An officer and a gentleman

Once so popular they were labelled the ‘English terrier’, numbers of smooth fox terriers have dwindled to worrying levels. Yet these smart and charming little dogs could rival the labrador if better known, devotees tell Flora Watkins

FOR those who know their Beatrix Potter, it was a smooth fox terrier that ran the village shop in The Tale of Ginger and Pickles. For sporting artist Teresa Davis, it was the pictures of Pickles behind the counter, wearing half moon spectacles on his long, long nose, that first piqued her interest in the breed as a child. ‘I always wanted a smooth coat,’ she recalls. ‘I love the work of the Victorian artist John Emms; he painted lots of foxhounds and there was always a smooth fox terrier in the stable with hounds.’ Smooth fox terriers were also ubiquitous, she found, in the work of another famous canine painter of the era, Arthur Wardle, who painted what is probably the best-known image of the dogs, The Totteridge XI…

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Country Life (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 26, 2025

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