CHAPTER XLVI

THE BORDER TERRIER

WHEN law and order were established on the Borders, the warlike and thieving instincts of its inhabitants found vent in fox-hunting, brock-hunting, etc. As the Cheviot Hills abound in craggy holes and wet moss-runners, good hardy Terriers were an absolute necessity, and the result was the creation of two now extremely different varieties of dog-the Border Terrier and the Dandie Dinmont -though both originated in the same place. The latter, brought into prominence by Sir Walter Scott, became a fashionable pet, got into the hands of fanciers, and is now often useless for sporting purposes. The former were bred by the old Border yeomen and shepherds (who all kept their hounds or hound) purely for work. Nothing was used for breeding purposes that would not go to ground and face the hardest bitten fox in existence, and the Border Terriers have retained to a great extent the original characteristics of the late Ned Dunn's and Yeddie Jackson's dogs.

They stand about 14in. high, are narrow in front, not more than 15in. round the girth, and weigh about 15lb.* They have hard coats, smooth or broken (the former is preferable), as the case may be. In colour they are red or grey brindled, or with dark blue body and tan legs. Occasionally odd liver-coloured ones are found, but the first named is the favourite colour. The head is considerably shorter than and not so strong as that of the Fox-terrier, and the ears are half-pricked. As Border Terriers are wanted to bolt, not to worry, foxes, their jaws do not require the strength of the Fox-terrier. Bitches ought not to average more than 14lb. weight, and dogs 16lb. to 18lb. The colour of the nose should be black or flesh-coloured. The tail should be undocked.

Nose (or scenting qualities) is one of the strongest attributes of the Border Terriers, and a really good dog can tell by merely hunting round the strongest earth whether or not there is a fox at home. Several have been known that would not go to ground unless there was a fox at home, and some of the brightest ornaments of the breed have never been known to make a mistake in this connection.

* Weight, height, and girth measurement are the averages for dogs and bitches.

It is nothing out of the common for a Border Terrier to go down a rent in a rock after a fox, and be unable to climb back, necessitating continued digging or quarrying for three or four days. Of course many are never seen again. Whether they venture farther than the fox and fall down some slit, or whether both are lost, it is impossible to say.

To face the moss-holes (long runners of water) formed at the bottom of the mosses and often a quarter of a mile long, hard coats are a necessity. Many of even the very hardiest die of starvation after coming out of these holes, and before they can be carried to the shelter and warmth of the nearest fireside, which may be five or six miles distant, so sparsely populated is that part of the Borderland.

Border Terriers are often left in an earth at a fox many miles from home, but are generally found to have returned next morning, though sometimes they do not arrive for several days, and then are frequently badly bitten.

As stated, the Border Terrier has a good nose, is a keen holer, and he will go to ground in places that almost any other Terrier would not look at. He can follow a horse over the roughest ground of his native country, and yet he is small enough to follow a fox through any rocky earth. He can stand wet and cold as well as any breed, and better than most, is very sharp at rats and other vermin, and at the same time is a sensible, affectionate, and cleanly companion.

With regard to the dogs shown in the illustration (Fig. 105), Flint, the dog on the right, was whelped in 1894. He was by Mr. Jacob Robson's (Byrness) Rock out of Mr. Tom Robson's (Bridgeford) Rat. Fury, the bitch on the left, whelped in 1898, was by Flint out of the good old bitch Vene. Of Flint Mr. Dodd thus writes:

"Flint was lost one January during severe weather, along with a young dog by him. They went off rabbiting on their own account, and were never seen or heard of again; they must have got into some strong fox-earth and been unable to get out again. Friends and others searched the whole district for them. Fancying that barking was heard in one hole, willing helpers set to work digging, and after working a few hours and getting the hole fairly opened out, it was found that there was room for a man to creep in thirty or forty yards; but the hole was too narrow to proceed farther. The task was given up as hopeless, and whether the dogs were in the hole or not remains a mystery. On the following day, however, when out with hounds and again looking for them, a fox was found by the same hole very badly bitten, and nearly dead.

Flint was a marvellous working Terrier. He had a splendid nose, and was never beaten to find his fox in either crag or moss-hole.

Though not often asked to go to ground during the last year or two of his life, he was always ready if wanted. On one occasion hounds marked a fox in a hole; a Terrier was put in, and bolted one, and after a short run killed. We then went to draw another covert, passing within about 300yds. of the hole. After drawing the covert blank, Flint was missed, and it was thought that he would have gone back to the hole. We hurried back, but met him on the way, and at once his face showed that he had been at a fox. Hounds struck a line down to the burn below, but could not make it out any farther; and we could not understand it till a shepherd's wife living close by came running to us, and said that

Flint had bolted another fox from the hole after we had passed, ran him down into the burn, and caught and worried him in a deep pool, and that she had the fox in the house. On another occasion he bolted a fox from a very strong hole near Deadwater Station, that hounds ran into almost at once, and on examination it was found that both the fox's eyes were out. The fox was a fine dog, weighing 18lb. Hounds marked another in a hole a few hundred yards away, and Flint was put in again; but the fox would not bolt, so we set to work digging-or you might call it quarrying. When we got to the fox, it was found that he was worried (another splendid dog, 184lb.)

Many other instances of Flint's abilities as a workman might be

quoted, but these are enough to show what he was. He won more prizes than any Border Terrier has ever done, was a capital dog with the gun, and a splendid companion.

Fury was a very nice bitch, and the few times that she was tried worked very well; but as the man who reared her for me always kept her, she did not get many opportunities. She bred some very good pups, and one young dog from her was first at Jedburgh and second at Newcastleton Shows in 1902."

CHAPTER XLVII

THE BLACK-AND-TAN TERRIER

AMONG the numerous varieties of Terriers now recognised and classified, the Black-and-tan is one of many altogether unfitted for the work which gave the generic name to the whole family; for after the refining processes to which this variety has been subjected by breeders for exhibition, it would make but a poor figure at underground work. The legs and feet are too slender and elegant for digging, and the thin, satin-like coat is not the sort of covering in which to face wet grass and dank underwoods.

While speaking of the coats of Terriers, a rather curious supposition of Youatt's should be noticed. He says: "The Rough Terrier possibly obtained his shaggy coat from the Cur, and the Smooth Terrier may derive his from the Hound." The Cur he elsewhere describes as a cross between the Sheepdog and the Terrier. But there are rough-coated as well as smooth-coated Hounds, and the Terrier was placed by Caius among the Hounds-between the Harrier and the Bloodhound, in fact—and he states him to be the "smallest of the kind called Sagax." Now, if there always have been Hounds both smooth and rough, it is surely quite as likely that there have always been Smooth and Rough Terriers; and reasons have been given for considering that Youatt's description and his opinion of the origin of Curs are erroneous.

Caius says nothing about the length of coat or the colour of Terriers. Daniels, in his "Rural Sports," makes special mention of the elegant and sprightly Smooth-coated Terrier, black in body, and tanned on the legs; and in Foxhound kennels of the early part of the last century Terriers of all colours were kept-red ones, brindled, brown pied, white pied, pure white, and black with tanned faces, flank, feet, and legs, and all of these were kept for work, not for show -work requiring the strength, fortitude, ardour, and indomitable pluck of a genuine Terrier, for a working Terrier worthy of the name should be as hard as nails, active as a cat, and lively as a cricket.

The old style of Black-and-tan Terrier was stronger than, but not so elegantly built as, his modern representative, and the stouterlimbed, broader-chested, thicker-headed, and coarser-coated dog