DOG Training TOYS

Manchester Terrier
A Breed in Crisis?
by RG Benton

The Kennel Club has designated Manchester Terriers as a “Vulnerable Native Breed” because registrations are below 300 per year. That the breed is in decline is not in doubt, and it is not just numbers that are cause for concern, the quality of the dogs is also falling. After several years gap, I attended a Championship Dog Show. These events are intended to showcase the very best dogs. A few years earlier the judge would have had the exceedingly difficult, but pleasurable, task of selecting the best Manchester Terrier from a line up of very good dogs. Not so on this day.Of the assembled Manchester Terriers only two or three could be described as good, and none outstanding. I felt sympathy for the judge who was forced to pick the least worst for his winners.

I am no longer directly involved with Manchester Terriers and do not anticipate the breed becoming extinct in my lifetime, though expect it will pass the point of no return within that time unless effective action is taken to arrest its decline. I firmly believe this is an inevitable consequence of the actions of those within the breed over the years since the end of the Second World War.

What has lead up to this Crisis

A number of significant problems have, over the years, found their way into the Manchester Terrier world. Perhaps I should say Show World, because the reason Manchester Terriers exist at all is because they are Show Dogs, and the Dog Showing Fraternity have been the only people breeding and using these dogs so the root of any problems can only lay there.To my mind the most bizarre fact is that breeders, judges and exhibitors do not agree what the dog actually is and what it looks…