THE DANDIE DINMONT TERRIER 4 8i 



for the chase was strong even in his last moments, for, sore stricken 

 as he was, at the sound of the voices of Mr. Baillie's Foxhounds, did 

 he not get out of bed and with difficulty reach the window, and take, 

 as it were, a fond, last look of the scenes he loved so well ? Might 

 not the document be written by someone interested in the breed, 

 and the initials "J. D." obtained, as Mr. Davidson's signature and 

 verification of it, during his last illness ? 



Mr. Cook says that "between the dates [1814 and 1820] his 

 [Davidson's] race of Terriers were generically called ' Peppers ' and 

 ' Mustards,' and not Dandies." Mr. Cook advances no proof in 

 support of this, and the probabilities are against it. Sir Walter Scott 

 has himself quoted Mr. Davidson to the effect that Sir Walter had 

 not written about him more than about his neighbours, but about 

 his dogs. The fact is clear enough : the name Dandie Dinmont was 

 given to Davidson as soon as " Guy Mannering " became popular, 

 and it is practically certain that the name would, at the same time, 

 be given to his Terriers. This is, in fact, proved by a gentleman 

 writing from personal knowledge. Mr. James Scott, of Newstead, 

 who contributed much useful information respecting the breed in, 

 the correspondence on the subject in the Field some years back, 

 speaking from a personal acquaintance of " Dandie Dinmont " 

 and his dogs, says he had two varieties of Terriers, one large and 

 leggy, the other short on the fore leg and small, and that it was only 

 the latter that Davidson would allow to be called Dandie Dinmont 

 Terriers. It has since been assumed that these smaller Terriers 

 were the produce of the two dogs, Pepper and Tarr, given to him 

 by Dr. Brown, of Bonjedward. When Sir Walter Scott made 

 Davidson's Pepper and Mustard Terriers famous, there was at once, 

 it may fairly be assumed, a pretty general desire to possess the 

 breed, and it is hardly likely the demand would or could be supplied 

 from this single pair. As Pepper and Tarr must have had relations 

 more or less close in consanguinity, these would probably be used 

 to swell the family circle of the Dandie Dinmont Terrier. In 

 support of the supposition that we have living specimens directly 

 descended from Pepper and Tarr without admixture of blood more 

 or less foreign, we must be quite sure that Dandie Dinmont himself 

 stuck rigidly to the Pepper and Tarr blood. But what proof have 

 we that the dogs distributed by him throughout the country were by 

 their several owners bred to others of the same blood ? Is it not 

 reasonable to suppose that the produce of a Terrier bitch of another 

 strain, sent to a dog known to be from Hindlee, would be called 

 Dandie Dinmont Terriers, or of Dandie Dinmont's strain, just as, 

 before the advent of dog shows, and the care which has of late years 

 been bestowed on pedigrees, a sportsman who had bred from a 

 Pointer dog of Earl Sefton's would describe the produce as of the 

 Sefton strain ? 



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