This article is excerpted from Scottish and Irish Terriers, a book written by Williams Haynes and published in 1912. The book is in the public domain and is available in its entirety for download in several formats at the Internet Archive . This article represents the majority of the first two chapters. If you are interested in reading Chapters 3-8 or what Haynes has to say about the "Daredevil" in Chapter 1 please click on the Internet Archive link above.
Chapter 1. "Diehard" and "Daredevil" (excerpted here)
Chapter 2. The Scottish Terrier (included in its entirety here)
Chapter 3. The Irish Terrier
Chapter 4. The Useful Terrier
Chapter 5. Terriers in Health
Chapter 6. Terriers When Sick
Chapter 7. The Principles of Dog Breeding
Chapter 8. Dog Shows and Their Rules
DIEHARD" and" Daredevil "-it looks like some nickel thriller. But they are only the nicknames of two game, intelligent, lovable breeds of terriers. The one comes from Scotland; the other from Ireland.
Geographically or historically considered, Scotland and Ireland have much in common, and this is also true doggily, for there is a setter, a deerhound, and a terrier native to each. The Scottish and Irish terriers, "Diehard" and "Daredevil," being game, intelligent, and lovable, have many firm friends. Both are somewhat unusual in looks, and both are favorites of Dame Fashion. To those who know them well, each reflects the characteristics of his native land. Moreover, they have likenesses which are differences, so let us meet them one at a time, for they are well worth knowing.
Words fail me when I want to describe the Scottish Terrier. To me he is the dog of dogs, my personal opinion being: all dogs are good; any terrier is better; a Scottie is best. I am therefore afraid that when I describe his intelligence, his temperament, his constitution, it will read very much like the claims of a patent medicine circular written in the language of a circus poster.
Nor are his looks a line of less resistance, for a description of Scottie's physical appearance is not the easiest thing to write. I always smile when I think of an experience a Scottie and I had when I was at the university. The dramatic club was presenting one of Pinero's farces, and I was lucky enough to be playing the part of a young scapegrace. In one of the acts, I used to take a Scottie on the stage, and when not before the footlights she mounted guard in my dressing room - incidentally she made things very uncomfortable ' for one of the "ladies" of the company who came, in my absence, to borrow a filling of tobacco for his pipe.
One time, I came back to my room to find it in an uproar. Two stage hands were plunged deep in discussion as to whether “Betty" was a dog, or a tame bear cub-a debate that was quite seriously complicated by a third stoutly maintaining that she was a coon. They had long since passed the retort courteous stage and were almost at blows, and I doubt that I could have convinced them, had she not spoken for herself-her bark being conclusive proof of her dog-hood. Other Scottie owners can tell similar tales, and one can easily see that there are peculiar difficulties of description afforded by a dog that is indiscriminately called a “coon," a “bear cub," a “pig," and what not.
The Scotch saying "Guid gear goes in mickle bundles," fits this little Scotch dog-well. He is the smallest and most compact of all the working terriers, and a good specimen invariably gives you the impression of great strength and wonderful powers pressed down into the smallest possible measure. He is low on the leg, very heavily boned, and short of back. He stands about ten inches or a foot high at the shoulder and weighs from sixteen to twenty pounds. His head is carried high and his tail (which is uncut and about seven inches long) is gay and slightly curved. He is all awake and as lively as corn in a popper, with an air of inquisitive aloofness not to be put on paper, but quite unmistakable in the dog himself.
AND EXHIBITION POINTS.Dr. D. J. Thompson Gray F.Z.S.ILLUSTRATED.DUNDEE:JAMES P. MATHEW & CO., 17 and 19 COWGATEEDINBURGH AND GLASGOW: JOHN METHUEN & CO.1891