397 



CHAPTER XLII. 

 THE DANDIE DINMONT. 



BY E. W. H. BLAGG. 



" ' A bonny terrier that, sir — and a fell chield at the vermin, I warrant him — that is, if he's been 

 weel entered, for it a' lies in that.' 



" 'Really, sir,' said Brown, 'his education has been somewhat neglected, and his chief property 

 is being a pleasant companion.' 



" 'Ay, sir? that's a pity, begging your pardon— it's a great pity that — beast or body, education 

 should aye be minded. I have six terriers at hame, forbye twa couple of slow-hunds, five grews, 

 and a wheen other dogs. There's auld Pepper and aiild Mustard, and young Pepper and yoimg 

 Mustard, and little Pepper and little Mustard — / had them a' regularly entered, first wi' rottens — 

 then wi' slots or weasels — and then wi' the tods and brocks — and now they fear naething that ever 

 cam wi' a hairy skin on't.' 



" '/ have no doubt, sir, they arc thorough-bred — but, to have so many dogs, you seem to have a 

 very limited variety of names for them ? ' 



" ' 0, that's a fancy of my ain to mark the breed, sir. — The Deuke himsell has sent as far as Charlies- 

 hope to get ane o' Dandie Dinmont's Pepper and Mustard terriers — Lord, man, he sent Tarn Hudson 

 the keeper, and sicken a day as we had wi' the foumarts and the tods, and sicken a blythe gae-down 

 as we had again e'en.' Faith, that was a night.''" — "Guy Mannering." 



THE breed of terrier now known as the 

 Dandie Dinmont is one of the races 

 of the dog which can boast of a fairly 

 ancient hneage. Though it is impossible 

 now to say what was the exact origin of 

 this breed, we know that it was first recog- 

 nised under its present name after the 

 publication of Scott's " Guy Mannering," 

 in the year 1814, and we know that for 

 many years previously there had existed in 

 the Border counties a rough-haired, short- 

 legged race of terrier, the constant and 

 very effective companion of the Border 

 farmers and others in their fox-hunting 

 expeditions. 



Various theories have been suggested by 

 different writers as to the manner in which 

 the breed was founded. Some say that 

 the Dandie is the result of crossing a strain 

 of rough-haired terriers with the Dachs- 

 hund ; others that a rough-haired terrier 

 was crossed with the Otterhound ; and 

 others again assert that no direct cross 

 was ever introduced to found the breed, 

 but that it was gradually evolved from 

 the rough-haired terriers of the Border 



district. And this latter theory is the one 

 that I myself am inclined to accept. 



The Dandie would appear to be closely 

 related to the Bedlington Terrier. In both 

 breeds we find the same indomitable pluck, 

 the same pendulous ear, and a light silky 

 " top-knot " adorning the skull of each ; 

 but the Dandie was evolved into a long- 

 bodied, short-legged dog, and the Bedling- 

 ton became a long-legged, short-bodied dog ! 

 Indeed to illustrate the close relation- 

 ship of the two breeds a case is quoted 

 of the late Lord Antrim, who, in the early 

 days of dog shows, exhibited two animals 

 from the same litter, and with the one 

 obtained a prize or honourable mention in 

 the Dandie classes, and with the other a 

 like distinction in the Bedlington classes. 



It may be interesting to give a few par- 

 ticulars concerning the traceable ancestors of 

 the modern Dandie. In Mr. Charles Cook's 

 book on this breed, we are given particulars 

 of one William Allan, of Holystone, born 

 in 1704, and known as Piper Allan, and 

 celebrated as a hunter of otters and foxes, 

 and for his strain of rough-haired terriers 



