTED BY THE DOMESDAY BOOK OF DOGS Hole dog. Creeper. Are North American foxes smaller than their European counterparts? That was the question that American hunters pondered over and the answer is - possibly yes. Certainly the grey fox ( Urocyon cinereoargenteus ) is, indeed slightly smaller than the Red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ). Either way some American hunters came to the conclusion that terriers in general were a little too large to flush foxes from their lairs. This could have been J. Watson Webb's motive when he experimentally crossed various breeds for a few generations, based around the Norwich terrier for the Shelburne hunt. Certainly Sir Jocelyn Lucas used Norwich terrier blood to achieve the smaller size he needed for his own breed of terrier. Webb would probably have been better using straight Norwich terriers or Norwich terrier first crosses. To be an earth dog a terrier must be man-spannable, i.e. a chest circumference of 14" or less. Many terriers the...