Dandie Dinmont Terrier

The Dandie Dinmont Terrier is a small Scottish terrier with a very long body, short legs and a topknot of silky hair on its head. It comes from the border country between England and Scotland, where it was used to hunt otters and badgers.

History

Terriers of this kind were at work in the Borders in the 1600s. Their exact origin is unknown, but dogs kept in the early 1700s by the Allan family of Holystone, Northumberland, are thought to have played a part.

The breed was little known outside the Borders until 1815, when Sir Walter Scott published the novel Guy Mannering. One of its characters, a farmer named Dandie Dinmont, owns terriers called Pepper and Mustard after the colors of their coats. He was partly based on a real farmer, James Davidson, who used the same names for his own dogs. Davidson recorded his breeding and is accepted as the originator of the modern breed. It remains the only dog breed named after a fictional character.

The Dandie Dinmont Terrier Club was formed at Selkirk on 17 November 1875, making it the third oldest breed club in the world, and its standard was agreed a year later. The American Kennel Club first registered the breed in 1888 and the United Kennel Club recognised it in 1918. In 2006 The Kennel Club put it on its first list of Vulnerable Native Breeds.

Appearance

The Dandie stands 20–28 cm at the withers and weighs 8.2–10.9 kg. Its body is long, its legs short and its neck muscular. Unusually for a Scottish terrier, its ears hang down. The coat can be up to 5 cm deep and forms a topknot on the head.

There are two color ranges. Pepper runs from dark bluish black to light silvery gray. Mustard runs from reddish brown to fawn, with a head that looks almost white. The legs and feet are usually darker than the body.

Temperament

The Dandie is tough but usually friendly, and suitable for homes with older children. It is among the most docile of the terriers and asks little of its owner, while still making a good companion and guard. It can dig a large hole in a short time. It can learn to live with cats but should not be trusted with small pets such as hamsters or rats, and it is quick to challenge other animals, foxes and sometimes other dogs among them.

Care and health

A 2024 UK study put life expectancy at 12.8 years. Because of the long body, the breed can have back trouble, in particular slipped discs in the spine, which may cause weakness, paralysis or loss of bladder control. An American study found a raised risk of congenital portosystemic shunts, and the breed has a slightly higher than average risk of cancer. The dog is generally hardy but may find stairs difficult.

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