Soft Coat Wheaten Terrier. Juliette Cunliffe
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Photography by Carol Ann Johnson
with additional photographs by
Ashbey Photography, Mary Bloom, Paulette Braun, T.J. Calhoun, David Dalton, Fleabusters Rx for Fleas, Isabelle Français, Bill Jonas and Karen Taylor.
Illustrations by Patricia Peters.
The publisher wishes to thank all of the owners whose dogs are illustrated in this book, including Zara Petit, Marjorie and Dan Shoemaker and Lisa Thompson.
Once the dog of Ireland’s poor, the SCWT is now a popular pet and show dog around the world.
The Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier is an Irish breed, and Ireland is a country that abounds in folklore and legend. Unfortunately for us, the history of dogs in Ireland tends to be passed down by word of mouth rather than in writing, making it difficult to be entirely clear as to what happened in the breed’s dim and distant past.
Let us begin by taking ourselves back to ancient times, when there were already references to dogs native to Ireland. The Romans are said to have held Irish dogs in high regard, so much so that such dogs were reproduced on coins, on tapestries and on musical instruments. These were, of course, the dogs that hunted with the nobility, but there were other smaller dogs in Ireland too. These were called “cotters” dogs, and included Ireland’s early terriers. It is worth noting that Ireland’s earliest canine archeological evidence is the bone of a dog believed to be of terrier type.
In 17th-century Ireland, only the gentry were allowed to keep hounds, greyhounds and land spaniels. The terrier was the “poor man’s dog” and was used by farmers as a general-purpose dog, protecting both people and property. Such dogs could herd sheep and work cattle, and were of great use in keeping down vermin. They hunted foxes as well as badgers and otters, both on land and in water, and there are reports of some even having been used with the gun. These were intelligent dogs, big enough to show their authority, yet not so big that they were excessively expensive to keep. At one time it was said that this was “the best dog ever for poaching.”
An irresistible Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier puppy, showing great promise as a winner of ribbons and hearts!
THEORY OF ORIGIN
Although it is impossible to know exactly how the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier came about, there is a theory that the breed evolved from Portuguese Water Dogs that were used as couriers between ships during the time of the Spanish Armada. It is suggested that some of these dogs swam to Ireland after their ships sank, and that survivors bred with the local terriers.
It is difficult to say when the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier emerged as a specific breed, but it is thought to be over 200 years old. In the areas around Cork and Wicklow in southern Ireland, and Ballymena in what is now Northern Ireland, there were references to long-legged terriers, wheaten in color and with open coats.
TERRIERS OF IRELAND
It is likely that the three long-legged terriers of Ireland—the Irish, Kerry Blue and Soft Coated Wheaten—are closely related, as indeed is the Glen of Imaal Terrier, which is much lower to the ground. It is likely that the Soft Coated Wheaten is the oldest of these four breeds, and this is certainly borne out by the fact that the wheaten color crops up from time to time in the Kerry Blue Terrier. This is a recessive trait and can hence lie dormant for generations, thus bearing no reflection on the recent pureness of pedigree of sire and dam. In years gone by, terriers in Ireland were undoubtedly interbred.
An often-told story of the origin of the Kerry Blue is that following a shipwreck in 1775, a large blue dog swam ashore to Ireland, where it mated with a wheaten-colored terrier, bringing about the Kerry Blue Terrier breed known so well today. Indeed, in the 18th century, the Wheaten is said to have been numerous.
The Kerry Blue Terrier may have derived from Wheatens breeding with large blue shipwrecked dogs that swam to the shores of Ireland.
The Irish Terrier, as a distinct breed, is represented by this modern show dog, which captures the breed’s graceful racy appearance.
It is generally agreed that the Wheaten is of somewhat mixed ancestry, and it would appear that they were allowed to mate freely with other breeds, although clearly the breed’s many qualities gave good reason for enthusiasts to want to maintain its type. Having said that, for a good while there was some confusion with the breed described as the Irish Terrier, as can be seen from show reports from the latter part of the 19th century. Undoubtedly, deliberate breeding experiments took place, and Irish Terrier enthusiasts made every effort to breed dogs that adhered in type to the standard set down by their own breed club.
WORK OF ART
An engraving by F. Bacon, dated 1843, is titled The Aran Fisherman’s Drowned Child. This clearly shows a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier in the foreground, mourning the dead child as if the dog were a family member.
Because of the lack of written documentation, it is difficult to know where divisions between the various breeds actually lay. However, in the second half of the 19th century, there were some thoroughly absorbing reports from shows in Ireland. In 1873, the Live Stock Journal said of the class of Irish Terriers at the Dublin show that the dogs were all of different types and had “no reason to be called Irish, except that they had Ireland as a birthplace!”
The least known of the Irish terriers, the Glen of Imaal Terrier from County Wicklow, a game and spirited long-bodied terrier, colored in blue, wheaten or brindle.
By 1874, the Dublin show offered prizes for Irish Terriers under 9 pounds in weight, while in 1876 there were 34 entries for Irish Terriers above 16 pounds and below 16 pounds. Of particular interest is that, at this show, the judge had been selected because he had been a breeder of “wild Irishmen” for 20 or 30 years, and so had special knowledge. It was believed that his findings would meet with general approval and would settle, once and for all, the question of type. However, contrary to expectations, the results gave rise to “a wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Prizes went to long legs, short legs, hard coats, soft coats, thick skulls and long thin skulls, and some prizewinners were mongrels.
The following is part of an amusing poem, published after this particular