The Irish Softcoated Wheaten Terrier

Dr. Pierse		Kingdom Leader

A little further on in the article he mentions the first Champions in the breed:

The breeders of that time he mentions are : Matt Sheahan, McMullane, Bourke, Cosgrove and of course himself.

In 1968 these trials were done away with.

I think that after 1968 for quite some years breeders still put their dogs to the test in secret badger trials .  As Mrs.  Maureen Holmes would put it “ the old boys enjoy it”.

In the early forties Mrs Holmes took up the breed with a dog from Dr. Pierse called Silver Wheat.  Her Holmenocks dogs made history.

Dr Pierce did not encourage trimming.  Encouraged by Mr. Fortrell Mrs. Holmes started trimming the Wheatens and, as she called it in her book, the “battle of the scissors” started.

Trimming was done in a very moderate way, just to enhance the Terrier outline of the dog.

In 1950 Wheatens were first entered at Crufts   (no C.C.-‘s) . For a few years they were quite successful, till nearly “overnight “ the looks of Wheatens in England changed dramatically.

 

English Wheatens as shown in the seventies and the eighties.

The few Irish type dogs entered at Crufts looked like the “odd one out” and were totally disregarded.

In Ireland breed type was maintained till to-day (as can be seen when comparing old pictures and photo’s of recent days dogs).   Dogs were exported all over the world, and people in different countries drew up their own standards, often without any, let alone intimate knowledge of the breed.  

The Irish Breed Club tried to educate newcomers and warned them when they were straying away from breed type. This process recently has been very aptly described by Hans Hilverda, not with Wheatens in mind, but as an observation of a general process that happens in many breed now-a-days.

With permission of the writer and the publisher (the Dutch Magazine : De Honden Wereld) I would like to quote a part from this article which is called (in translation) “A silent breed killer”.

Quote:

A silent breed killer

Did you ever notice how easily judges, exhibitors and breeders get used to changes within a breed? In many cases it even goes so far that these changes are gradually lifted to the level of required characteristics. It is mostly dogs of well-known breeders / exhibitors that start a certain change (read: set a trend) within a breed.

As soon as a dog with of a slightly “deviating” –type starts winning, the ball start rolling. The dog goes to the ring of honor, the one judge bends over to his neighbour and says; “have you seen that beautiful dog?” Breeders and exhibitors notice that judges like that particular dog and start trying to breed or to buy that type of dog. At such a moment the original Breed Standard does not seem to be of importance to some exhibitors, winning in the show ring is all that matters to them.

The temptation is of course very big. Many of the deviating dogs are often very flashy looking ones, and often show a gait, exterior and motion that looks more spectacular than the movement of the “standard”dog. One has to be very strong and come from a good breed conscience background to resist the temptations and keep on preaching the true belief and keep breeding in compliance with the standard.

Often the appearance of difference in type in a breed leads to polarization between judges and breeders alike. One of the hallmarks of this polarization is that certain characteristics of the dogs are even more exaggerated to make it stand out and be recognizable.

So one can observe that and conclude that the non-adherence to the standard of many breeders / exhibitors and judges poses a direct danger to the existence of our breed population.

Would it not be good if breeders and judges would, at least once a month take the standard at hand of the breeds they are entrusted, and what would it be valuable to organize regular meetings with breeders and judges to discuss certain trends and “faults” that creep up in a breed. Never forget that the only guideline during judging and breeding should be the FCI-approved breed standard.

So, behave and act as true disciples and spread the gospel according to the original breed standard.

Hans Hilverda

Unquote.

Being a small club with only a hand full of breeders the (International SCWT) Club’s  Magazine (Stencilled Paper) came out very irregular and went under after a while as it was very hard to get people to write articles.

Exhibitors and breeders in the seventies were Mrs. Maureen Holmes, Messrs Bill Marett, Dan Ryan, Tony Killykeen Doyle, Joe O’Brien, Martin Mullins, Wally Lad and Barry MacDonnell.

(Also) In the seventies Mrs Prokosh and Mrs. Peterson came to live in Ireland.  They brought with them some dogs of Irish type and background, that they owned and bred in the USA. Under their Newkilber kennel name they bred top dogs, some of whom were exported to several countries, and made history as did the Holmenocks dogs.

Some of these breeders are still going strong, while others stopped or passed away.

In more recent years Mr. & Mrs Butler bred and still breed good stock that have been successful in Ireland and abroad, their Ballysax kennel name is well known

Since then new owners and breeders have come to the fore ground.

In the past and maybe even to-day, there has been concern abroad about Irish Breeders sending out too many specimen, maybe leaving themselves without sufficient good stock to carry on .  On an other “plane” / ”level” , but not only in Ireland, breeders of Wheatens don’t seem to be able to co-operate too well with each other, thus missing out on chances of furthering the quality of the breed.  Is it because we are Terrier people ??

The last few years we have observed a renewed interest in Irish bred stock in several countries. A considerable number of people are genuinely interested to go back to the original type.

They select within their own breeding stock and introduce some new. However, I do have the impression, and a lot of people with me, that others introduce Irish dogs due to the enormous health problems  (PLE, PLN, RD) that unfortunately have cropped up.  By introducing Irish stock they seem to try to solve these problems, but will it help combining healthy dogs with lines that may be or even are already infected?

Or will it only postpone the tragedy.

In 1995 at the World Congress of Kennel Clubs in Dublin when the native breeds were the main feature for the seminars, great concern was expressed concerning the fact that in quite a number of FCI countries many dogs entered at show did no longer fit the Irish (FCI) Standard and breed type was being lost rapidly, except for a few dye-hards that remained true to the Standard.

Mr. Tony Killykeen Doyle, also on behalf of Mrs. Maureen Holmes who made it a topic in her speech, said it was high time people in the FCI countries paid more attention to breed type.

One of the international judges attending this meeting suggested taking action, for instance educating both breeders, judges and Kennel Clubs.

Because of the expressed concern and the suggestions made very positive actions followed.

Seminars were organised in England, Sweden, America, Belgium (by Interra ; international organization for all terriers) and now in Ireland.

Unfortunately, although these positive actions are taking place and people are talking more with each other, discussing several features on these seminars and through the internet, I am sorry to say the situation for Irish Wheatens in FCI countries has sooner worsened than improved. 

In several FCI countries in Europe exhibitors find it harder and harder to find a judge that will judge according to the FCI Standard. Some judges nearly automatically disregard Irish type.

They are set in their opinion that these are always of poor overall quality.

They seem to have got used to dogs that seem to fit their “blue print” of a terrier: :“a slick, very short backed dog, more or less like a fox terrier, thus totally ignoring the typical breed features.

On the other hand, people that are of the opinion that an Irish type Wheaten is automatically good and should win at shows, in my opinion is equally objectionable.

Mrs. Maureen Holmes defined type as follows:.

“Type is what breeding is all about and can be summed up as the embodiment of the best points and characteristics of a breed”.

To my opinion this means, that it takes more than a beautiful silky, wheaten coloured coat, this no doubt being very important,  to make a quality Wheaten.

Excellent expression, teeth and angulation, straight strong back, good tail set, correct gait, substance and good muscle along with good temperament are as important.

 I do wonder why people are not paying more attention to the Standard.

Does not every hobby have its rules. For instance a golfer will be disqualified if he picks up his bal  and puts it in the hole.

So why is it acceptable to make up dogs that have serious and even disqualifying (eliminating) faults?

It would be of great importance if  Wheaten people could come closer to each other and make a point of breeding to the Standard, the “set of rules” in our “game”.

We should think together to find ways to enforce this goal. For instance through a well balanced Public Relations campaign, to show that it is perfectly possible to breed  quality Wheatens that answer the Standard and deserve the name Irish SCW Terrier.

The following examples show Wheatens from early days (fifties) on to nowadays.

They stem from several FCI countries.

I would like to finish with an other quote from Mrs. Maureen Holmes’s book: “The Softcoated Wheaten Terrier (1992). (page 142)

Quote

“Thoughtful serious breeders can turn out perfect super dogs based entirely on the Irish Standard with out any diversions or variations

The native breeds of Ireland are part of the culture and heritage of the Irish nation. It seems to me that we are only their custodians while we are here and therefore have a moral obligation to look after them to the best of our ability so that they can be handed down to our successors as they were originally developed”

Unquote

Thank you for your attention.

Louise Borst-Borreman