Mustard & Pepper Summer 2024

So let’s discuss what makes up this first breed hallmark: outline and topline. – A very long silhouette that gives the impression of great length. – Height is from 8 to 11 inches at the top of the shoulder. – Length from the TOP of the shoulders to root of the tail is one – to two inches less than twice the height. Do you realize that the Dandie is the longest breed in the terrier group? Even longer than the Skye? The Dandie is measured at the top of the shoulders, commonly called the “withers,” to the set-on of the tail, twice as long as he is tall, less 1 to 2 inches. The Skye is measured from the point of shoulder, the prosternum, that nice protrusion you feel as you run your hands down the front from the throat to the bottom of the chest. The Skye is twice as long as he is tall, but measured from the prosternum to the root of the tail. I have measured a few Dandies and think the difference between the withers and the prosternum is about eight inches on a well-angulated front. When is the last time you looked out into the terrier group and noted the Dandie is longer than the Skye? The Skye doesn’t have trouble maintaining length of body, whereas the Dandie does. The Dandie goes upright and square in a hurry if you don’t pay attention. You don’t have this long dog in your back yard? That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to breed a long dog, one measuring approximately to what the Standard is describing. As breeders it is our duty to adhere to the breed Standard. This isn’t personal, this is what breeding better dogs is all about, striving to improve. My personal experience is attaining great length of body is difficult to breed, and even more difficult to retain, to lock in those genes. A correct front assembly for a digging terrier, good angulation, front legs under the withers, forechest that fills the hand. When I first began breeding Dandies in 1975 it took me a couple of years to “see” the proper movement of this short legged/long bodied breed. I already had about ten years’ experience “in dogs.” This type of dog is deemed “achondroplastic.” (You’ll be amused to know that a “Jeopardy “question worth $2,000 was “What is the definition of a dwarf?” Not one of the “Jeopardy Masters” knew it was achondroplasia.) I didn’t understand the front assembly, which was very different from the two breeds I’d bred before, the Saint Bernard and the Saluki. It wasn’t until I attended a seminar by the Canadian, the late Dr. Quentin LaHam many years ago that he simplified it for me. He said run your hands down the front of the dog, if you don’t feel the forechest (the prosternum) sticking out in front, something you can cup the palm of your hand around, the dog is straight in front. In the Dandie breed we say this prosternum should “fill the hand”. He then went on to describe that the forelegs, when viewed from the side, should be directly under the withers. Another tool that made understanding the front assembly more easily understood for me. You can observe where the forelegs are placed from outside the ring, or in a breed with a lot of hair, you can still see where the forelegs are placed. It becomes quite easy then to see the desired triangle, the withers, to the prosternum to the elbow of the foreleg. No need for protractors or rulers to measure, this is all easily seen by the naked eye. No need to claim you can’t see what the judge

sees, it’s looking right at you. Looking at the dog from the front, you will see smooth muscles over the shoulders, nothing bulky or knotted, bullish, the chest coming down nicely between the forelegs, the legs wrapping ever so slightly around the forechest, the forelegs appearing relatively straight but as we say, “straight” for a digging terrier. Feet are well-padded, a bear paw so to speak. I have never seen poor feet on good legs. The outline is a continual flow from the crest of the neck to the tip of the tail. I love that description. The crest of the neck is achieved by a well-laid-back shoulder, it cannot be accomplished by an elongated stovepipe neck. Our Standard describes the neck as medium in length, longer is not better. So often in this country if a little bit is good, a lot more is better, not so when breeding Dandies. A medium neck has strength, a neck capable of snapping the neck of prey. The tail is carried a little above the level of the body in a curve like a scimitar, at between one and two o’clock. Tail carriage is important, it is the finishing touch of a correct outline, a completion of the curves. A highly held tail is like a red flag waving at the judge, hey, this tail is wrong! Yes a puppy carries his tail high for balance but as the puppy grows older that tail has to be carried lower. We have all watched with dread as a promising puppy with everything else going for it hold his tail too high. That is a deal-breaker for me as a breeder and as a judge. That fault will haunt you for generation after generation. Think long and hard before you let that fault in the door. Hindquarters are robust; hind legs are slightly longer than the forelegs and are set wide apart, but not in an unnatural manner. Upper and lower thighs are rounded and muscular and approximately the same length. Stifles are angulated and in balance with the forequarters. Hocks are well let-down. Rear pasterns are perpendicular to the ground. We talk about “balance” in dogs and this means the angles behind should match those of the front. The upper and lower thighs are meaty, on the inside and the outside; you can put your hand around them and feel the strength. A well-angulated rear quarter will have short straight hocks. If the thighs are long and without good musculature the hocks are likely to be long as well. Sickle hocks have invaded our breed, as they have many other breeds. This manifests itself in side gait where the rear legs are moving under the dog instead of pushing out behind, pushing off. Think of a sickle if you’re unsure of what sickle hocks are, then apply that to your vision of the rear-quarters moving. Movement There was great discussion and disagreement about what proper movement in a Dandie should be. When I think about proper movement for a Dandie I think about the other breeds who fall in the same class, achondroplastic, the dwarfs, the long and low breeds. We have a breed that chases its prey and goes to ground after it – a breed that can hunt all day, as in their hearts Dandies are gamey. Just watch your dog as he spies a squirrel on his fence, or a squirrel going up a tree, or smells a fox or worse. These are tough hunting terriers: look at their big teeth, strong jaws, not the gentle lady’s lapdogs many think of them as being when they’ve just had their hair done. Wait 15

Mustard & Pepper

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Summer 2024