Quality of workers......

[Simoman 110]

Right boys, the weathers hot and I have been spending too much time on this computer.

 

How do you think the quality of terriers and terriermen of today compare with those of the past?

 

Thinking of great names from the past Buck, Breay, Gripton etc and those that worked/bred great dogs in the past/present, Nuttall, Chapman, Mousley, Gould, Park, Middleton etc

 

Has the quality of dogs changed for better or worse over the years due to decreasing legal quarry, showing and legislation and has the terrierman of today changed?

[Wilky 0]

Personally I don't think the terriermen of the past were any better than a lot of the right sort of terriermen today, I do think, however, that they had much more freedom to work their terriers and were in a postion to give their terriers more work and because of this were able to keep more terriers, which in turn meant they bred more terriers, helping them get their names, as pups from their breeding were sold on. I also think that their names got more of a highlight in their own particular areas due to transport not being what it is today so a lot of lads could not travel for their young stock or to visit stud dogs and had to buy from local big breeders.

 

A lot of the big names only got to be big names because of the amount of stock they bred, there still are and always were, a lot of first rate terriermen that don't, for whatever reason, mix with a lot of people, but this doesn't make them any less of a terrierman, probably quite the opposite as they are not listening to the endless crap spewed out by the rosette chasers.

 

There are quite a few lads that like to keep their stock closely bred between themselves and the stock they keep is worth much more than money to them, particularly as they aren't influenced by people that like to think of themselves as shining stars in terrier world.

 

I think that in the late seventies and early eighties, when I started with terriers there were definately a lot more lads at the game and a lot more lads willing to help you get along and who would be willing to let you have a day out with them. I was lucky when I started out , I happened to be tupping a lass from school who was babysitting for her elder sister and her husband, who just happened to be, in my opinion, one of the best terriermen ever to draw breath, lucky for me he took me under his wing, but he was no big name, he kept just the terriers he needed and worked them very hard, one thing I remember him telling me when I was about seventeen and which still holds true today is "If you keep lots of terriers, you can't work them all, and so the best you can hope for is a kennel full of mediocre workers, but if you just keep a few and work them hard, then if they've got it in them, you can expect to own some first class terriers"

 

This same lad took me out all over Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire and Shropshire, when you weren't always listening for the helicopter and introduced me to loads of terriermen of the same ilk, no big names, just honest to goodness terriermen, who kept and worked terriers, some still at it today, some not, some still breeding the same stuff, some not. Lads like, for anyone who can remember that far back, Catchpole etc.

 

So I suppose what I am getting at is, it's not really a case of now versus then, in my opinion it's more a case of the right lads having the right attitude towards the terrier game and as long as there are lads like that, then there will always be good honest working terriers.

 

Long live the tykes.

[Guest mucker]

cracking post wilky,a good read

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

I think you pretty much summed it up Wilky .Too many dogs in the yard and the same old favourites are took out .

[Pumper dog 0]

Don't think anyone can better Wilkys post in answering your question mate, everything mentioned is bang on!

[Stabs 3]

I'd agree with Wilky.

 

What is apparent to me though, through reading the older dig reports, seems like doubling and even trebling up was more prevalent in the past than today. Just an observation.

[Guest ADAM AND HIS DOGS]

the best terriermen shun fame that applies to today and in the past. the so called big names were shown what it was all about by a few men whos names and pictures will never appear in a book. they know who they are. that is all that matters