Slashed Canvas :: Composed & Shot

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PART 2

The Border Terrier as a Pet

Those with lots of experience will tell you that the Border Terrier is a tough, “plucky”, very active little dog. He will run and keep on running, sometimes in the opposite direction. He will do his very best to escape from your garden regardless of how conscientious you have been securing it. He's obsessed with digging and he climbs really well, too. Straying cats may be impressed – if they live long enough. As soon as your back's turned the younger dog will crunch and eat stones – even when your back isn't turned. He will eat his feed so quickly he may choke badly. Some have died.

Working with a Border Terrier puppy demands buckets of patience. There will be times you'll have to wonder about the old adage, “Dogs have masters, cats have servants.” Like other breeds, he just isn't that easy to discipline as a puppy. You can tell him to do or not to do something 10+ times a day for a week and there's every chance it won't stick. He will still run off with the kitchen towel. He will quite merrily trail your faded underwear around the living room in front of the visitors. He will endlessly insist on chewing the new furniture, magazines, the TV remote, your shoes, your feet.

If you haven't been there before, please believe it – like most puppies, he will take you way, way beyond your sense of humour. Buying him plenty of toys won't be the solution. In fact some toys will test the limits of your sanity. We may never know why a mature person with a average brain and a typical lifestyle thinks it's a good idea to design squeaking toys for dogs. Apart from driving each adult member of the family up the walls, try squeaking such a toy a few inches from your ear. Might it not conceivably damage a young dog's hearing? That's as good an excuse as any.

We read in some experts' books that the Border Terrier is a suitable playmate for children, but surely we need further clarification. The adult dog will have a more manageable disposition but most owners will testify to the Border Terrier pup's tireless determination to chew, nip and even bite. The young dog's first teeth are very sharp and will certainly draw blood from your hands and arms at some stage. That's the way it is. It's to be expected and you're unlikely to be able to do anything about it. However, if it's your next door neighbour's granddaughter who's bleeding, and if she's loudly complaining about her badly plucked designer jeans, you may want to find a hole to bury yourself in.

There are also discipline issues with children and young people. It's not unfair to expect most of them to be careless and impatient. It's surprising how quickly they can undo some of your successes in training, so it's wise to be firm and unpopular. While playing with your dog, kids will probably be too rough and will wind him up way too far. They won't be restrained during meal times, sharing inappropriate food from the plate and allowing the dog to regularly jump up for attention.

If children and teens take to the novelty of dog-walking for a short while, there's every chance they will be blissfully unconcerned about making sure your Border Terrier behaves properly on the lead. This will probably knock back your training to date. And teens never seem to be around when a stinking load needs removed from the garden... Why is that?

Where's the Toilet Today?

I well remember one day in particular when, despite my very best efforts jumping up and down out of my chair to let him out, my 15-week-old Border Terrier pup still managed to wet on the kitchen floor six times in just 90 minutes. There was never any guarantee that he would go outside all by himself when the back door was open and the weather was fine. House training is perhaps the most trying aspect of rearing a puppy.

It's a bad idea to leave toys lying around in the same area the pup uses as a toilet. It's possible they will distract him. You may be standing for ages as it is in the early morning drizzle and gloom waiting longingly for him to something – anything!

Some experienced owners recommend moving toileting newspapers little by little towards the door and, of course, some don't. Some will assure you that you will reach the stage where newspapers can be left just outside the door and the pup will know to use them. Happy days. But I wonder where on earth these people live. I tried this method for a time and the Irish wind and rain were having a laugh.

Whatever advice you adopt, it's worth training yourself to read the tell-tale signs that mean something's about to fall, probably where you least want it. You will also get somewhat mixed advice in books, but I can recommend You and Your Dog by David Taylor for a wealth of quality information and general tips on just about everything. You can still buy it second hand.

Dog or Bitch, Collar or Harness?

Astute experts don't seem keen on recommending one sex over another. Some have a preference but most agree it's usually a matter of choice. However, one of these experts does say in her book that Border Terrier bitches have an independent streak, while another in his book thinks it's the dogs that are more exuberant and independent; which only goes to prove we're mad to rely totally on expert advice.

Actually, there are pros and cons with either sex. I chose a dog mainly to avoid a bitch coming into season twice a year and me having to make the more responsible choice of proceeding with a pregnancy before spaying. It makes sense to many to have a dog neutered when he's around six months old. According to my vet it has long term health benefits and addresses the problem of the dog obsessively chasing after bitches in season. He may mount everything in sight, too! Scandalous. But not every experienced owner of Border Terriers will see a need for castration.

What should you use to walk your dog? I always use a harness, although as far as I can tell very experienced owners universally don't. Among other things they say that a harness increases the risk of a Border Terrier getting snagged and that this is potentially fatal. But realistically, how you train and exercise your dog and where you take him for walks may mean a harness is in fact an acceptable choice.

I very much enjoy walking my dog on isolated country roads. When I do I choose a standard lead attached to a quality harness. When I walk him in the early mornings around my local country park I use a very useful retractable lead attached to the same harness. I prefer to allow him to run totally free only if I think there are no other dogs around. Employing this dual style of lead-training during the puppy stage, coupled with regularly calling him close for attention and treats, mean my dog continually associates walking with staying within a 30 or 40 foot radius.

Of course there's no guarantee that any dog won't occasionally take off for some reason – or no reason at all. But even so, insisting that he may get injured or even die because he's wearing a harness rather than a collar seems an overblown line of reasoning. But I bet it's happened, like lots of other things – getting torn open on barbed wire, kicked by a horse, falling down a deep hole, eating poison, falling off a ledge, walking on glass... It's a dog's life.

It's also repeatedly said that a collar makes it easier to control and train a dog. But this is misleading when applied to all dogs in all situations with all owners. It certainly hasn't been my experience. My last dog was put to sleep in her 17th year and was walked almost exclusively for most of that time on a retractable lead attached to a harness without any problems.

There are some grounds for insisting that a narrow band around any animal's neck is bound to be uncomfortable at times, especially during training. On the other hand, we might expect the dog to be more sensitive to the owner's control because of this. The fact remains that if we are to take the experts' general advice, the vast majority of us will not be putting harnesses on our pet Border Terriers.

Very early one morning I met a bloke out dog-walking. He told me that it’s good for my dog to “interface” with other dogs. He must have been a computer geek talking like that. But to be fair, he didn’t have spiky, oily hair, daft designer glasses and he didn't smell of garlic. But as his three dogs and my Border Terrier gambolled around, I knew what he meant.

It’s accepted that dogs should mingle with other dogs. However, it makes more sense to walk a dog with other dogs rather than just encountering them head-on for a few seconds. I’m hoping someday to strike up a friendship with someone special who will walk dogs with me in the early mornings – the best time of the day by far.

There is a tiresome glut of dogs in my town and nothing like enough space to give them proper, undistracted exercise. Other than travelling quite far from home, one way around this problem is to rise obscenely early and get to my local country park while most folk are still dribbling on their pillows. Often I have the place totally to myself. I can allow my dog to run freely off the lead without rattling somone's cage. A dog can’t be fully exercised on a lead, no matter how far you walk.

I definitely like the tenor and character of those I sometimes meet on early morning walks. Usually they’re tired looking blokes who haven’t shaved or washed – possibly for several days. Of course, it's not advisable for women to go out walking very early. They never know who's around at that time of the day. (I once met a skinny hoodie who responded to my bright greeting with total silence.) Men don't need to worry when they're out on their own in the pre-dawn gloom. They know there's no chance of young women leaping out from behind a bush, though many live in hope.

These stoical individuals I meet before breakfast speak with deep and authoritative voices. They are middle-aged. They are hardcore. The dogs are in keeping with their owners' manner and appearance. These men wouldn’t be seen dead with demented powder-puffs on leads. But I must confess it bothers me that they may not approve of my dog’s harness. I hope it hasn’t dented my credibility.

A Cross Between a Monkey and a Hedgehog?

Those who show Border Terriers are largely responsible for perpetuating the belief that the Border Terrier coat must be “stripped” twice a year at least. It's claimed that this is necessary to maintain the typical Border Terrier look. The classic advice goes something like this: “To maintain a true Border Terrier coat texture and look, dogs should be stripped about every three months, a tedious process of pulling out dead hairs by hand or with a stripping knife” (fetchdog.com). Note the phrase “a true Border Terrier coat texture and look”.

Other advice goes like this: “You may have read on some of the 'Is This Breed For You' sites that the Border Terrier requires 'minimal' grooming. They lied. That is, of course, unless you want your dog to look like this [picture of scruffy Border Terrier included]. Please be realistic; this is a 'hand-on' breed. If you don’t want to spend time on your dog, this may not be the breed for you. If you want your Border Terrier to look like the ones you see in the books and on the websites, you’re going to have to devote about 60-90 minutes every 3 weeks or so to grooming” (Brentwood Border Terriers).

According to LNDI's Border Terriers, “They should be hand stripped rather than clipped. Clipping will give the dog a super thick undercoat, softer topcoat, and make future grooming/stripping much more difficult. A good brushing regularly, as well as 'tidying' helps keep the Border Terrier looking neat and tidy. Untidy, they look like a cross between a monkey and a hedgehog.”

Here's some advice for those who want Border Terriers as pets only: “...people who have Borders as companions can keep their dogs looking their best and preserving the water resistant nature of their coats using the same methods as the people who exhibit them. The major task in grooming the Border is to pull out, or strip its old coat when it has blown, that is, when it has become overgrown and dead. At this point the hair can be pulled without any discomfort to the dog” (The Border Terrier Club of America).

Some owners are clearly influenced by the above advice which is found just about everywhere. As a result they conclude that not maintaining a show-style coat spoils the look of a Border Terrier. But who can say what the proper look is? Is it the picture you see at the top of this page, or is it the two dogs below? What in fact is “a true Border Terrier coat texture and look”? If you want a Border Terrier as a pet only you would do well to question this well publicised point-of-view. You may even radically wonder what will happen if you let your dog's coat grow naturally.

These 4-year-old Border Terriers were spotted in Bury market, England. When asked the owner pointed out she never "plucked" her dogs. "I don't agree with that," she said.

At the outset what throws a spanner in the dog show works is the simple irrefutable fact that not all Border Terriers come into this world with similar coats. This means that your pet dog may not need stripped at all, and certainly not to the show ring's' subjective breed standard.

If, like me, you question whether these dogs should always look stripped, you will want sensible and practical reasons for plucking out the dead coat. As a responsible, caring owner you will want to know why regular brushing and targeted trimming won't be enough for your dog. I've looked conscientiously for legitimate reasons in books and on the Net, but I have to say that I wasn't exactly overwhelmed by persuasive arguments. The best reason I can come up with is less dog hairs on my carpets. But a good daily brushing helps.

You will be told that a dog with a “full blown coat” won't be properly protected in cold, wet weather because the “insulating layer is not able to to its job” properly. The inference is that by not stripping the outer dead coat we hold back the inner coat's natural protective development. Does this mean the Border Terrier's coat ends up much the same as many other dogs? Thankfully naturally occuring oils will help.

Another view is if the dead hair isn't hand-stripped away the dog will be uncomfortable and itchy, especially in hot weather. It's also been said that a stripped coat allows easier inspection of the skin, which certainly makes sense.

Each of us must decide what's best for our unique Border Terrier pet.

Resources

If you’d like to learn more about this breed’s background, there’s plenty of literature around, most of it out of print. However, if the truth be told, it’s generally monotonous stuff, especially if you’re interested in the more practical aspects of owning and training a Border Terrier. It’s debatable just how useful most of these publications are. In the list below I’ve mentioned two books I would definitely recommend. Just my opinion of course.

Online resources tend to run along the classic approach to the subject, as you might expect. I did spend a few months on a forum reading a lot of posts – Border Terrier World. If you like the social thing, there are lots of opinions and differing experiences to comment on. There is practical information too, but you'll get that from good books. The rules for posting on this forum are currently a tad idiosyncratic, which was one reason why I had to move on.