Live Life Team
The Manchester Terrier is a smooth-haired Terrier that is native to England. Closely related to the English Toy Terrier, it is one of the world’s oldest terrier breeds. It was originally bred as a rat catcher.
The Manchester has its origins with John Hulme who, in the 1800s, crossed Whippets with Wire-haired Terriers to create a fast, athletic breed suitable for killing the rats that were plaguing city streets. These dogs became successful both as a working and sporting breed. Rat baiting was a popular working man’s sport in Victorian England.
By 1860, Manchester had become the centre for a particular strain of the breed and the name Manchester Terrier was coined, distinguishing them from similar dogs bred elsewhere. When rat baiting became illegal, the dogs were in high demand for keeping vermin down on farms as well as at city establishments.
Smaller dogs were used in fox hunting where terriers were put in saddle bags and released when the fox ran to ground. People adopted these as a toy breed for dog shows with ridiculously tiny and ill-formed bloodlines being the result. These were gradually out-bred, and the dog of today is much as it was 200 years ago.
The Manchester is a short-haired, dapper little dog with a sharp, prick-eared intelligence. It is elegantly built with sleek lines and a narrow, tapering skull. The chest is deep but relatively narrow. The coat is always black and white. The dog has two distinct bloodlines in America where it is a popular show and companion breed.
