Plummer Terrier
Plummer Terrier
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| Origin | United Kingdom |
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| Breed status | Not recognized as a standardized breed by any major kennel club. |
| Domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) | |
The Plummer Terrier is a working terrier, and like all working terriers, it is a composite animal.
The Plummer Terrier was created by Dr. David Brian Plummer who began his type with a hard strain of Jack Russell terrier from his home in Wales. He added beagle, fell terrier, and bull terrier, creating an established and defined individual type. Initially known as the Huddlesford Rat Pack, the breed is now named after him.
In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, Plummer worked as a somewhat reluctant teacher of several schools throughout south Yorkshire and the Midlands. A self-confessed rustic eccentric, his passion was hunting rats with what was then his motley pack of Russell-type terriers. He became a leading author of books on hunting with lurchers and terriers. Well-versed in breeding, he strove to produce a unique strain of terrier using the aforementioned bloodlines with Jack Russell terriers from Sealy Cottage lines as his foundation. These terriers were worked hard and as the breed developed so too did Plummer’s reputation as a breeder of hardy terriers that bred true to type.
The dogs of this time consisted of Vampire, who died in 1980 aged nine, this Plummer terrier was a veteran of the weekly rat hunts at the local battery hen farm. His brother Warlock, sister Beltane (who Brian regarded as the "matron" of his terrier team and indeed the prototype of the breed) and probably most famous Omega, bred by her sire Vampire to his own daughter Janey. Plummer dedicated a whole book to the hunting abilities of Omega.
The Beagle introduced to Plummer’s lines in the 1960s was out of Catherine Sutton’s Rossut show -bred strain that originated from USA imports brought to the UK to tidy up British exhibits. It was owned by Philip Ainsley, a fellow teacher friend of Brian's.
Further outcrosses were introduced along the way. The addition of Fell terrier blood, Jaeger from Nigel Hinchcliffe's lines and Flint from Brian Nuttall's lines, both noted working lines and most likely descending from Cyril Breay and Frank Buck's stock, infused refinement of shape and to a certain extent contributed to fixing type, like that seen in Pagan, a black and tan terrier, acknowledged as one of the early pillars of the breed.
Further additions included a Jack Russell terrier known as Eric Forsyth's Pip, Alan Thomas's Hamish and Laddie from the Chiddingfold and Leconfield foxhound kennels. It must be noted that performance as an earth dog was and is an expected prerequisite of most if not all terrier breeds and Plummers are no exception to this rule. These three dogs were known to be full on earth workers.
In the early 1980s during one of the many TV documentaries (Rat hunting man and Lone furrow) about Plummer and his terriers he said that one day he would like his terriers to be known as Plummer terriers and recognised by the Kennel Club.
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