I recently wrote a piece about the suitability of several of our terrier breeds for the smallholder. I particularly wanted to focus on their ability to control rats and mice – the bane of any livestock keeper.
I am keen that, to significantly raise their numbers (and interest in them) more of our rare/vulnerable native breeds need to get back to work.
First up was the extremely smart Manchester Terrier. This breed is a firm favourite of mine but has breeding for those suave good looks come at a price? Have generations of show breeding irreparably dulled their once legendary ratting skills?
Speaking to Martin Kirkbride, who owns a pair of celebrated ratting Manchesters, the answer has to be a resounding, “no!”
The photographs he supplied, that understandably may have been a bit too gory for publication in the magazine, ably demonstrated these black & tan terriers were a rat’s worst nightmare come true!
Martin said that the design of the dog, especially its head, helped it escape the vast majority of rat bites…and with a large number of rats now becoming immune to the effects of poisoning and the terrible toll accidental poisoning takes on our already beleaguered wildlife – ratting with terriers is a quick (no long and lingering death for the rodent) and humane dispatch and has the kind of green credentials that should be shouted from the rooftops!
Discovering the working Bedlington also proved to be something of a revelation. Here, Nigel Stock of NRS Pest Control, was certain that there was a clear difference between working & show type Bedlingtons, making the bold statement that “Working Bedlingtons can be shown but Show Bedlingtons can’t be worked.”
He wasn’t just maliciously putting the boot into the show world; this man had actually exhibited one of his working type Bedlingtons, with some success, but, he claims that the coat now desired by the show world would be a major handicap for the working terrier – the two types have sadly, like a number of HPR breeds, diverged down different lines.
Another breed I focussed upon was the Sealyham. This too has working and show types. The working dog appears lighter and has less coat and furnishings but is still extremely attractive – more importantly it can still do, extremely effectively, the job it was bred for.
However, I recall reading a blog post about a chap who took up a challenge of a show bred Sealyham bitch for work (as pest controller) on his smallholding and very effective she was at it too.
It reminded me of our Dachshunds. Our dogs haveproven very effective killers of rats and mice on our smallholding and I once owned a mini long bitch who was a complete demon when it came to hunting rabbits. All have come from generations of show-breeding, but that instinct, when it is allowed to flourish, is always there – bubbling away just below the surface.
So, is it the breeds that have drastically changed or is it that the people (who now keep/breed them) whose requirements are now so very different to those ofour ancestors?
Lee Connor 