Tenterfield Terrier

Tenterfield Terrier

Two champion Tenterfield Terriers: a tan and white; and a tri-colour.
Origin	Australia
Classification / standards ANKC Group 2 (Terriers) standard NZKC Terrier standard
Domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris)

Australian in development, the forebears of the Tenterfield Terrier accompanied British settlers en route to Australia by ship. The forebears of these small dogs had been bred by hunters in Britain, typically for ratting. This type of dog suited shipboard life, where rats and mice were both a health hazard and a threat to food supplies. Today they are a strong, active, hardy and agile dog, their smooth short coat making them 'easy care' family companions.

Tenterfield terriers are often predominantly white though the brown and black markings also present can be either restricted or extensive. Having a square or compact body, the features of a Tenterfield's construction are unexaggerated. For instance, Tenterfields usually do not have an elongated head like a Fox Terrier. Rather, the head is wedge shaped with equal length from occiput to stop and stop to the end of the nose. This gives the head parallel head planes, making the head unique in this Group. The Tenterfield Terrier can also have pricked or erect ears or semi-erect ears. Tenterfield Terriers stand around 28 cm (11 inches) high and can come in tan and white, black and white, liver/tan/white tri-coloured or black/tan/white tri-coloured. Their unique feature is their naturally occurring bob tail which can come in any length.

The forebears of the Tenterfield Terrier accompanied Australia's first European settlers who sailed from Portsmouth in England's South. These dogs were vermin killers, and so the smallest of them were selected to play that role on ships, which is how they arrived in Australia. Large dogs may would not have fared as well in the cramped shipboard environment, where vermin find nooks and crannies. Thus small terriers had an advantage. Miniature individuals of the Fox Terrier breed suited the role, as their original breeding matched the new task closely.

By the late 19th century a dog type known as the Miniature Fox Terrier (known colloquially as "Mini Foxies") was well established in rural Australia as a vermin killer and family companion. By the 1920s the dog was a fixture in urban households.

The name "Tenterfield" does not denote the terrier’s place of origin as Tenterfield, New South Wales. Rather, the name derives from there. The dog was bred extensively in and around northern New South Wales. Tenterfield is one of many localities in Australia in which small terriers of this type were kept. The town of Tenterfield is significant in Australian history for the Tenterfield Oration on independence from Britain. Additionally, the owner of the town's saddlery a man named George Woolnough, was immortalized by his grandson entertainer Peter Allen as the "Tenterfield Saddler". Tenterfield residents attest that Mr. Woolnough owned and loved a number of these terriers, though unfortunately no photographs of his dogs are known.