The Hard Look At The "Hard Coat" Of The Cairn Terrier
Historical Proof – Not Opinion
By: Diane Jessup DanBar Ranch Cairn Terriers
Englishman, later American citizen, Percy Roberts remains the most famous terrier importer, breeder, handler, judge and expert ever. He wrote the following introduction the to American edition of the Popular Cairn Terrier by J.W. H. Beynon and Alex Fisher, M.B.E. in 1962. For ANY so called "preservation breeder" his words on the cairn should be absolute gospel.
"The cairn terrier, because it is one of the few breeds that does not need trimming for presentation in the show ring, is continually popular."
"The cairn terrier, because it is one of the few breeds that does not need trimming for presentation in the show ring, is continually popular."
It is noble indeed to take up the standing of a “preservation breeder”, be it an individual or a national “parent” club. The definition of “preservation” is to protect, conserve and maintain the original form and character of the chosen breed. This implies ongoing protection against the many changing fads and trends which has always been inherent in the showing of dogs.
For the cairn terrier breeder, this is not difficult due to the abundance of historical material guiding the serious preservation breeder as to what characteristics are original and to be maintained (this article will present many of them). What has always been difficult is for the exhibitor to choose between true preservation and – to put it frankly – success in the show ring; the two have never been compatible.
Dog shows are won by breeding dogs which stand out from the norm. Judges should be rewarding the sound, moderate, workmanlike terrier – but they do not. Instead, they choose the dog with just a little bit more of one fashionable point or another. Who can challenge their choice if the animal is “super-typey”? Over the years this selection for exaggeration has taken a toll on all breeds. The deformed head of the bull terrier, the “banana back” of the German shepherd, the closed nostrils of the French bulldog and Boston terrier, the length of coat which makes setters useless for field work and the length of coat and change in texture which has made almost every coated terrier breed require extensive grooming just to look like an example of the breed. Very few dog breeds have been “preserved” by faithful fanciers - they have become victims of show ring fads at the hands of those who put winning above breed integrity.
To be a true preservation breeder one must do their homework. They must seek out the voices of the past telling those who listen what it is that must be preserved. Why is the cairn not being preserved? First, those who knew the original cairn, who knew working terriers, who knew what a hard coat was – are gone. The only thing left is their writing and far too few cairn fanciers today bother to learn from them. Far easier to simply see what is winning in the ring (this year) and breed for that. It will get you ribbons – but do not pretend and call yourself a “preservation breeder”. “Experts” today have absolutely no experience with the characteristics of the original cairn and don’t bother to learn. They live in an echo chamber of other breeders who repeat misinformation until it becomes nearly impossible to find the truth. Those who speak the truth are shunned for pointing out the hypocrisy.
Secondly, the coat of the cairn has changed from what it was to what it is. There is a line in the UK Kennel Club show standard for the breed that says “Head well furnished” as well as calling for “harsh hair on the legs” and no fringe on the ears. Had breeders been content with the original amount of head hair there would be no issue, but as always, “more is better” in the show dog, and the fad became for long, soft hair which could be “poofed” up to increase the “well furnished” appearance. Of course this led to longer, softer hair on the body and legs. This is an example of how just one piece of a standard can be exaggerated causing great harm to a breed. Had exhibitors decided that “hard hair on the legs” and lack of feathering on the ears were important, we would not have cairns with the improper coats they have today – coats that must be manually ripped out (stripping) in order to be made short enough to look correct.
This article is about correct coat in the cairn terrier – not about current show ring fads. Here are the voices of the original pioneers of the breed, the most famous exhibitors of yesterday and the top breeders who knew the breed as it was meant to be. To understand the correct cairn terrier coat we must make an in-depth study of the original dogs and the original standard written up when the breed was first recognized by the kennel club (UK). We must listen to those first generations of breeders who worked to keep the cairn terrier as they had received them from the Highlands of Scotland.
We have no right to take it upon ourselves to change the breed which, for a short space of time, is in our stewardship. True “preservation breeders” know this and never suppose they have the right to change the breed to match current, show winning fads, be it coat, structure, size or character. Our duty is to hand on the little Scottish working terrier to the next generation as he should be – not as he needs to be altered to win ribbons this year.
This article is not about my opinion. This article is a collection of historical evidence allowing you to understand (for yourself) what correct coat was and should be. Take from it what you will and know that it is never too late to correct modern mistakes in the understanding of, and grooming practices used, on the cairn terrier.
FROM: Robert Leighton in “Dogs And All About Them” (1910)
“A really hard coat that sheds water and briar is what you want on a terrier in cold country. A hard coat is somewhat brittle, and the hairs will naturally break off if they get too long. Dog show judges, who have no idea what is actually important in a working dog, generally judge on all the wrong things. Chest size alone is more important than everything else that can be judged in the ring, but one of the few important visible things you want in a working dog (other than chest size) is a decent coat. A long curly coat is a soft coat, and a soft coat cannot shed water, ice and dirt like a hard one. I much prefer a good smooth coat to a woolly coated dog.
“The best coat on a working terrier, in my opinion, is what is called a "slape coat." Not sure of the origins of the word (apparently northern slang for 'slippery' and for slate roofed), but I have been using it for more than 35 years and everyone who works dogs in the UK knows what it means as well. It's a hard coat, and pretty short, and it lays down with hard guard hairs on the outside. You will see it on a good working Patterdale or Fell, and sometimes on a Jack Russell of the right sort. Border terriers often have terrific slape coats, but we are seeing those get ruined by the ring as well.
“I put coat a distant second to chest size in importance when looking for a working terrier, but when you are out foxing and the temperature is 15 degrees and its 20 mile-per-hour winds, you want a coat that is hard, and which the wind and water and ice cannot blow through. A linty coat or a long and woolly coat will generally not do”
FROM: Mrs. Byron Rogers in “Cairns & Sealyham Terriers” (1922)
“Cairn fanciers are fortunate in having a dog that can be put down in the ring as Nature made him. He requires no artificial trimming nor white chalk to make him look as his standard say he should look; it behooves us all to keep him unspoiled in this respect. The idea that a working-dog must be trimmed, plucked, powdered and so on, is abhorrent to the minds of most sport-loving people and should be universally condemned. The test of the worker is to take him out of the earth, brush him, tidy him up, and put him into the ring. If he can win then, he deserves to do it; for the dog himself is there to be judged as he is, not as man, by months of toil and unnatural treatment, has made him.
“I hope we shall never allow our terriers to be shown as the professional man shows most of the other terrier breeds, holding up their rears then the judge looks toward that end and lifting the dog’s weight off his feet with a taut lead when the judge is looking for faulty fronts. A cairn should be able to stand pat on his four legs without any help. He should be able to stand naturally on his own merits, or else be put out of the show ring. It he is not good enough to win as Nature made him, then he should take a back seat, for his species must not degenerate into a “manufactured” breed or he will lose every bit of his character and also his birthright as the working terrier of the Scottish Highlands.”
From: Mr. Hugh Dalziel “British Dogs” (1883)
“The terrier, amongst the higher order of sportsmen, is preserved in its greatest purity, and with the most assiduous attention; and it seems of the utmost importance not to increase his size, which would render him unsuitable for the purpose in which he is employed…
“ …the old hard and short-haired ‘terry’ of the West of Scotland, as I recollect him when a boy, was… the color of their hard wiry coat mostly sandy, the face free from long hair, although some showing a beard, and the small ears carried… pricked.
“The eyes bright and keen, piercing through short, shaggy hair. The ears are small, covered with soft, short hair… The legs stout, well covered with hard hair, stifles only moderately bent; forelegs straight, all covered with hard, short hair, the feet compact, and hard in the sole, and the claws strong. The prevailing color sandy, sometimes a dark grizzle, and I have occasionally seen them brindled. The coat hard and very dense, from one inch or rather less than 2 inches in length at the greatest.”
Note: Mr. Dalziel, a Scotsman, explained that he was describing the hunting terriers of Scotland (cairns) as kept by his father and others around the 1840s).
FROM: Thompson Gray in “Dogs of Scotland” (1891)
Captain Mackie who went expressly to Poltallock to see this variety, describes it as follows: ‘The Poltalloch terrier weights from 16 to 20 pounds, has a determined, vermin-destroying look about it, is well knit together, and is a sort of linty-white in color. The hair is hard and bristly and will be from an inch and a half to 2 inches in length, excepting on the face and head, where it is short, hard and wiry. The body is medium between the cobby and long… ears small, prick. And covered with a velvet coat. I have had the breed and hope to have it again. I know exactly what these dogs are fit for and may add that no water was ever too cold and that no earth was ever too deep for them.
Note: Captain Mackie is describing the dogs which ultimately became West Highland White terriers, dogs which were undeniably white cairns. Cairn terriers and “Westies” were the same breed and were bred together and even came out of the same litters until the Kennel Club put an end to the practice and designated them two breeds in the 1920s.
From: “Dogs and All About Them” (1910)
Colonel Malcom of Potalloch on the Westie/Cairn “There is among judges, I find – with all respect I say it – an undue regard ….for grooming, which means brushing or plucking out all the long hair to gratify the judge. There should be feather to a fair degree on the tail, but if experts will not allow it, put rosin on your hands and pull the hair out – and the rosin will win your prize.”
From: National Geographic (1919)
“The cairn and Sealyham terriers are rapidly coming into popularity and belong in this group. The cairn terrier has less pronounced whiskers than the Scotty, and his coat is somewhat shorter and reveals his form rather more.”
From: Florence Ross in “Cairn Terriers” (1925)
“Here are the points he [Captain McDonald] gave in 1876 of the true type of cairn: Coat should be thick and wiry, about 1.5 inches long, prevailing colour dark brown, dark grey and black. Height of males about 9.5 inches, females 7. 5 inches.”
Note: In this book there is a note by one of the most famous pioneers of the “exhibition cairn”, Baroness Burton. She states: “In conclusion there is one matter for congratulations. So far cairns have escaped the mania for over-trimming which has decimated several breeds of terriers. When one sees the barbered little specimens, totally unlike their former selves, prancing in the ring, one may be thankful that the good sense and determination of the great body of cairn fanciers has saved the breed from a like fate.”
From: Rowland Jones “Our Friend The Cairn” (1932)
“It is essential to bear in mind that the cairn has been a working terrier for centuries. He might, by scientific breeding, be made into a handsomer dog, to adorn my lady’s boudoir with more gracefulness of form and greater silkiness of coat, but when that dog arrives the cairn departs. It is best to think of him as a dog who can face a badger in the uttermost depths of his lair and keep Old Brock at bay until the hunters dig him out.
“…the breeder with enterprise can always reinforce his strain by going back to Nature and selecting dogs of the same type which won fame for the cairn when first he began to be scientifically bred.
“As far as trimming the coat in concerned, all that is permitted in the case of the cairn, is to remove dead and loose hair. The natural ruggedness of his external aspect is one of his charms and not a fault as it would be in certain other breeds of terrier.”
From: Darley Matheson “Terriers” (1922)
“To avoid the so-called improvements there must be no attempt to exaggerate this dog’s points as we now see them. We do not want the cairn terrier to savor of the exhibition Skye. The dictates of fashion are a veritable cure in Dogdom, as in other spheres of life. The cairn terrier was never designed to become a lady’s lap-dog, such as the Skye terrier has dwindled into, until every working feature has been overshadowed by beautiful (?) points. (The question mark is the original authors).
“The cairn terrier club (UK) has been established to promote the breeding of the “old working terrier of Skye and the West Highlands, and to protect and advance the interests of the breed.
“We must now consider the sort of coat these terriers ought to have. We should say that the jacket is the item of great importance, and breeders should endeavor to obtain the highest quality in this respect. The individual hairs composing the coat should be hard – giving a distinct wiry sensation when one is bitten with the teeth. Very hard – in fact, the harder the better. Beneath this there should be a close undercoat springing from a tough, thick skin. It is better to have coat and skin course, than a soft coat and thin skin in a working terrier. Soft coated dogs should not be used in the stud, as they produce, in 95% of instances, a soft coated progeny.
“A good coat should lie flat or nearly so if the dog is in good condition. The cairn is not a long-coated dog, but the hair is of sufficient length to afford a good protective covering to the body.”
From: Dog World Magazine (1937) Mr. Ross wrote the following in DW about seven years ago (c. 1930 ) “In reply to your comments on the cairn as having to be trimmed to suit the whim of a few breeders that were not conversant with the breeds, I ask where did you or anybody else see a cairn trimmed so he could be improved?”
From: Dog World Magazine (1940) Jeannette DeVore: “If you have a perfect cairn as to type and expression but one with a soft coat, study incessantly, constantly, painstakingly, and search far and wide to find a stud whose forbears and who himself have been potent in producing hard, weather-resistant coats with profuse undercoats.
“If such a stud fortunately has one or two common ancestors whether he is a champion or not, he is the stud you should use, and nine times out of ten the resulting litter will have hard, profuse coats.”
From: Dog World Magazine (1940) “Another desirable feature of the cairn which must not be overlooked is that they are a natural dog. They do not require the grooming and attention to their coat that most terriers do. Just a few stray hairs now and then have to be plucked from the ears and tail trimmed occasionally, which can be done by the owner, therefore, there is no upkeep involved on this score.”
From: Dog World Magazine (1941) “They are the ideal dog for the city or the country and make an ideal pet for the apartment house dweller, provided they are not forced to live in over-heated quarters. Too much heat ruins the denseness and harshness of the coat so highly prized in this breed. They need much less trimming than any other terrier breed”.
From: Our Dogs (England) (1941) “Since the war the English Kennel Club has legislated in two directions which in one case has had, and in the other will undoubtedly have a great influence on our breed and its development. The first was when it forbade the interbreeding of cairns and west highlands. I don’t propose to go into the question whether this has been good or evil. Discussion would be a complete waste of time. The other matter is the putting of cairns in the category of breeds which are allowed to be trimmed with cutting instruments the same as a Scotties, wires and other “terriers” are trimmed”.
Note: This is a classic example of exhibition breeders changing the status of a breed’s type to fit their own ambitions.
From: Dog World Magazine (1940) “At home, wearing only the wonderful coat that nature had given him, he had to face the terrific storms through which his master went clad from head to foot in oilskins. The pioneers of the breed remembered this and made a great point of the thick CLOSE jacket – double lined, one might almost call it – with a short, furry inner-, and hard outer-covering, through which neither rain nor sleet could penetrate. Thus, we have the present-day cairn terrier as he ought to be.
From: English Dog World (1940) “Whisker is a fetish of recent years, and it is impossible to make some people understand that the less the whisker the better the coat. You cannot get a mass of long thick, soft hair on one part of a dog and a harsh dense double coat on another. It’s against nature.
From: J.W.H. Beynon & Alex Fisher, M.R.E. "The Popular Cairn Terrier" (3rd Edition 1963) "The preparation of the physical condition of a cairn is by no means difficult because the breed can truthfully be described as one of the most natural of all dogs. It is not too much to say that any cairn that receives the daily attention he deserves should be in a fit condition to go into the show ring on very short notice, provided of course he is not out of coat. There is, fortunately, no need to be an efficient barber to put the finishing touches to a cairn's appearance."
From: Mary Roslin Williams "Reaching For The Stars" (the most respected book on dog breeding ever published - just try and buy a copy!) "They must have a very good picture in their mind of their own idea of a [Cairn] and be prepared to stick to this whatever the fashion, whatever the judges say, and whatever happens. Nothing must turn them from their steep and lonely path to the top. From: John Marvin “The New Complete Cairn Terrier” (1989) “The cutest puppies, those with the profuse and/or fuzzy coats generally, mature with soft, open coats requiring untold work to get into show shape and which even then are on the poor side. “It must always be remembered that the cairn is NOT a heavily trimmed breed. The Standard specifically says, “tidied up on ears, tail, feet and general outline. “The cairn terrier requires no plucking and very little trimming. A dog as a rule casts his coat in the late spring, and a bitch after weaning her puppies. The hair becomes dead and loose, and advantage should be taken of this to remove all one can with a comb, The sooner all the old hair is removed the quicker the new coat grows. “The healthy cairn in good bloom needs very little grooming. This is a great advantage with this breed which has always been a ‘natural’ one. The dog for exhibition must be prepared correctly for his debut. Fortunately, there is not much involved in coat and outline presentation – just keep the tail and back of the forelegs free from too much back-under feathering and all is well.” Note: The fad for longer and longer hair, the type that requires “stripping” or “plucking” in order for the dog to appear typical of the breed, is a relatively new fad. Notice this book from 1989 states the breed requires no stripping/plucking. Author’s Note: This is certainly not an exhaustive demonstration of references to the correct coat and grooming limitations for which the cairn terrier has, until recently, been known for. I hope it is enough to give owners and breeders a clear view of just what “preservation breeding” should be about in this breed. My bringing this information to the attention of exhibition cairn fanciers who are enslaved to show ring fads is rarely appreciated and has cost me a great deal of ill will from many of them. This is a price I am willing to pay to spread truth. Fads are just that – fashions that come and go – and I hope this effort of mine may in some small way help the dedicated and sincere “preservation breeder” find their way back. I am always available for questions. Diane Jessup DanBarRanch.com Dreadlives@outlook.com
From: J.W.H. Beynon & Alex Fisher, M.R.E. "The Popular Cairn Terrier" (3rd Edition 1963) "The preparation of the physical condition of a cairn is by no means difficult because the breed can truthfully be described as one of the most natural of all dogs. It is not too much to say that any cairn that receives the daily attention he deserves should be in a fit condition to go into the show ring on very short notice, provided of course he is not out of coat. There is, fortunately, no need to be an efficient barber to put the finishing touches to a cairn's appearance."
From: Mary Roslin Williams "Reaching For The Stars" (the most respected book on dog breeding ever published - just try and buy a copy!) "They must have a very good picture in their mind of their own idea of a [Cairn] and be prepared to stick to this whatever the fashion, whatever the judges say, and whatever happens. Nothing must turn them from their steep and lonely path to the top. From: John Marvin “The New Complete Cairn Terrier” (1989) “The cutest puppies, those with the profuse and/or fuzzy coats generally, mature with soft, open coats requiring untold work to get into show shape and which even then are on the poor side. “It must always be remembered that the cairn is NOT a heavily trimmed breed. The Standard specifically says, “tidied up on ears, tail, feet and general outline. “The cairn terrier requires no plucking and very little trimming. A dog as a rule casts his coat in the late spring, and a bitch after weaning her puppies. The hair becomes dead and loose, and advantage should be taken of this to remove all one can with a comb, The sooner all the old hair is removed the quicker the new coat grows. “The healthy cairn in good bloom needs very little grooming. This is a great advantage with this breed which has always been a ‘natural’ one. The dog for exhibition must be prepared correctly for his debut. Fortunately, there is not much involved in coat and outline presentation – just keep the tail and back of the forelegs free from too much back-under feathering and all is well.” Note: The fad for longer and longer hair, the type that requires “stripping” or “plucking” in order for the dog to appear typical of the breed, is a relatively new fad. Notice this book from 1989 states the breed requires no stripping/plucking. Author’s Note: This is certainly not an exhaustive demonstration of references to the correct coat and grooming limitations for which the cairn terrier has, until recently, been known for. I hope it is enough to give owners and breeders a clear view of just what “preservation breeding” should be about in this breed. My bringing this information to the attention of exhibition cairn fanciers who are enslaved to show ring fads is rarely appreciated and has cost me a great deal of ill will from many of them. This is a price I am willing to pay to spread truth. Fads are just that – fashions that come and go – and I hope this effort of mine may in some small way help the dedicated and sincere “preservation breeder” find their way back. I am always available for questions. Diane Jessup DanBarRanch.com Dreadlives@outlook.com