Cairn Form & Function

By Linda Kettlewell

Subject: Cairns Form and Function

 

A few months ago, I and two other cairn breeders were

invited to speak about our breed to a judges education

group. This group of licensed judges, and those learning

to be judges, meets regularly, and each month they have

representatives of a different breed.

Several of the judges present have been around for years

so I already knew them from the dog shows. I think it is

commendable that they are still learning about the breeds

they judge in the show ring.

One cairn breeder moderated the programme, one spoke

about the Breed Standard, and I wrote the following for

the judges’ edification.

FUNCTION - early history

Terriers - this group came from the British Isles and includes

the closely related Scottish, West Highland White

and Cairn Terriers, all of true Scottish descent. The group

name comes from the Latin terra, meaning earth, for Terriers

are earth dogs - dog that go to ground for their prey.

They have special temperament, high intelligence and unquestioned

courage. They will fight to the death rather

than yield ground or give quarter and, above all, they respect

man.

The first mention of The Terrier is found in Gace de la

Bigne’s poeme sur la Chasse, circa 1359 and the following

is a rather literal translation:

“He goes to seek in the earth

With good terrier dogs

That they put into the burrow.”

From John Marvin’s the book The Complete Cairn Terrier,

the following excerpts:

“John Lesley, in his Historie of Scotland which bridged

the era from 1436 to 1561, offered additional interesting

facts about the short legged Terriers when he observed,

“There is another kind of scenting dog of low height, indeed,

but of bulkier body; which, creeping into subterraneous

burrows, routs out of foxes, badgers, martens, and

wild cats from their lurking places and dens. He, if at any

time finds the passage too narrow, opens himself a way

with his feet and that with so great labour that he frequently

perishes through his own exertions.”

 

“In 1774, Oliver Goldsmith added the desirability of

“voice” to the terrier attributes. He wrote:

“The terrier is a small kind of hound with rough hair,

made use of to force the fox and badger out of their holes;

or rather to give notice by their barking in what part of

their kennel the fox or badger resides, when the sportsmen

intend to dig them out.”

There is documented proof that small terriers existed in

Scotland for centuries, bred for working with gamekeepers

and farmers. The Scottish, Westie and Cairn terriers

were frequently interbred, but with the coming of dog

shows and such events, the fanciers of each breed banned

the use of the others. By the end of the 19th and into the

early part of the twentieth century, the cairn was known

as the Short-haired Skye Terrier, but the fanciers of that

breed objected to the name, and eventually it was called

the Cairn Terrier. At a meeting of the Kennel Club committee

held on May 29th, 1912, the Cairn Terrier was

given its own registry.

Purebred dogs fall into one of seven different categories,

each group comprised of dogs that perform tasks, in varying

degrees, that are part of a whole. Hunters are gundogs                Continues on next page

who point game or flush game or retrieve game, but not

all hunting dogs can do all three parts of the task. Terriers

are also hunters, but they were bred for a very different

purpose than were gundogs.

A few hundred years ago, the common small pests for

farmers and villagers were mice and rats, who got into

barns and storerooms eating and destroying grain, and

larger ones such as stoats, weasels, mink , foxes, badgers,

who preyed on the smaller farm animals, the hens, ducks,

To contact us:

Barbara Nielsen

CTAO Secretary

Email: secretary@ctao.net