Border Terrier

The Border Terrier is a small, rough-coated British terrier from the country along the border between England and Scotland. It shares its ancestry with two other terriers of the same area, the Dandie Dinmont and the Bedlington. It was a fox-hunting dog, and worked with the Border Hunt in Northumberland.

History

The breed was first called the Coquetdale Terrier or the Redesdale Terrier, after the valleys where it took shape. By the late 1800s the usual name was Border Terrier, probably because of its long association with the Border Hunt.

Its job was to bolt foxes that had gone to ground. It was also used to kill rodents, and has hunted otters and badgers as well.

The first Border Terrier registered with The Kennel Club was a dog called The Moss Trooper, sired by Jacob Robson’s Chip in 1912 and entered in the club’s Any Other Variety listing in 1913. Formal recognition was refused in 1914 and granted in 1920, the year the Border Terrier Club was formed. Jacob Robson and John Dodd wrote the first standard, and Jasper Dodd was the club’s first president. The American Kennel Club recognised the breed in 1930.

In 2008 the Border Terrier was the eighth most registered breed with The Kennel Club in the United Kingdom. In the United States it is far less common: in 2006 it ranked 81st in American Kennel Club registrations.

Appearance

The Border Terrier was built for its work. Its legs had to be long enough to keep up with the horses and foxhounds, and its body small and narrow enough to follow a fox into its burrow, which the hounds could not do.

Males stand 33 to 41 cm (13 to 16 in) at the shoulder and weigh 5.9 to 7 kg (13 to 15.5 lb). Females stand 28 to 36 cm (11 to 14 in) and weigh 5.2 to 6.4 kg (11.5 to 14 lb).

The skull is broad, the muzzle fairly short and the teeth strong. The ears are V-shaped, set on the sides of the head and falling toward the cheeks. Whiskers are few and short. The tail is moderately short, thick at the base and tapering to the tip.

The coat is double: a short, dense, soft undercoat beneath a harsh, wiry, close-lying outer coat with no curl or wave, which keeps out weather and dirt. The usual colors are grizzle and tan, blue and tan, red or wheaten.

Care and health

Canine epileptoid cramping syndrome is a recognised condition in the Border Terrier.

A study in the United Kingdom found the breed predisposed to gall bladder disease. Border Terriers were far more likely than other dogs to develop gall bladder mucocele, and more likely to develop other gall bladder conditions and neutrophilic cholangitis.

A 2024 study in the United Kingdom put the breed’s life expectancy at 14.2 years, compared with an average of 12.7 years for purebred dogs.

Facts on this page were checked against Wikipedia and may have changed since.