The breeds · terrier
UKC Terrier
American Feist.
UKC: an agile, active, small tree dog, evaluated as a working dog. History: the word 'feist' is an ancient one for a small, often noisy, dog; the feist breeds were developed in the rural South by breeders who needed low-maintenance dogs to hunt small game and eliminate vermin, often by crossing hunting hounds and terriers; 'still primarily used to hunt squirrel'. Garden & Gun (2008): nobody knows where feists came from; breeders measure the dog by what it does in the woods; the American Kennel Club calls the type too diverse for official recognition. American Treeing Feist Association: founded 1985 by a group who wanted to promote the Feist breed of squirrel dogs..
Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.
The body
What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.
Height at the shoulder
UKC prints a range and no ideal, so center is blank. The 20 in foundation-stock allowance is in the text, not in low/high, because those dogs may not hunt or show.
Weight
UKC prints a range, so center is blank. Outdoor Life's listing is the 'feist' breed in general, not the UKC American Feist; both stand.
Coat
UKC standard; the two editorial sources describe feists in general and agree on a smooth coat and varied colours.
Heat tolerance
Derived from the UKC coat description (short dense smooth coat = 4 on the ruled scale). No measured data.
The work
What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.
Role
UKC standard text; Garden & Gun and the association are about feists in general. The UKC standard does not say how the American Feist relates to the UKC Treeing Feist or Mountain Feist; the three are kept apart.
Primary game
Agrees across the sources.
Also used on
UKC standard; one editorial line.
Search pattern
UKC states silence on track; whether the treed dog chops or bawls is not stated by any source read. Cast work (dogs hunted together in a timed cast) is from the Honor Rules, which cover feists in general.
Field trial standard
The Honor Rules are written for feists in general and do not name the American Feist; the ATFA Hunt Rules page was not opened.
How to read this page
Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.
Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 2 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.
Every breed, read the same way.
The breed index grows as entries clear the standard. Gun dogs first.
All published breedsYour american feist, on the record.
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