Old English White Terrier - Now An Extinct Breed
Whenever terriers are mentioned, what would come to mind would be small but feisty, very energetic and lively dogs. These dogs were generally developed to be vermin hunters. Terriers though are versatile dogs thus apart from being hunters, others have excelled in the show ring and others have become outstanding pets.
As such, it is not unusual for breeders to come up with new breeds of terriers every now and then. However, instead of developing a new breed; some breeders would do a shortcut and introduce existing dogs as a newly developed breed. So that the new will be accepted by dog loving public, it is a common ploy of breeders to give the dog an exciting fictional history. The ploy to buildup the image of the new breed may work for a time but soon the interest for the dog would wane. Many breeds of terriers that were introduced in this manner have not lasted long as after a short popularity, the breed will become extinct.
Such is the case of the Old English White Terrier. Terriers with different physical features but belonging to the same breed existed in UK during the 18th century. Dogs belonging to this breed would range from 10 to 15 inches in height, would either have wiry, smooth or rough coats and sport prick or drop ears. The popularity of dog shows during the 1800s have spurred breeders to create new breeds simply by giving an existing breed a new name and an interesting history. From an existing terrier breed, some specimens were selected, given the name Old English White Terrier and introduced to the public as a new breed.
The Old English White Terrier was born when a group of terrier enthusiasts have thought of separating the prick eared from the dropped eared specimens belonging to the white coated terriers. The pricked eared version was given the name Old English White Terrier. The introduction of the new breed was met by various concerns one of which is the fact that dropped eared and pricked eared puppies would come from the same litter
Just as with any other new breed, the Old English White Terrier has enjoyed a good following for quite a while. The acceptance for the new breed changed when the genetic defects have started to surface. Similar to other white coated dogs, the Old English White Terriers have the propensity for partial or total deafness thus the dogs are useless as hunters and also make a poor choice for a companion dog. The Old English White Terrier has gone extinct because of the breeds genetic health concern.
