David Harcombe, Age 90, Goes to Ground

JUST HEARD DAVID HARCOMBE has died at age 90.  He was the creator and editor of Earth Dog - Running Dog magazine, as well as the author of several books on terrier work.

David owned terriers his entire life, preferring Patterdales for the last few decades, but owning and working Jack Russells, and a few Borders before that.

David wrote (the punctuation is his):  “In the early days. In the old days. Often looked back on and esteemed as if it were a Golden Age of dog owners but it’s easy to be misled by mythical tales and mythical figures from the past. For in my experience that’s what many of them were. Myths. Their reputations cemented and distorted by writers who placed legend above a search for the truth and who accepted it all when they were told what they wanted to hear.”

Bingo.  

David started off life with very modest means.  

He writes: 

“I count myself a lucky man.  I was born and raised in the industrial Rhondda Valley when coal was still the king and the river ran black from the colliery filth and pollution which poured into it. I lived there for most of my life and enjoyed it but finally moved out and now, when I open my door in the morning and go out to the yard to my dogs I have a view over small fields, hedges and trees and hills, and I hear the sounds of the countryside…. 

“I count myself as very fortunate to have come to this place from the Rhondda, where I started out.  Nothing against the old Rhondda, born there me, a Valley Boy, eventually it wasn’t for me and as soon as I came to my present home, I felt at home.  It just felt right for me, from day one, almost as if it had been there, waiting for me. It felt like putting on a favorite old hunting coat, it felt comfortable. And all of this in spite of being, to put it mildly, ‘hard up’ for many years. Financially, it could’ve been the lowest point in my life and believe me, there have been some very low points. Being rich never seemed to be my destiny but even though the new life was very much ‘hand to mouth’ it was still acceptable because it was what I wanted to be doing what I wanted to do. Difficult years but they were the start of what were to become the best years of my life.”

And, of course, those “best years” involved digging on the dogs.

David and I had our differences of opinion, but they were not ones we talked about, whether political or canine.  Instead I read what he published, occasionally highlighting what I thought was particularly interesting or correct.

Back before David got his own web site in 2010, I created and hosted a page on the Terrierman web site, through which people could order the magazine, whether overseas or in the UK.  David was a bit amazed that a few lines of code made it possible for EDRD subscriptions to be gathered from anywhere in the world with instant currency conversion and direct deposit into his bank account. For my part, I was glad to be of minor service.

Sadly, Earth Dog - Running Dog  magazine is no more, and now neither is David. 

Truly, it’s an end of an era.