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DANDIE DINMONT TERRIER |
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Stemming from
the same stock as the Border, Lakeland, Bedlington and Welsh, and from
the north where England becomes Scotland, trotted the short-legged Dandie
Dinmont, His coat's crisp mixture of hard and soft hair in the blue and
liver shades, as well as the long drop ear, puts him very close to the
Bedlington in ancestry. Yet crosses involving various hounds and running
dogs are suggested because of his distinctive physical traits: the short,
crooked legs, the arched loin, and the rounded head and large eye. The
standard asks for a body that is one or two inches less in length than
twice the height, making him long and not very tall.
This variety
was developed as far back as the 1600s as a specialist for otter and badger
in the Cheviot Hills and near Coquetdale. Most of these dogs were kept
by a few families in the area, like the Allans. Willie "Piper"
Allan, who died in 1704,
kept an outstanding pack and refused to sell any despite handsome offers.
His sons and grandsons continued the tradition, occasionally giving a
pair to a friend or for favors. A tenant farmer, John Davidson, obtained
a pair and bred them.
With these and
similar breedings, the otter terriers were sprinkled sparingly throughout
the area, without specific title or pedigree, when Sir Walter Scott chanced
upon them in his travels. He immortalized them in his novel Guy Manner-ing
(1814), in which one of the characters, a farmer named Dandie Dinmont
(modeled after Davidson), kept this breed. Scott describes the attitude
of Dinmont's famous six, "Auld Pepper," "Auld Mustard,"
"Young Pepper," "Young Mustard," "Little Pepper,"
and "Little Mustard," thus: "they fear naething that ever
cam' wi' a hairy skin on't." From then on, the breed came to be known
as Dandie Dinmont's Terrier. King Louis Phillipe of France owned a pair
of Dandies in the 1840s.
The Dandie has
the same intelligent character and guarding ability that make most terriers
good companions. The Dandie does tend to be willful, however. His coat
doesn't require a great amount of care, but does need combing out and
an occasional plucking, especially to accentuate his distinctive soft,
silky topknot.
A happy, loving
family dog, the Dandie is indifferent to strangers. His serene disposition
belies the dormant ratting instinct. |
