Tenacious Terrier Dogs, of the Working Type

Thirty-three breeds of terrier dogs make up the group known as the working dogs, as earth dogs (from the Latin, terra, earth; or chien terrier , from the French for earth dog), as the dogs who best go to ground (terrier, a burrow), and as dogs that are the best at hunting, routing, and bolting small animals and rodents that threaten crops, flocks, and cattle (also from terrier, a mound created from earth tossed out of a hole). In fact, these are what terrier dogs were created, bred, and developed for.

They were made small, compact, and trained to have a tenacity, and endurance, and an aggressiveness that would see them into the cold, wet, windy, rocky, and tight terrains and locations that horses and men couldnｻt navigate, reach, or fit into. They were made to have an immediate reaction to anything other than their companions that moved and were raised to chase just as immediately. This persistence and hunting excellence (as well as their diminutive sizes) has survived hundreds of years, making them a continued choice for hunters. As well, because of their smallness, they are perfect for apartments and small dwellings, and because of their retained devotion, friendliness, and fearlessness, they are quite popular as watchdog pets.

When terrier dogs first came into existence is not known for sure (though distinct breeds do have a documented history), but in general were found in places such as the British Isles, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Russia, and Tibet, as far back as 500 years.

In 1702, for example, observers were noting in their journals descriptions of what some now agree was the Bedlington Terrier. The scenario goes something like this: one nobleman visiting another joins a hunt that passes a gypsy camp in Rothbury, in the Hanny Hills of England . He describes the dog renowned for its hunting prowess as one with the red of brick coat, the feet like a rabbit's, and the toenails not of those like other dogsｻ but of those of cats. Much study and deduction brings the lord to believe this animal is of a Hungarian Greyhound and Rough Scotch Terrier mix, inferences that once he records will become our first information and description of a Bedlington Terrier.

Even further back, from the history books (or documents of non-historians) we learn that terrier dogs such as the Norwich Terrier were also found in the company of gypsies and poachers in East Anglia (England) in the 1800s. Known then as the Cantab Terrier, the game and hardy breed was developed for working on hunts, in the stable yards, and in the fields.

Before this, terrier dogs were known to work in the same way on the stone cairns on the farms in the highlands of Scotland . These tough, rugged, and feisty pooches were used for hunting and killing rats that threatened the grains and gardens. And it is said that the first of these terrier dogs, known as Cairn Terriers, were descendants of the Skye Terrier, who came from ancestors who survived the wreck of the Spanish Armada, swam to the shores of the Isle of Skye, and mated with the terriers living there in North-western Scotland. This was in the 1500s.

In whichever century or decade each of terrier dogs were bred, they were developed with short hair and short legs, and often with small, compact, and muscular bodies to reach small spaces, to race to far away places, to hunt and eliminate rats, mice, snakes, otter, groundhogs, foxes, and other pests that threatened the livelihood and therefore the lives of farmers, townfolk, or factory folk. And some were used in blood sports events, fighting to the death other dogs, rats, badgers, and other animals, making them more vicious and relentless alpha animals. But the terrier dogs of today have retained only the best of all the qualities they were originally raised with. Terrier dogs of today, that is, are spunky, agile, and energetic. They are quick on and to their feet and very protective. They are tough and tenacious. They are hard-bitten, are the elite of the working dogs, are the gentleman's terriers.

And they are loyal to the point of selflessness and will work to exhaustion. For this alone they should be praised, awarded, honored.