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Tricky Tykes Terrier Racing
Display Team
Cilyblaidd Manor
Pencarreg
Nr. Lampeter
Carmarthenshire
SA40 9QL

Tel: 01570 480090
Mobile: 07702 090906

  IF IT MOVES – CHASE IT!  (continuation)
The terriers mind is programmed to react in a split second to anything that will provide the sport of a chase and a kill, and if the prey should go to ground? Well better still. There is nothing like the chance of digging frantically into the earth after your quarry! After all, if you’re called a ‘Terrier’ (from the latin word ‘Terra’ meaning ‘Earth’), you might as well live up to your name. Once the terrier catches the rat it is all over very quickly.
 
  SUZIE.
One of the first Terriers we got was a Jack Russell called Suzie. Often if I was in the barn Suzie would be just outside about 10 feet away, knowing that there was a chance I might disturb a rat. When one came out she was after it in a flash, grabbed it, immediately threw it into the air, and before it hit the ground it was dead from a broken neck. It was of no further interest to her, and by the time it landed she was already back on the alert for the next one. She had done her bit as far as that one was concerned – she knew it wouldn’t be moving – so why should she be interested in it anymore?
 
  CANINE CONTRACT KILLERS.
So, given that just about every farm in the country had probably not just one but several of these killing machines around the place, it is not surprising that the little dogs ‘masters’ would take great pride in the performance of their ‘canine contract killers’ and would do everything they could to keep the little creatures on their metal. On one of the occasions when the Kennel Club invited us to appear at Crufts, I spent some time looking at some of the clubs art treasures which were on display. Amongst the works of art was one depicting a ‘rat killing’ contest, a sport with terriers which has thankfully not survived. A deep sheer-sided pit would be filled with rats, and then as the onlookers peered in over the edge, the terriers would be dropped into the pit one by one. The ‘Champion’ would be the one who killed the most rats within the designated time. A ghastly form of sport, but no doubt one which played a part in developing the ‘rat-killing’ lines of terriers that the farmers desired, and at the same time gave them the chance to proudly demonstrate their best ‘ratters’, and of course to hope for a big win on a wager!
 
  ORIGINS?
It is around this time, and in this sort of environment, that Terrier Racing is believed to have found its origins. As the story goes, somewhere up on the Yorkshire/Scottish Borders, a bunch of farmers were in the pub one night. They would undoubtedly have had their favourite terriers with them, loyal little terriers typically enjoy their masters company, and vice versa, and there is seldom much distance between a terrier and his master. Quite probably there would have been a pot of ale on the floor for the terriers to lap out of. The men could well have been talking about their terriers, and very likely the apparently sleeping little dogs on the floor would be listening to every word, giving a little irresistible twitch of the tail if they heard their names mentioned.
 

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