Border Terrier

Border Terrier
Origin	Scotland, England
Kennel club standards Fédération Cynologique Internationale standard
Dog (domestic dog)

A Border Terrier is a small, rough-coated breed of dog of the terrier group.

Appearance

The Border Terrier has a double coat consisting of a soft undercoat and harsh, wiry outer coat. This coat will have to be hand stripped twice a year and for most border terriers it will take about 8 weeks for the soft undercoat to change into the rough top coat. Colours include grizzle and tan (a sort of salt and pepper look), blue and tan (sometimes looks almost black), red grizzle, and less commonly, wheaten.

The coat type of a Border varies across individual dogs; some develop longish, shaggy hair, while others never go on to develop a full coat and remain relatively smooth in coat.

Temperament

Unstripped Border Terrier with puppy. This is the "natural" form of the Border Terrier coat.

Border Terriers are friendly, smart, energetic and playful. They can make good family pets as they are generally good with children.

In terms of activity, many Borders will settle to the activity levels of their owners. They do not demand exercise, but do love it when they get it. A Border Terrier does not mind being left alone, however the period of time should not be in excess of 4hrs. They will always be welcoming when you get home!

Being bred to work cooperatively with people, Borders do well in task-oriented activities. They are intelligent and eager to please, but they retain the capacity for independent thinking and initiative that were bred into them for working rats and fox underground. They take training for tasks very well, but appear less tractable if being taught mere tricks. (That same independence, coupled with an instinct to chase small animals, creates high risks when they are let off-leash, particularly near traffic.) The breed has excelled in agility training, but they are quicker to learn jumps and see-saws than weaving poles. Their love of people and even temperament make them fine therapy dogs, especially for children and the elderly, but they are not commonly used to aid the blind or deaf.

Border Terrier performing jump in Dog Agility

Border terriers respond very well to training when young, as it both enhances the relationship with the owner, and provides stimulation to their intelligent minds. Borders are highly social, and while they are happy to sit quietly for hours, they are not a breed to be constantly ignored. Two or three good walks a day, and a few vigorous playtimes, indoors or out, provide the best assurance of a well-adjusted Border Terrier. Collins, Verité Reily (1997). About the Border Terrier, Kingdom Books (England). ISBN-13: 978-1852790226.

Illness

Many Border Terriers catch Kennel cough (tracheobronchitis). However, Border Terriers are at no more risk than any other dog that is not vaccinated against this disease. Border terriers can also get ticks if hunting in long grass.

Behaviour with other dogs

Red grizzle.

Border Terriers generally get on well with other dogs, and often develop strong friendships with dogs they meet frequently. However, if they dislike another dog, they do not hesitate to start a fight and, as with most terriers, it can be difficult to stop them. This behaviour is most common in un-neutered males. Border Terriers must be trained carefully from the beginning to learn proper social behaviour with other dogs, especially larger dogs.

Ideal canine companions include other Border Terriers, Collies, and most Spaniels. When kept in a group, they can have difficulty recognising that each dog has a different name (they occasionally respond to them all). Border Terriers have dominant personalities and often occupy a high position in the 'pack', subordinate to the owner. This is especially true for adult Border Terriers when a puppy is added to the group. If a large adult dog comes into the family, the Border Terrier will "test" his new companion, maintaining his leadership if there is no objection from the larger dog.

Behaviour with other animals

Border Terriers are generally unsuitable for homes where there are rabbits, they may, however, accept small animals they grow up with.

Chewing

Border Terriers are strong chewers and tend to destroy all but the most durable toys. They can remove the squeak from a squeaky toy within 30 seconds, and reduce such toys to fragments within a matter of minutes. Solid, tough rubber toys such as rubber rings are suitable. If a Border Terrier adopts a household object as a toy, the object will soon be ruined. It is therefore useful to teach a Border from an early age what he or she is and isn't allowed to chew.

Health

Border Terriers are generally hardy and long-lived dogs with few health problems. However, they have a very high resistance to pain and will very often appear healthy even when injured or sick. Consequently, any sign of illness should be taken seriously. Due to their low percentage of body fat, Border Terriers are very sensitive to anesthetics. Therefore, Border Terrier owners should select a veterinarian that is aware of this and is cautious in administering anesthesia.

Due to their instinct to kill and consume smaller animals, Border Terriers often destroy, and sometimes eat, toys that are insufficiently robust. Indigestion resulting from eating a toy can cause the appearance of illness. Typical symptoms include lethargy, unwillingness to play, a generally 'unhappy' appearance, lack of reaction to affection, and inability or unwillingness to sleep. These symptoms are generally very noticeable, however, they are also present just prior to Border Terrier bitches being on heat. Food-grade liquid paraffin is often an effective solution to digestive problems caused by the consumption of dog toys. This problem can be avoided by giving the Border Terrier only durable toys.

Border Terriers occasionally have genetic health problems. Some of these include:

• Hip dysplasia
• Perthes disease
• Luxating patella
• Various heart defects
• Juvenile cataracts
• Progressive retinal atrophy
• Seizures
• CECS (Canine Eptiloid Cramping Syndrome [1]

Reliable breeders check all breeding stock for as many of these as possible before breeding.

History

The breed was developed for hunting vermin in the area around the border of England and Scotland.

Though some claim an ancient history for the Border Terrier, no breed of terrier is very old and the Border Terrier is no exception, first appearing around 1860, and being so undifferentiated from other rough-coated terriers that they were not admitted to the UK Kennel Club until 1920 -- after first being rejected in 1914.

The true history of the Border Terrier is exceedingly short and simple despite all the efforts to muddy the water with talk of Walter Scott, Bedlingtons, Gypsies, and dark dogs seen in the muddy corners of obscure oil paintings.

The Border Terrier was a kennel type of rough-coated terrier of the Fell type bred by the Robson family. John Robson founded the Border Hunt in Northumberland in 1857 along with John Dodd of Catcleugh who hunted his hounds near the Carter Fell. It was the grandsons of these two gentlemen -- Jacob Robson and John Dodd -- who tried to get the Border Hunt's little terrier-type popularized by the Kennel Club.

The first Kennel Club Border Terrier ever registered was "The Moss Trooper," a dog sired by Jacob Robinson's Chip in 1912 and registered in the Kennel Club's Any Other Variety listing in 1913. The Border Terrier was rejected for formal Kennel Club recognition in 1914, but won its slot in 1920, with the first standard being written by Jacob Robinson and John Dodd. Jasper Dodd was made first President of the Club.

For a terrier "bred to follow the horses" the Border Terrier does not appear to have been overly-popular among the mounted hunts. The Border Terrier Club of Great Britain[2] lists only 190 working certificates for all borders from 1920 to 2004 -- a period of 84 years. Considering that there were over 250 mounted hunts operating in the UK during most of this period (there are about 185 mounted hunts today), this is an astoundingly small number of certificates for a period that can be thought of as being over 15,000 hunt-years long. Even if one concedes that borders were worked outside of the mounted hunts, and not all borders got certificates that were recorded by the Border Terrier Club of Great Britain, the base number is so low that adding a generous multiplier does not change the broad thrust of the conclusion, which is that Border Terriers never really had a "hay day" for work.

The relative lack of popularity of the Border Terrier as a working terrier is borne out by a careful review of Jocelyn Lucas' book Hunt and Working Terriers (1931). In Appendix I Lucas provides a table listing 119 UK hunts operating in the 1929-1930 season, along with the types of earths found (sandy, rocky, etc.) and the type of terrier used.

Only 16 hunts said they used Borders or Border crosses, while about 80 hunts said they preferred Jack Russells, white terriers or some type of fox terrier. Lakelands and Sealyhams, or crosses thereof, were mentioned by some, with quite a few noting "no preference"(hunts are double-counted if they mention two kinds of terriers or crosses of two types).

The Border Terrier does not appear to be faring any better today, with even fewer workers found in the field than in Lucas' times. In fact, there is not a single Border Terrier breed book that shows a border terrier with its fox -- an astounding thing considering the age of the breed and the ubiquitous nature of the camera from the 1890s forward.

To say that the Border is not popular in the field does not mean that it has fallen out of favor in the show ring or in the pet trade, however! Border terriers are among the top 10 breeds in the UK Kennel Club, and nearly 1,000 border terriers were registered with the American Kennel Club last year -- up about 100 dogs from the previous year.

Further reading

• A piece on the history or Lakeland/Patterdales/Border Terriers with photos of those dogs.

Earthdog tests / trials

More Border Terriers have earned American Kennel Club (AKC) Earthdog titles than any other terrier. An AKC earthdog test is not true hunting, but an artificial, non-competitive, exercise in which terriers enter 9" x 9" smooth wooden tunnels, buried under-ground, with one or more turns in order to bark or scratch at caged rats that are safely housed behind wooden bars. The tests are conducted to determine that instinctive traits are preserved and developed, as the breed originators intended for the dogs to their work. While earthdog tests are not a close approximation of hunting, they are popular in the U.S. and in some European countries because even over-large Kennel Club breeds can negotiate the tunnels with ease, dogs can come to no harm while working, and no digging is required. Since Border Terriers are "essentially working terriers", many Border Terrier owners consider it important to test and develop their dogs instinct. These tests also provide great satisfaction for the dogs. The American Working Terrier Association (AWTA) does conduct "trials"; where the dogs instincts are tested, and then judged to determine a "Best of Breed" Earthdog. These trials are also run similar as described above.

Famous Border Terriers

• Puffy in There's Something About Mary
• Baxter in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
• Hubble in Good Boy!
• Co-star in Lassie (Named "Toots") View photos on imdb.com web site
• There were several border terriers in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes.
• Higgins, a recued mixed-breed dog believed by his owner and trainer Frank Inn to have been a miniature poodle / terrier cross; he appeared on the television show Petticoat Junction as "Dog" and in the movie Benji in the title role; his markings and general demeanor were very close to those of a Border terrier, but his coat was softer and more fluffy, as would befit some poodle ancestry.
• Lucky, a dog from the Dr Dolittle movies seems to be a Border Terrier.
• Eccles in Coronation Street
• The Dog in the Wall's Sausage adverts (UK) View adverts on Wall's web site
• There is a border terrier in the ad for Ambien CR sleep aid prescription medication.
• Toto, Dorothy's small companion dog from the classic flick The Wizard Of Oz, is played by a Border Terrier in the follow-up sequel, Return To Oz.
• Sophie

External links

• Border Terrier Info Canine Epileptoid Cramping Syndrome & Shaking Puppy Syndrome
• Border Terrier Club of America - BTCA
• Border Terrier Canada
• Border Terrier Club of the Redwoods - BTCR
• Northeast Border Terrier Club
• Finnish Border Terrier Club