From sport to sofa

Combining temperament and working instinct in a handily compact package, the border terrier is a favourite among families and sporting sorts alike

- Gabriel Stone

THE ADAPTABILITY of dogs to human society is one of this species' most striking characteristics. Pugs may take domesticity to extremes, huskies may retain a more obvious genetic link to their wild cousins and foxhounds serve a very specific niche but one breed in particular is surely the ultimate hybrid. Watch it morph from sofa slouch to mass murderer in the time it takes to say 'rats'. My in-laws' example, the irrepressible Pip, manages to balance a benign tolerance for overzealous grandchildren with an equally intense intolerance for any pest that might flash a careless whisker. She is, of course, a border terrier.

That combination of temperament and sporting instinct in a single, handily compact package has made the border terrier one of this country's most popular breeds. Outranked only by the Staffordshire bull terrier in terms of 2024 Kennel Club terrier breed registrations, its numbers outstrip the Scottie, Jack Russell, Irish, Cairn, Westie, Lakeland, Norfolk and Norwich terriers combined. You'll also struggle to find another breed standard that is so closely tied to the original working purpose for which these dogs were designed.

Then and now

As the name suggests, border terriers evolved in the wild hill country where England meets Scotland. Sheep farmers needed a suitably hardy yet not uncontrollably bellicose dog to help them manage the local fox population. As foxhunting developed in the 19th century, there was demand for a terrier type that could keep up with horses, be good-natured with hounds, show the tenacity to go to ground after a fox, yet not the excessive aggression to attack rather than flush it. Originally every valley would almost certainly have had its own answer but by 1920 the border terrier was sufficiently established that the Kennel Club recognised it as a breed.