THE KERRY BLUE TERRIER

4th June 2005

The Kerry Blue Terrier of today is not much different from his predecessor, but just who that predecessor was is anybody's guess. The breed has been known in Ireland for at least 150 years, but its origins are as mysterious as the ancestry of breeds developed centuries earlier.

As typical in Ireland, legends abound; high on the list is the tale that the peasants developed the breed because noblemen restricted ownership of the Irish Wolfhound to the upper classes. The gentry hunted with the giant hounds, and the countrymen poached with their Kerries.

Yet another version has it that a Russian ship wrecked in Ireland's Tralee Bay and a blue dog swam ashore. Breeding of this dog with local terriers produced the Kerry Blue. Another account identifies the ship as belonging to the Spanish Armada. It is further said that the Kerry Blue Terrier may have been bred from the Irish Terrier and the Soft-Coated Wheaton Terrier or from an earlier terrier and the Irish Wolfhound.

In any case, the Kerry Blue was found mostly in the mountains of County Kerry around Lake Killarney. He was first and foremost a working dog, used for hunting small game and birds, retrieving from land and water, and for herding sheep and cattle. He has even been trained as a police dog in England. Today, he is a formidable watchdog and gentle companion.

It was first shown as the Irish Blue Terrier in Ireland in 1916; in England it became the Kerry Blue Terrier and was shown at Cruft's for the first time in 1922. The dog came to the US about the same time; four Kerries were shown at the Westminster Kennel Club show in the miscellaneous class that year. Trimming the dog for the show ring in England gave the breed popular appeal.

ADABELLE BLUE LAUREL

CH CRANMOSS FINBAR OF COLINCAS