The Dandie Dinmont history
The story begins some three hundred years ago in the River Coquet Valley in Northumberland. A breed of dogs slowely evolved - a breed that were to becom know as Dandie Dinmont-terrier. They were mainly owned by Border Tinkers who sold some dog to local farmers. The actual mixture used to produce the breed is lost in the mists of time, some say only the long extinct Scottish Terrier was used, other say terrier Otterhound or even Dachund crosses, but who knows exactly? In the early 1800's the little terrier were breeding quite true and were known as Pepper and Mustard Terriers or by the name of the farm where they were bred, e.g. Hindlee Terrier or Catcleugh Terrier. They evolved into an excellent working dog, working for fox, otter and acting as hunt terriers. Due to the work, they did not have the fine furnishings seen today and early drawings show this well. By that time the breed was well known on both sides of the Borders and breeding had passed from the tinkers to such people as f.ex James Davidson of Hindlee Farm and many others.
To make a long story short:
In 1815 Sir Walter Scott wrote his novel "Guy Mannering" which featured these pepper and mustard terriers and also a farmer named Dandie Dinmont. The name soon was used for the dogs and James Davidson of Hindlee Farm on the Rule Water (A 1000 acre sheep farm) was nicknamed "Dandie Dinmont" by his fellow farmers. So we have a quite unique breed, probably the only one in dogdom, named by a literary source. Sir Walter and Lady Scott had Dandies at Abbotsford as well as other breeds.
In the 1870's dogs was becoming popular and in 1875, on 17th November a meeting was held at the Fleece Hotel, Selkirk and Dandie enthusiasts formed The Dandie Dinmont Terrier Club. The Club is in fact one of the oldest Canine Breed Clubs in the World.
The Southerne Dandie Dinmont Terrier Club was founded in 1929.
The Caledonian Dandie Dinmont Terrier Club was
established in 1989.
In Denmark the Dandie Dinmont is also a litterary dog, because the last dog our famous author Karen Blixen had (in 1962) was in fact a Dandie Dinmont-terrier, named "Pepper" after Walter Scott's novel.
Today it is a rare breed all over the world but there are people who is working hard for this lovely breed.