Nipper was a Jack Russel, a bitch owned by an old school friend. He is a macadamia nut farmer near Port Edward. Probably the most intelligent and fearless little dog I've ever seen.
John is a pigeon fancier and one day a sparrow hawk was attacking his prize pigeons in mid flight, so he grabbed his 12 bore and took it out. The hawk plummetted into the dense bush alongside the farm house and little Nipper and 2 of his trained bird dogs, a setter and retriever instantly set off by instinct to find it. One would expect the trained dogs to be first but low and behold Nipper comes back within a minute with the dead bird.
Another time John was walking on the farm and a 12 foot black mamba appeared out of the bush, Nipper was on it and chased it into a large irrigation pipe and entered. She killed the mamba by biting it near the head and brought it out...much to John's relief.
What a dog, they are known for their sharpness and courage but Nipper was a dog in a million.