Please could you give me some info on Patterdale terriers . I am having problems finding anyone that recognises the breed. If you have a picture as well it would be very helpful. thank you.
Kath Edwards
email address:kath@edward1230.freeserve.co.uk

Patterdales are essentially a working Terrier. I assume you are aware of that, so on that basis, i suggest you buy "The Countrymans Weekly" newspaper, on Friday usually, they have Patterdales in there, you may also find books listed.
Dawn.

We have a Patterdale Terrier, we rescued her a year and a half ago from someone who had bought her to work but with the foot and mouth he couldn't so was going to EXPOSE of her. She was only four months old when we went and collected her. She is lovely and a great character and we love her to bits "but" she is also the most strong willed, vindictive little ratter you will ever met. We live in a rural area and work her occasionally, rat's/rabbits etc. I would only recommend getting a Patterdale if you are going to work it as they get bored very easily also you WILL need quite a bit of knowledge about dogs and if you are keeping it in the house you will need everything, destruction proofing, and preferably a large cage for it to sleep in as they are not to be trusted AT ALL, they are like miniature TAZ's. We have bred dogs and had kennels all my life, we have a grooming parlour and aqua therapy business for injured dogs and there are still certain things about her we still can't work out. We are currently looking for a behaviour specialist to try and work out some of her more serious quirks! They can also be very nasty, not recommended to leave alone with other pets or children etc. as they are quite capable of turning and they have a lot of very strong teeth in those little mouths!

Kate,,,his story doesn't make sense as you wouldn't be thinking of entering a patterdale until it was 12 months or thereabouts. As for "quirks" well I don't think a behaviourist will be much help...these are bred to work and have full on working terrier instincts.!!!

How does it not make sense? The lad who bought her to work was wanting to start training her from the age she was when we got her and as he couldn't with the foot and mouth so he didn't want to keep her. I didn't say he was ethical or doing the right thing, he wasn't the brightest spark, I know how to train a hunting/sporting dog, we've had them for quite a few generations, but you try telling an ignorant person who thinks they know all about dogs but knows nothing really - they wont listen. I know all about working terriers, I have been brought up on farms all my life and we also know a gentleman in the Lakes who has bred Patterdales for years and years, so know exactly what they are like but she does have certain behavioural problems that DO need looking at for her own good rather than anything else. She will always be badly behaved but that is just her character, she’s got an evil streak running right through her, she wont come back when she's after something but like you say that’s the way they are bred and I wouldn’t want to change that as she wouldn’t be her if you took that away – which you couldn’t anyway! But there are problems that could cause her harm like her habit of eating the possessions of who ever goes out the house without her, things like glass and other harmful items etc. and as you must know no matter how much you hide things and put things up a height “out of the way”, terriers always have a way of rooting them out and climbing up to silly heights like no other dogs and we can’t keep her in her cage all the times (which she goes in voluntarily when it is bed time or if we go out, it’s not used as a punishment, it’s her safe place where she buries herself in blankets), only when there is no one at all in the house with her and at bed time. We have even thought of putting her in one of the indoor kennels but she is a loving pet as well as a little swine, so we must try and get this vengeful eating under control, even if just slightly for her own good.

Like I said...it doesn't make sense Kate. A working terrier simply lives a normal terriers life until it starts getting entered. One usually starts to enter a terrier at about 12 months...although sometimes its slightly less (:() or slightly older. For him to say that he had to get rid of it at 4 months because he couldn't train it due to FMD is quite ridiculous and not an excuse. The terrier wouldn't have had any training for its initial entering until it was 12 months or so anyway!

Have to agree with Sam there, all my dogs have normal puppy lives and don't do real work untill over a year old.
Dawn.

Well like I said I didn't say he was right in wanting to train her at four months or that he knew anything about dogs, he couldn't take her out so he didn't want her - we took her on - end of story. I dont see what there is not to make sense?