This group descended from the terriers brought over to the United States by British miners and other immigrants.

Individual dogs can hunt in more than one way, but in general, feists work above ground to chase small prey, especially squirrels.

This contrasts with terriers or Dachshunds, earth dogs that go to ground to kill or drive out the prey, usually rodents, rabbits, foxes, or badgers.

Although they put up a furious chase, feists rarely catch squirrels; they typically expect their owners to shoot them.

Feist is defined as "1. chiefly dial: a small dog of uncertain ancestry..." The word feisty – "energetic, belligerent, esp.

George Washington referred to them in his diary in 1770 when describing a dog as "a small foist-looking yellow cur".

In her 1938 novel The Yearling, author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings uses the spelling of "feice" to refer to this dog.

Claude Shumate, who wrote about the feist for Full Cry magazine, believed that the feist was descended from Native American dogs, mixed with small terriers from Britain, and was kept as early as the 17th century (Full Cry, December, 1987).

Because of similarities in appearance, Mountain Feists are sometimes mistaken for Jack Russell Terriers, particularly in shelters and dog pounds.

Finally, while active, most Mountain Feists do not generally exhibit the frenetic energy of Jack Russells.

These descendants usually are mostly white in color with brown or black around the head and neck, with tall stand up, or button ears.