Well, it’s St. Patrick’s Day, and long-time readers know what I do on St. Patrick’s Day.
I pay homage to what could have become the official national dog of Ireland.
And it’s not the wolfhound.
Most people think it’s the wolfhound, but it has never been declared the national dog in any capacity.
The closest any breed ever got to achieving that distinction is the dog depicted above.
Soft-coated wheaten terrier?
Close.
But this dog’s name was Kenmare Doreen. She was owned by Valentine Browne, the 6th Earl of Kenmare.
Kenmare is a small town in the southwestern corner of Ireland—in County Kerry to be exact.
There is some debate in official breed circles about where this breed originated. Traditional accounts claim that it originated in County Kerry, while another suggestion is that this breed first originated in South Tipperary. In this other version, the breed’s association with County Kerry comes from its association with the 6th Earl of Kenmare, who was president of the breed’s specialist club when it was recognized by the Kennel Club in 1927.
For a very long time, the breed was referred to as the Irish blue terrier, which suggests a more cosmopolitan distribution than County Kerry alone.
The very association with an earl of anything would have been a shocker to the breed’s most prominent patrons just a few years earlier.
This was the dog of the Irish Republicans.
Several prominent Irish Republicans kept these dogs, showing them in an Irish Blue Terrier Show in late 1920. Mick Collins’s terrier, Convict 224, wound up winning the show, beating out dogs with such revolutionary names as Trotsky, Munster Fuselier, Markievicz (after the socialist countess), and Dawn of Freedom.
Collins tried to enact legislation in the parliament that would have made the Irish blue terrier the nation’s official national dog, but Collins was assassinated at Béal na mBláth before it could have been voted upon.
Since then, no official dog breed has been designated as Ireland’s national dog.
Most people think it’s the wolfhound.
Kenmare Doreen looked a lot like a soft-coated wheaten terrier. Her muzzle was much shorter than a modern Kerry blue, and she didn’t even have a particularly curly coat, which is a trait that one associates with Kerry blues.
The Irish blue terriers apparently were quite common throughout Ireland, so it is possible that the soft-coated wheatens actually derived from cream-colored puppies that were occasionally produced in blue terrier litters. Both of these dogs have soft, poodle-type coats that don’t shed very much.
Soft-coated wheaten terrier. Not the similarity to Doreen.
Modern Kerry blue. Note the curly coat.
The image of Doreen comes from Pai’s album on Photobucket.
One can also find historical images of Kerry blue terriers on this site.
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I am finding conflicting dates for when the Kerry blue terrier was recognized by the Kennel Club. Some sources say 1922, other 1927.
Can someone provide me reason for the discrepancy?
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What kind of sandals do Kerry blue terriers wear?
Flip-flops!
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I have heard that the Kerry Blue, the Wheaten, and the Irish (Red) Terriers were all once the same breed. I think it’s quite likely the Blues and Wheaten are at least derived from the same stock, and I lean toward Wheatens were just yellow Kerry Blues. Do you know where Irish Terriers fall?
Today the IT’s I have seen are much smaller and lighter than KB or SCWT, and even in historical photographs they seem slighter than the Kenmare Doreen.
I think I saw somewhere that these soft-coated terriers were about the size of an Irish terrier.
1916 “Irish blue”– http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Kerry_Blue_Terrier_1916.jpg
This is clearly a smaller dog than the modern day dogs, though this might be a puppy.
I think you’re right. However, Irish terriers, the red ones, were a fancy breed long before these two soft-coated dogs.
I had never seen a picture of a Kerry without a curly, that’s why I guessed Wheaton. Do they still get non-curly ones?
I’ve never seen one that wasn’t a very curly coated one.
I recognised the dog as a Kerry Blue, as to the modern coat, could this curl be the result of clipping?
I have been told by a well known Cocker spaniel exhibitor that Cocker Spaniels are often retired from the show ring early because use of clippers changes the coat texture, and can encourage the coat to curl.