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 sever al
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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+ 972 (0) 3 6051211
fax: + 972 (0) 3 6046244
tel: + 972 (0) 3 6046244
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