The head of a Border Terrier

[desertdog 149]

they are the only terrier recognised as the kennel club put ,the border is essentially a working terrier,

[Bryan 1,362]

They never have an Otterlike head in any older pictures. Seems like it's just a modern fad, to fit in with a written kennel club standard. But they can still work.

Bryan

[Dawn B 212]

They never have an Otterlike head in any older pictures. Seems like it's just a modern fad, to fit in with a written kennel club standard. But they can still work.

Bryan

Actually Bryan, when the breed was first recognised in 1920, it asked for an Otter head, with the same wording as it does now. the only difference being, it said "teeth level" whereas now it asks for a scissor bite, but a level bite acceptable. It no modern fad at all.

[Stevie D 9]

I'm not sure about the physics but I'd say a broad skull and well muscled cheeks would transfer more power to a small rather than large muzzle. However, I've seen some terriers with crap heads that had very destructive, damaging bites, so i think commitment to the bite is as important as anything else. I prefer mine to use their brains and their voice.

 

Stevie

[Bryan 1,362]

They never have an Otterlike head in any older pictures. Seems like it's just a modern fad, to fit in with a written kennel club standard. But they can still work.

Bryan

Actually Bryan, when the breed was first recognised in 1920, it asked for an Otter head, with the same wording as it does now. the only difference being, it said "teeth level" whereas now it asks for a scissor bite, but a level bite acceptable. It no modern fad at all.

 

The wording may not have changed, but the terrier did, just like every other KC recognised Breed.

Bryan

[digger63 3]

The Border was bred for bolting or holding Fox, it was later on they used by Otterhound packs, where they proved profficient.

 

I never meant to agree with an earlier post suggesting Borders were bred specifically for Otter,my point was they were used for otters and badgers,dogs bred to kill to ground never fair well on either,an earlier post said they were to kill foxes and thats not accurate.Lakelands were bred to kill and they are pretty good at it,but a dog that tries to kill every fox with sheer guts dont last very long,my best terriers were a mixture of Border/lakeland although not straight crosses,we bred worker to worker and the main ingredients were Border and lakeland.

No doubt some people still have good border blood,ive seen a few pedigree borders work,but as someone else has already said they ussually take longer to come on,as an ingrediant to produce good working terriers i cant fault them.

[Dawn B 212]

They never have an Otterlike head in any older pictures. Seems like it's just a modern fad, to fit in with a written kennel club standard. But they can still work.

Bryan

Actually Bryan, when the breed was first recognised in 1920, it asked for an Otter head, with the same wording as it does now. the only difference being, it said "teeth level" whereas now it asks for a scissor bite, but a level bite acceptable. It no modern fad at all.

 

The wording may not have changed, but the terrier did, just like every other KC recognised Breed.

Bryan

I agree to a point, but as far as the head is concerned, its a lot closer to the original written standard than it was to begin with, so thats a plus point. Most are far more "Otter like" than they were before, although many still do have weak muzzles and poor heads. I would imagine, the closer to the standard would be of benefit to the Terrier for the job it does.