There is no worse feeling than when our dogs are harmed. Colonel Malcolm of Polltalloc experienced this horror during a hunt when his favorite reddish-colored terrier emerged from cover and was shot on sight by a hunter who’d mistaken it for a fox. Legend has it that the devastated Polltalloc developed the West Highland White Terrier to have a distinctive snowy white coat so that it would stand out among the rats, fox, badger, otter and other vermin it hunted, and never again be mistaken for anything other than a dog.
Malcolm introduced his breed (then called the Polltalloch Terrier) at a dog show held in 1900. Later, the dogs were called Roseneath Terriers after the Duke of Argyll’s estate. In the late 1800s, they were referred to as White Scottish Terriers and finally, the breed was named West Highland White Terrier in 1904 for the rugged area of their development.
Photo of “Lynnie Louise” by Nick Vedros (2010)