The influence of the Manchester Terrier on the Dobermann

Manchester Terrier

PROLOGUE

The aim of this article is not to cover the whole history of our beloved breed the Dobermann, this was well done by many good writers. Whenever we read about the origin of the Dobermann we find that several breeds were involved in the creation of this distinguished breed. I was structed by the the strong resemblance in appearance of the Dobermann to the Manchester Terrier, a breed that was mentioned almost by all the breed experts of the past.
These people saw, heard and knew which breeder used the Manchester Terrier and on which bitches.

Otto Goller (1852-1925), owner of von Thuringen kennel, a pioneer of the breed and Her Dobermann succesor, a very active cynologist and Dobermann judge warned the judges in the general meeting of the Dobermann Club of Apolda on October 1905 against more combination with Terrier that could end up with a British Dobermann, he also advised the judges to withold 1st prizes at shows from dogs with the size of a Terrier. Philip Grunig in his book "The History of The Dobermann Pincher" 1959 edition mentioned names of several Dobermanns that carried the Manchester Terrier blood, this will be discussed later on in another chapter in this article.

THE DOBERMANN AT THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY AND THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY

The Dobermann was coarse in body, thick neck, the head was coarse short broad with strong bulged cheeks.
The body sometimes was short or very long with French front, the coat was too long and wavy sometimes grey yellowish with white spots, accompany with heavy undercoat. Several of the the Dobermanns were very very aggressive. In other words this breed did not make the impression of uniformity of well bred breed and a lot of work had to be done.

In order to improve the breed three different breeds were introduced into the breed, the Manchester terrier, the Gordon Setter and the English Greyhound. Allow me to disscuss in short the contribution of the two breeds. In 1902 there was an experimental cross-breeding to a Gordon Setter in order to improve the color and coat quality but the long coat of the Gordon Setter was recessive to the Dobermann short hair. This cross-breeding did not have any effect for the improvement of the Dobermann coat. The English Geyhound increased the height of the Dobermann, the length of the skull, and the speed, however some undesireable features appears such as excessive tuck-up, overshotor undershot bites. The Manchester Terrier had the most significant influence on the appearance of the modern Dobermann as we see it today .

THE MANCHESTER TERRIER

Many generations ago, even before the days of the dog shows, there were in England Black & Tan Terrier not as elegant as the today's breed but coarse in type and with smutty tan markings. These dogs were used for killing rats, a popular sport of the English working class in those days (one particular dog named Billy had a record of killing 100 large rats in 6 minutes and 35 seconds). It is difficult to trace back the origin of this breed but it`s certain that it was a cross of the extinct English Terrier or Black & Tan Terrier and the Whipet. The breed became very popular and was named after the town Manchester where it was developed. However the prohibition against cropping ears in England had dramatic effect on the breed`s popularity. The Manchester Terrier had huge, natural, long and large ears and it took some breeding to produce ears that drop forward elegantly. The Manchester Terrier is a very alert dog, aloof, very quick, fearless and sometimes stubborn. It can run very fast and has the ability to change directions almost like
turning six pence when in full speed. The Manchester Terrier is small breed that stands about 40 cm, elegant with a long dry head with wedge shaped jaws, short jet black coat with rich mahagony markings.

BRAVE NEW BREED

As I mentioned before the Manchester Terrier was intoduced to the Dobermann breed several times. In 1899 a bitch of doubtfull origin, Lady v. Ilm-Athen proved her qualities through her son Prinz v Ilm-Athen she produced elegant Dobermanns with short hard coats, with rich deep dark markings and eyes and other physical traits which were of the Manchester Terrier and not typical of the Dobermann in those days. It was obvious that this bitch carried the blood of the Manchester Terrier. The positive information came from breeders who saw and knew her. By studying her progeny in short time they arrived to conclusion that this bitch carried the blood of the Manchester breed. Besides improving the coat and color qualities the Ilem-Athen bloodlines also had a strong influense on the head type, they produced almost the same head type as we know today.

Another bitch, not registered, Lady v. Calenberg had her strong influence on the breed, she cannot be regarded as the full blooded Manchester Terrier but through her son Tell v. Kirchweyhe and her grandchildren Fedor and Hans v. Aprath she had a huge influence over the breed. Her entire progney was well known for their short smooth hair with black and mahagony markings, almost typical modern Dobermann heads and their aggressivness as well. It is obvious that the intoduction of the Manchester Terrier blood lines improved the shape of the Dobermann and we have at least two different blood lines, the Ilm-Athen and Calenberg through Aprat that proved it. From all corners of Germany came news about cross-breeding with the Manchester Terrier producing outstanding results. It seems that the Manchester Terrier was destined to produce the new head type and short, black coat and mahagony markings.

SUMMARY

We must bear in mind that the Manchester terrier was subjected to a long period of strict selection in breeding for correct color and the results are exceptionally black color accompanied with rich deep mahagoany markings. It was obvious that the dark color of the Manchester Terrier was dominant over the light color of the Dobermann. However the Manchester Terrier also contributed some faults in color as well.

The Manchester Terrier ”suffers” from symptom of Melanism which is progressive blackening; from time to time we see Dobermanns with small black color that appears over the toes and very small muddy uncleared markings. It is also obvious that Melanism changes the typical expression of the Dobermann. Besides improving the color, the Manchester Terrier improved the heads of the Dobermann, the skull and the muzzle became longer and stronger and more elegat. The cross breeding with the Manchester Terrier also eliminated the wolly undercoat of the Dobermann. The Manchester Terrier also contributed his fast movement and the ability to turn arround very fast. Another fault that we can blame the Manchester terrier is vey straight front. All in all, I personally believe that the intoduction of Manchester Terrier did only good to our breed, the Dobermann.

About the author: Avi Marshak FCI International all breeds dog judge P.O.Box 22426 Tel-Aviv 61223 Israel

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