History
Allmost all of the terriers, except from the German hunting
terrier (Germany), the Cesky terrier (Czech republic) and the Australian
terrier (Australia) are originated on the Brittish isles. On these isles
the very early ancestors of the terriers hunted vermin, foxes, badgers
and otters for more than 2000 years ago. The first written mention about
terriers comes from the Natural History by Pliny the Elder, during the
first century. When the Romans invaded Britain in 55 B.C, he records, "they
found much to their surprise, small dogs that would follow their quarry
to the ground". The terrier where often, and still are, used
with foxhounds during the foxhunting. The terrier flushes the fox when
it has been going to ground and the foxhounds can continue their chase.
Fox and terrier, from Daniels´ Rural Sports,
1807.
The Dachshund was originated in Germany for about 500
years ago. The original form are the smooth haired type and it is from
this the other Dachshund breeds come from. The wire haired form is the
result of a crossing between the smooth haired Dachshund, pincher and terrier,
and the longhaired form got its long hair from spaniels. The mainpurpose
for the Dachshund was and are badgerhunting ("dachs"=badger) but they are
also used as foxbolters.
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