Not for nothing does the Dandie Dinmont Terrier (and several other terrier breeds) have short legs. A sound and proper construction enabled this breed to do its job, namely “hold a badger.”

Let’s review. Badgers are stoutly built, powerful and notoriously cantankerous carnivores. Nocturnal night owls, badgers hang out in their “sett” during the day, so they’re tough to find and even tougher to catch.  Historically speaking, when a farmer discovered he had a badger on the farm – usually realized by damage done to his crops, fencing and flower/vegetable beds – it was time to call in the dogs, and specifically, a terrier like the Dandie Dinmont Terrier. Badgers were considered vermin until the early 20th century, and Dandies were vermin specialists.

Once a badger’s sett was found, a trained Dandie was sent in to “hold the badger.” This called for experience because a novice dog could easily be lost to the claws or bite of an irate, and truly dangerous badger. The whole point of using a Dandie Dinmont Terrier was to keep the badger from digging further into its burrow and getting away. Harassing the critter at one end typically resulted in the badger turning to attack the dog, and this is where “badger savvy” came into play: An experienced dog knew to leap, nip, and then quickly (very quickly) retreat to avoid injury. This back and forth could go on for hours.  A tired badger and relentless dog made it easier for huntsmen to get close enough to grab a badger by it’s neck with badger tongs, pull it out and “bag it” in a sack to be moved to another district and released.

As far as we can tell, Section 2 of the Protection of Badgers Act in 1992 made the use of such tongs illegal, and Section 3, which covers ‘”interfering with badger setts” and “causing a dog to enter a sett” made a person guilty of an offense.

Back in the day, however, certain terrier breeds like the Dandie were bred to “go to ground” after badgers, otters, and the like, and, as such, the Dandie Dinmont Terrier has a long, low body and short legs that make short work of the task. More than one badger would disagree with the breed’s nickname, “gentleman of the terrier family” as they found themselves released into an entirely new neighborhood.

Image: Limited edition Dandie Dinmont Terrier print from an original oil painting by Robert J. May is available here.