Terriers are literally earth dogs, bred to chase vermin underground
The word terrier comes through Old French from the Latin for earth, because these small, wiry, fearless dogs were bred to follow rats and foxes into burrows. Today most are family pets, yet some breeds still work below ground, and the group spans dogs from under 3 to over 25 kilograms.
Eighteenth-century Britain recognised only two kinds, long-legged and short-legged. Modern classification is looser, by size or job, and kennel clubs usually show pedigree terriers in their own group; the Fédération Cynologique Internationale files them as Group 3. Most breeds were refined from older working dogs rather than created from scratch.
Hunting types still locate, track or flush quarry, especially in tunnels. The Jack Russell, the German Jagdterrier, the Rat Terrier and the Patterdale are working examples. Short-legged breeds such as the Cairn, the Scottish and the West Highland White were also used against small vermin. In northern England the Fell Terrier helped with fox control, while in the south the Hunt Terrier found or bolted foxes for mounted hunts.
Their tenacity was also exploited for sport. Early contests timed how fast a dog could clear a pit of rats, and during the 1700s breeders mixed some terriers with hounds to sharpen their hunting and others with fighting breeds for toughness. Bull-and-terrier crosses bred for baiting and dog-fighting in the late nineteenth century were later refined into separate breeds; today the Bull Terrier and Staffordshire Bull Terrier are bred as show dogs and household companions, and the Boston Terrier sits outside most terrier groups.
Toy terriers such as the Yorkshire Terrier were scaled down from bigger ancestors and appear in toy or companion classes, but owners are warned they keep a feisty temperament rather than behaving like lap dogs. At the extremes, the English Toy Terrier can weigh as little as 2.7 kilograms, while the rough-coated Airedale may top 25. In 2004 the United Kennel Club accepted a new hairless breed, the American Hairless Terrier, derived from the Rat Terrier.
Source: Terrier
