While the old English Black and Tan Terrier lives on in the ancestry of most terriers today, it’s a pity that the breed itself was lost to us (or was it? Some maintain that the Manchester Terrier and the Black and Tan Terrier was and are the same breed).  This distinct and important type of long legged rough-haired working terrier dated back to the 1400s, and indeed, the earliest known illustration of a black and tan appears in the illustrated manuscript, ‘The Hours of the Virgin’ dated at around 1500. This makes many cynologists regard it as the oldest English terrier, if not the oldest identifiable terrier breed.

By the 1800s, the dogs were often classified as Fell Terriers that hunted fox, and later, rabbit as well, both for food and sport. Around the middle of the 19th century, a breeder named John Hulme got it into his head that the what the breed needed was to be a two-in-one dog that would excel at both rat killing and chasing rabbits by being finer and faster. He crossed his black and tan terriers with a “snap dog,” or Whippet bitch. The resulting dogs became known as Manchester Terriers because of the popularity of rat killing in Northern England, especially the city of Manchester where so many these dogs could be found (at the Queen’s Hotel Tavern in London, a 5 1/2 pound Toy Manchester Terrier named “Tiny,” dispatched 300 rats in 54 seconds).

Hang around the breed and you’ll notice that every so often, a Manchester Terrier will strike a stance with a curved back that is reminiscent of another breed – the Whippet whose genes course through its veins.

As an aside,  the Standard Manchester and the Toy Manchester were registered as separate breeds until 1959, though breeding between the two was allowed. Since then, the two breeds have been combined to form one breed with two varieties: The Toy and Standard. The AKC has grouped the two varieties separately. The Standard Manchester belongs to the Terrier Group while the Toy (with natural ears) belongs to the Toy Group.