The Irish Terrier – A True Son of Erin

BY LEE CONNOR

‘Though the last glimpse of Erin with sorrow I see, Yet wherever thou art will seem Erin to me; In exile thy bossom shall still be my home, And thine eyes make my climate wherever we roam.’
– Moore’s Irish Melodies

The daredevil Irish Terrier has most certainly made a place in our hearts. There are few breeds more genuinely loved and adored by those with the sufficient experience and knowledge to make the comparison. Other breeds may well have a larger share of innate wisdom, oth- ers may be more aesthetically beautiful, and a large number are far more peaceable; but our rufous-coated friend has a unique way of winning over his owner’s heart and making a permanent place there, which is all the more secure because it is gained by sincere and demonstrative devotion.

Perhaps one likes him equally for his faults as for his merits. Leighton wrote the following words in 1907 and they ring equally true today: ‘His failings are due to his soldierly faithfulness and loyalty, to his ardent vigilance in guarding the threshold, to his of- ficious belligerence towards other canines who offend his sense of proprietorship in his master.

And the breed’s history provides us with a marvelous example of the improvement which the steady and combined perseverance of breeders can bring about in a breed of dog over a relatively short space of time; its story will also demonstrate the importance of a good breed club and (as we shall see later) responsible and honest judging!

Irish Terrier history may be said to have started in or about 1870, when claims were made that, ‘a most ancient breed of terrier had come to light, whose history could be traced without any doubt whatsoever back to the very start of time.’

Two Irish Terriers were registered in the first Kennel Club Stud Book; these were ‘Daisy’, the property of Mr. J. Connor, and ‘Fly’, the latter born in 1872 and bred by a Mr. Mickey Dooley.

The early breeders of Irish Terriers certainly made fanciful boasts about their dogs’ heritage claiming they were ‘most ancient’, rivalling, if not out-rivalling, all other breeds further adding that in AD100, the Irish Terrier was mentioned in old manuscripts, and that even back then it was an important purebred dog.

Therefore it was with considerable interest that all the skeptics, of which there were a great number (including a vast contingent of breeders of the reigning terrier of the day, the Fox Terrier) eagerly waited to see the first show of this ‘extremely ancient and pristine purebreed’ that was to be staged in Dublin.

The Irish Terrier supporters (no doubt aware of the close scrutiny they were coming under) to make doubly sure of a representative gathering on which they could rely, de- clared that no dog would be al- lowed in the show unless it had a pedigree.

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Posted by Alex on Aug 17 2017. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.