In April of 1999, we ran our first Members Competition. We had approximately 75 dogs attend on what was a historic day for our Club. Since then we have held a Members Competition each year. We have also run Activity Days with everything from obstacle courses to lure racing. The Club has progressed quite a bit from that day starting with approximately 10 members growing to between 30 to 40 members today. In 2002 we became an affiliated Club with the Victorian Canine Association which has allowed us to conduct an official Championship Show.
In February 2004, the Club held it's first official Specialty Championship Show and Open Show for our breed. This is the first to be held in Australia and we had 24 dogs participate.
Two centuries ago when the various different terrier types began to emerge, there were no formal registration records. Terriers of various sizes were born in the same litter. Any dog that performed a particular task well was mated to another adept in that task. It did not seem to matter what the terrier looked like as long as it did the required job.
So, Terriers who specialized in killing rats came into existence. Rats carried disease for both dog and man and were a health threat to both country and city communities in those days before insecticides. Ratting terriers had to be quick and agile so they killed the rat before getting bitten. So, they were usually small in stature as well as very athletic. They were also usually smooth coated because the filth that the rats lived in would have got caked in a long or rough coat.
Early sailing ships that came to Australia with our first settlers carried these small ratting terriers to kill the rats and mice on board. When the ship docked, many of these dogs were left behind to kill the rats and other vermin that escaped from the ships and ran rampant in our pristine countryside. The next two hundred years would see these little dogs established in Australia both as a ratting terrier and a family companion. They became known as the “Miniature Fox Terrier”. There was hardly a farm in Australia that did’t have at least one of these terriers. There was never a reason for any of these people to develop a breed registry for their beloved breed – they were just loved.
Below is a photo taken in the late 1800s of a police party searching for missing drovers. In the front of the photo is a Tenterfield Terrier.
It is believed these terriers were bred quite extensively in and around northern New South Wales. A known large breeder of this terrier was George Woolnough, the Tenterfield Saddler (Peter Allen’s grandfather). We have letters written from elderly Tenterfield residents telling us of how George loved his little terriers and owned “an awful lot”.
In the early 1990’s a group of interested owners, who wanted to secure the future of this terrier, advertised for interested persons to attend their first meeting. This meeting led to the formation of the Miniature Fox Terrier Club of SA. A similar club had been running in New South Wales for some time prior to this. A club was then formed in WA and the breed registry was established soon after, with the first entries being January 1991.
In 1992 it became quite apparent that if we were to eventually have this wonderful little dog recognised by the ANKC, the name of “Miniature Fox Terrier” was extremely inappropriate as the terrier was not a miniaturisation of the Fox Terrier. We, as a club, could understand this valid point.
After consultation with all club members, moves were then made through SA, WA and NSW to instigate a name change for the breed. Numerous ideas were put forward which resulted in a ballot to all members of the SA, WA and NSW Clubs. After much publicity via the media, it was strongly voted (some 85% of returned votes) to embrace the name “Tenterfield Terrier”.
TENTERFIELD TERRIER CLUB OF AUSTRALIA
The establishment of the Tenterfield Terrier Club of Australia Inc. took place in January 1993. The Australian club handles all of the breed registrations and its only members are two delegates from each state club. The state clubs now established are the Tenterfield Terrier Club of SA Inc., the Tenterfield Terrier Club of WA Inc., the Tenterfield Terrier Club of Qld Inc., the Tenterfield Terrier Club of NSW Inc. and the Tenterfield Terrier Club of Vic Inc.
The Tenterfield Terrier is a true terrier. He is a strong, active, agile squarely built working terrier of great versatility and pleasing proportion. He has proven himself without question as a hunter (of various forms of vermin, including foxes) and of being an extremely loving family pet. The Tenterfield is at home either hunting larger vermin on the land, hunting small vermin around the home and property or curled up on a loving knee in front of a fire. The Tenterfield is an ideal companion for both children and the elderly alike.
The Tenterfield Terrier is shown 100% naturally with only minimal grooming required to remove loose hair during the seasonal change of coats.
There have been very few breeds of dogs developed in Australia.
The Tenterfield Terrier is now a recognised breed and is being shown at official shows in Group 2, the Terrier Group.
In 2006 the National Tenterfield Terrier Breed Council (Aust) was formed with the Clubs from Victoria, Sth Aust. & Western Aust. as these were the only fully affiliated Clubs.
In 2009 we are holding the 1st National Show to be held in Victoria and run by the Tenterfield Terrier Club if Vic. Inc.