Mention the Plummer Terrier and someone will pop up and say the man was an asshole and his namesake dogs are useless.
Right. And have we ever heard of the slagger before?
Plummer is rather famous as an author, and he did some TV work too. He was a boxer in his youth, and had a rather facile gift for languages. Dead for over 15 years now, his place in the world of dogs is set, even if he haunts the brains of those who, for one reason or another, seem to resent him as a person. Don’t like Plummer? Don’t read him! That would seem obvious. Or write something better if you can. I, for one, have never thought slagging Plummer was the mark of expertise or emotional maturity. This is a tired squawk.
As for the dogs, they have stood their mark, with solid work as ratters, and occasional work as foxing dogs. Their look has not deteriorated so far as I can tell, and their health seems fine so far.
The defining characteristic of the Plummer Terrier, of course, is the white cowl at the neck and the full-bodied tan mantle.
Plummer was open about where this came from, and that this was the specific look he was breeding for.
So where did this color pattern come from?
Simple: a “pocket beagle” mated to a mantle-coated Jack Russell Terrier, with further crossings to other terriers, always keeping the tan mantle and white cowl at the neck.
Fine. But what, pray tell, is a “pocket beagle”?
Plummer suggested it was an old-type breed not seen much anymore. Supposedly the stud dog he used, owned by school teacher Philip Ainsley, came from American breeding, and was sourced from Catherine Sutton’s Rossut show-bred strain “that originated from U.S. imports”.
A look through beagle literature in the US, however, turns up next to nothing about “pocket beagles”.
This is an American working breed? Where? When? Yes, sometimes weedy-looking dome-headed puppy mill beagles are described as such, but these appear to have no history behind them, and are certainly not being presented as hunting dogs.
Breaking my pick on the American literature, I turned to the UK, and soon things became clearer.
It turns out that a “pocket beagle” is an English thing, not an American thing. I suspect there is no American beagle in the Plummer’s lineage. That would make sense; who would import a dog from America and then give the dog to a school teacher? The Rossut beagles are standard sized in height and enormously thick in the body. Pocket beagle? Not from that gene pool!
It turns out that in the very early Kennel Club era of 1870-1895, the “pocket beagle” was a class of beagles under 10 inches tall.
It was hard to produce a dog this small that actually looked like a beagle, however, and somewhere along the line the shows dropped them from the circuit, and they began to disappear from the scene.
And yet a review of classified ads in the UK in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s finds a few of these dogs still being sold — no doubt the gene pool from which Philip Ainsley acquired his dog.
In The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News edition of January 25, 1930, we find an article in which the writer notes:
I can remember delightful classes of beagles at the leading shows, and it is much to be regretted that they should have dwindled into insignificance. In the old days any number of hare-hunting men assembled at the ringside to discuss their favourites, which were so numerous that they could be divided into sizes, which, of course, is the proper thing to do in beagle classes. It is not fair to pit a pocket beagle against 12-inch or 14-inch hounds. I have realised this when judging them myself.
In The Sketch of July 13, 1898, we read:
If the doings of beages receive scant attention from writers in the sporting papers, it is not because these beautiful little hounds do not show enjoyable sport to those active enough to keep up with them: you must possess good legs and ‘long wind’ if you would see the full beauties of beagling, especially if you throw in your fortune with a Master whose pack consists of hounds standing sixteen inches high-- the approved maximum for the beagle. Smaller hounds show equally good sport, and do not go so fast, whence their greater popularity among those who like to see a hare fairly hunted. The Berkhampstead pack, of which Mr. J. W. Pickin is Master, consists of beagles thirteen and a-half inches high, and these are quite big enough for anyone who wants to hunt as well as run. The beagle is a very ancient breed. Queen Elizabeth is said to have possessed a pack so small that any one of the hounds could be put into a lady's glove, a statement which inspires us with doubt concerning either the veracity of the chronicler or the size of ladies' hands in the days of the Virgin Queen. The very small breed, called the Dwarf, Toy, Sleeve, or Pocket Beagle, is seldom seen nowadays; indeed, a couple of years ago a well-known authority expressed his fear that the true Pocket Beagle, nine inches high, or even less, must soon become extinct in the absence of endeavour to perpetuate it. These hounds, though so small, are handsome, intelligent, and ‘keen’ hunters; they are hardly big or strong enough to hunt a hare, but can render a good account of a rabbit in woodland. They are remarkable for the beauty of their voices, those of the smaller hounds particularly being very bright, clear, and silvery. The singing beagles of past times were no doubt small Pocket Beagles. The hare would more frequently escape from the pack of thirteen or fourteen-inch beagles if she did not make the mistake of despising such pursuers; in the matter of speed pure and simple they have no chance with her, and she very soon finds this out. When hunted by harriers, whose pace requires a good horse to live with them, the hare knows better than to play any tricks. She goes away as fast as she can, and keeps on going away until sheer fatigue bids her try stratagem instead of speed. With beagles her tactics are different. She hears the "music" of the pack, says to herself, we may suppose, ‘Pooh, beagles’ and, leaving her forms, sprints gaily away for a few fields till she loses their voices in the distance, when she crouches or ‘squats.’ In due time the little hounds, faithfully following their noses, make themselves heard again. Alternate running and crouching soon makes our hare stiff, however, and, unless she is clever enough to dodge the pack by cunning, an hour's steady hunting may see her a victim.
In the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News of October 10, 1931, we read:
Most of the harriers are simply small fox-hounds, though the genuine old English harrier survives in a few packs. He is usually light in colour, a bit longer in foot, and put together on more racy lines--the sort of hound that can do his job well. The beagle is entirely different, and should not be a miniature foxhound, ranging in height downwards from 16 in.-- the ideal pack will be sorted in size. The skull is broadish and the muzzle not so square as that of the foxhound. He must have the soundest of legs and feet, and ample capacity of ribs. The usual divisions of height are 16 in., 12 in., and 10 in., those below the last measurement being known as Pocket Beagles.
So there we have it: If Plummer was using a Pocket Beagle for coat color and nose, it was a very different dog from the heavy Clumber-bodied beagles we see in the Kennel Club show ring today, and quite a lot smaller than the lighter-bodied 13-inch working beagle we see in the US today.
And are there any pictures? There are!
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