Cesky Terrier

The Cesky Terrier is the work of Frantisek Horak, a geneticist and hunter from Klanovice near Prague. Horak kept Scottish Terriers and Sealyham Terriers, and admired both, but found that neither suited the Czech style of forest hunting, in which terriers work in company with other dogs and must follow quarry into narrow earths. He wanted a narrower chest, a shorter, more manageable coat, and above all a dog that would tolerate other dogs.

He mated a Sealyham Terrier to a Scottish Terrier and recorded the first litter of his new breed in 1949, keeping meticulous written records of every cross for decades afterwards. A small later infusion of Sealyham blood was made in the 1980s to widen the gene pool. The breed was recognised by the FCI in 1963, and placed in Group 3, the terriers.

The Cesky Terrier reached Britain and the United States more slowly. The American Kennel Club granted it full recognition in the Terrier Group in 2011. It remains genuinely rare worldwide, with only small numbers registered each year, and it is often listed among the scarcest recognised breeds. Horak died in 1997, but the club he founded still guards the breed's original working purpose and its calm temperament, and aggression is a disqualifying fault under the standard.

This is a small, low-set, rectangular dog, clearly longer than it is tall. Height is about 10 to 13 inches at the withers, and weight generally falls between roughly 14 and 24 pounds. The chest is deliberately narrower and less barrel-shaped than a Scottie's, which was the whole point of the breed, and the front legs are short and straight with strong bone. The tail is long, carried low at rest and raised when the dog is alert.

The coat is the breed's most recognisable feature. It is long, fine, slightly wavy and silky in texture, quite unlike the harsh wire jacket of most terriers, and it is scissored or clipped rather than hand-stripped. The traditional trim leaves the coat short over the back and sides in a saddle pattern and long on the legs, chest, belly, beard and eyebrows.

Two colours are recognised. Most Ceskys are some shade of grey-blue, and a smaller number are light coffee brown. Puppies of the grey variety are born almost black and lighten with age, usually reaching their adult shade by around two or three years. White, grey or yellow markings on the head, beard, chest, legs and tail tip are permitted, and a white collar or white tail tip is acceptable.

Ceskys are noticeably steadier than the terrier stereotype. They are calm indoors, less driven to bark and dig than most of the group, and they were bred specifically to work alongside other dogs, so they generally get on well with them. That does not mean the terrier is absent: the breed is curious, determined and quite capable of following its nose, and small pets are not safe with it.

With their own family they are affectionate and companionable, keen to be involved and happy to settle beside you. They are usually patient and playful with children, which is one of the reasons the AKC describes them as a good playmate for kids. With strangers they tend to be reserved but polite rather than suspicious, and they will announce a visitor without making a career of it.

The breed is more biddable and less stubborn than most terriers, but it is still a terrier: it likes to know why it is doing something, and it responds to encouragement rather than repetition. Left with nothing to do for long periods, a Cesky will find its own project, usually in the garden.

The original job was hunting in packs in the woods and fields of Bohemia, chiefly for fox and rat, with the narrow chest allowing the dog to go to ground and the tolerant temperament allowing it to work in company. Some are still worked in Europe, and the breed retains a strong nose and a good deal of determination underground.

Today most Ceskys are companions, and they take well to it. Their size and moderate exercise needs make them practical apartment dogs provided they get out properly every day, and they do well in earthdog trials, scent work, agility, rally and obedience. The clipped coat means they can be kept tidy at home with modest equipment, which is a real advantage over their harsh-coated relatives.