UKC Terrier

Patterdale Terrier.

UKC: an extremely courageous working terrier, traditionally used to go to ground; descended mainly from the black smooth-coated Fell Terrier of northern England, used to control vermin that were predatory on sheep and bred to bolt the quarry from the den or dispatch it if it fought; worked far more than shown; scars from work are honourable. Country Life: bred in the Lake District to run with the Lakeland fell packs, squeezing into rocky crevices to bolt foxes; in the UK it remains a "type" and is not Kennel Club registered; the name is recent, bred out of the old working fell terrier (Steve Plummer). Wikipedia: a hunting terrier meant to confront quarry directly in tight places; the rocky dens of the north do not allow digging, so the terrier must bolt the fox or dispatch it where it lies..

Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.

0INHeightall null. An ideal from the standard, not a range.

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

10 to 15 in

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

UKC and the PTCA figure (via Wikipedia) agree. UKC adds that the chest should span behind the shoulders with an average man's hands (the working measure).

Coat

UKC: smooth (coarse, dense, stiff, no wave), broken (intermediate, longer wiry guard hairs, may have beard and eyebrows) or rough (coarse, longer all over including face and ears); short dense undercoat in all; very little grooming required; a soft, long or downy coat is a serious fault. Colours: black, red, liver/chocolate, grizzle, black and tan, bronze, with white allowed only on chest and feet. Country Life: mostly smooth, also rough or broken, in black, black and tan or fox red, often with a white bib. Wikipedia: smooth, broken or rough; black, red, chocolate or black and tan.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

Heat tolerance

4 of 5 · UKC: smooth, broken or rough coat over a short, dense undercoat; smooth hair coarse, dense and stiff; very little grooming needed; a correct coat protects against wet ground and briars.

DerivedUnited Kennel Club

Derived from the coat (short dense = 4). No measured data.

The dog at home

What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.

Energy

UKC: very active with a strong prey drive; extremely willing to work with a high desire to please; peaceful with humans, livestock and other dogs, but not a dog for the average pet owner; the owner needs a sense of humour and tolerance for a real terrier temperament. Country Life (Steve Plummer): primarily a working terrier but will also lie on the sofa with the children all day; also described as fiercely loyal; one killed a neighbour's cat; a gamekeeper: anything with feathers does not interest it, fur does. Wikipedia: very energetic, can be difficult to socialise, may be too energetic for a sedentary home.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

No RKC band (not a Kennel Club breed in the UK), no AKC page, no C-BARQ mean: text only. UKC says peaceful with other dogs; Country Life reports cat-killing. Both stand.

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

UKC, Country Life and Wikipedia agree on the fell-terrier origin and the underground work. Wikipedia says the lineage is more a type than a breed; Country Life agrees for the UK.

Primary game

Fox. Country Life: the fell packs' terrier is used to lure a fox out once it has gone to ground; in upland sheep country the working Patterdale's job has changed little, especially at lambing time. UKC: quarry bolted from the den or dispatched, vermin predatory on sheep. Wikipedia: bred for the hunting and dispatch of the red fox in the rocky fells.

Breed clubCountry Life, 2016

UKC names no quarry species; the fox comes from Country Life and Wikipedia.

Also used on

Wikipedia: Patterdale-type dogs have also been used for illegal badger baiting in the UK, as the article states; the 2004 Hunting Act made the use of "hard" dogs to hunt foxes in this way illegal in England and Wales. Country Life: fearsome rat catchers; will go head down a rabbit warren; one chased a deer; one terrorises grey squirrels and has gone after moles. UKC: control of vermin.

Breed clubWikipedia

Badger work is stated only by Wikipedia and only as an illegal use; no terrier-work source read describes legal badger work. Wikipedia sections carry citation-needed flags.

Range

Close, below ground, but long days on foot. Country Life: the Lakeland fell packs hunt on foot, so a terrier is expected to keep up; a former Coniston Foxhounds whipper-in puts a hunt at 12 to 14 miles and the terriers at twice that with all the running about.

Breed clubCountry Life, 2016

Single editorial source for the distances.

Search pattern

Below ground, single terrier with the hunt on foot. Country Life: the terrier lures the fox out by yapping at it, backing up slowly until the fox is ready to bolt (the fox is then shot, in line with the Hunting Act 2004). UKC: bolt the quarry out or dispatch it; hold it at bay; the tail is sometimes the only means of pulling the dog out of a burrow. Wikipedia: bolt or dispatch.

Breed clubCountry Life, 2016

Voice: Country Life says "yapping" to bolt the fox; this is the only voice statement read.

Field trial standard

No field-trial standard read. UKC conformation judges spanning (size, compression and flexibility of the chest behind the shoulders) as an important part of judging; disqualifications include viciousness or extreme shyness and any white patch on the body or head. Wikipedia: the PTCA and ADBA also keep standards; PTCA events favour proven working ability, all else equal.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

UKC recognised the breed January 1 1995 (UKC and Wikipedia agree). Not recognised by the AKC or the UK Kennel Club.

How to read this page

Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.

Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 3 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called: Fell Terrier, Patterdale

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