His smartness and cleverness – “guid gear goes in mickle bundles,” is a Scottish proverb that aptly fits the most excellent Scottish Terrier. We wish we had a literal translation for the quip, but surmise that it is shorthand for, “a thinking, loyal, stubborn, opinionated, aristocratic and aloof party animal whom time has failed to convince is not the biggest dog in the world.”

Colonel Hamilton Smith may have written fighting words among terrier owners when he opined in 1840 that the Scottie, among the shortest of the terriers, is also the oldest representation of terriers in Britain. Some writers, such as David Hancock, are suspicious of claims such as Smith’s made about terriers because so little was written about them in earlier years as compared to gundogs and hounds which had “whole libraries” of books devoted to them. Terriers were largely the dogs of working men, while hounds and hunting dogs often had an aristocratic connection.

 Stuart, the Scotty by William Noonan is available for purchase here.