The Dandie Dinmont Terrier. 273 



The dogs, as hardy as their masters, notwithstand- 

 ing their short legs and long bodies, were fairly 

 active. But the original Dandie Dinmont terrier 

 stood a little higher on the leg and was shorter in 

 the body than the modern article. This may be 

 observed by reference to early pictures of this dog, 

 notably to that by Landseer in his well known 

 portrait of Sir Walter Scott. Here a " mustard " 

 dog is introduced, said to have been painted from a 

 terrier then at Abbotsford, and which originally came 

 from James Davidson. 



As to how he became crooked in front is more a 

 matter for scientists than for an ordinary writer about 

 dogs, but, more likely than the dachshund theory, 

 I would suggest that at some earlier period in his 

 history a terrier had been born with his or her fore 

 legs pretty well crooked, and somewhat stunted 

 thereon, as all terriers with unduly heavy bodies 

 undoubtedly must be. He proved, though slow, to 

 be a good hand at vermin, better indeed than others 

 of the same strain. Then he was freely bred from, 

 and his descendants were bred from, and so the strain 

 of crooked legs and long backs became perpetuated. 

 I am no believer in foreign crosses, and have often 

 smiled to find how often they crop up at most 

 convenient periods, and, as I have said before, these 

 unduly crooked fore legs are deformities, and Nature of 



