DANDIE DINMONT TERRIER

COUNTRY: Great Britain

WEIGHT: 18-24 pounds

HEIGHT: 8-11 inches

COAT: Crisp mixture of hard and soft hair about 2" long

COLOR: Pepper (shades of blue black to light silvery gray) and mustard (reddish brown to pale fawn)

GROUP: Terrier

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.