Ireland's oldest dog breed is a sporty little number

‘Of the terriers of Ireland we know even less than we do of the early terriers of England,’ Country Life lamented in 1964. Indeed, the origins of the soft-coated wheaten terrier and the Kerry blue are often debated, but the wheaten is generally regarded as Ireland’s oldest breed. It is commonly acknowledged that a ‘tough, wheaten terrier tyke has been found around Waterford, Cork, Tipperary, Limerick and Kerry for the past 200 years’.

Historically used to herd cattle and kill vermin, the wheaten is much like the Kerry blue in colour and shape — and both are sporting and game — but the wheaten is ‘less independent-minded than their blue-coated relatives’.

Until the early 1930s the soft-coated wheaten terriers had aroused little interest and were in some danger of dying out. However, the breed was saved by the efforts of Gerard Pierse, who was so taken with a wheaten he spotted at a field outing for terriers that he badgered the Irish Kennel Club to give recognition to the breed, which the group did in 1937.

However, The Kennel Club in England would not acknowledge the breed until 1943. In 1946 a wheaten called Glenguard Mourneside Firecrest won Best in Show at Romford, Essex, and went on to prove himself as the foundation sire of most UK wheatens.

This is an extract from 'The Country Life Book of Dogs' (Rizzoli, £50) by Agnes Stamp.