The Wire Fox Terrier

Probably the most famous Fox Terrier in literature was Jerome K Jerome's Montmorency, a leading character in his novel "Three Men In A Boat (to say nothing of the dog)".

Anybody who's ever shared a home with one of these lively, mischievous, brave little terriers will be all too familiar with the truth of Jerome's classic observation of the Fox Terrier nature - an observation, incidentally, made almost a hundred and twenty years ago.

The Wire's ancestry is not certain, but it probably originated from a cross of the working Black And Tan Terrier of Wales and a variety of other terriers. It was later crossed with a Smooth Fox Terrier to give it a lighter coat, making it easier to tell dog and fox apart during a hunt. The Smooth Fox Terrier likely traces its origin from a combination of the smooth-coated Black And Tan Terrier, the Bull Terrier, the Beagle and the Greyhound.

Today, the Wire Haired Fox Terrier looks very different from its ancestors in the 19th and early 20th centuries; unfortunately, photographs taken earlier than the 1920's are a bit hard to come by - so use this link to see a photograph of the All England Wire Eleven of 1897, and compare it with the International Champion shown on our Home Page. You'll need a good eye to see they are the same breed of dog, but they are.

So what should the Wire Fox Terrier look like?

Well, there is a breed standard.

The Wire is a small and a busy terrier. They have a short back and a narrow head; dogs should stand a maximum of 15.5 inches at the withers; bitches slightly smaller. The coat should be dense and wiry, with a shorter, softer undercoat. Maximum weight should be around 9 - 10 kilos for the dog, and 9 kilos for the bitch.

Eyes should be small, round, dark and deep set; ears should be vee-shaped and drop forward. The jaw should be strong and muscular with a scissor bite. Neck should be muscular and a good length, chest deep but not too broad, shoulders long and sloping. The top-line should be level, with a short and straight back.

The front legs should be straight when viewed from either angle, and the back legs should be strong and muscular. Tails used to be customarily docked by 30%, but this is now illegal in the United Kingdom. Colour is predominately white with black markings, and black and tan.

The Wire is an intelligent dog, but can be remarkably stubborn and willful. Training should begin while the dog is a puppy, but good results can be unpredictable. In a house with other dogs, they like to be in charge - so socializing them as puppies is essential.

They are friendly, protective and affectionate dogs with lots of personality, a boisterous nature and a willingness to take part in anything going on around them. They love dens, and often find comfortable hiding places in the unlikeliest part of the house. Outside in the garden, they fall roughly into three types: diggers, squeezers and jumpers. Wires can be determined escapers, so if you want peace of mind a secure garden is a necessity.

What are you going to find on here?

It's a fun site, really - but with plenty of useful information and lots of photographs of Wire Fox Terriers. We've personally had Wires in our immediate family for more than 30 years, but we can also draw on the expertise and experience of several first class breeders who've been involved in all aspects of the Wire Fox Terrier raising business for many, many years.

Hopefully, as we get established, we'll introduce more and more features. The Photo Gallery is where we'll put your favourite show-stopping pictures; tell us all about your Wire Fox Terriers in the Members Area, and swap ideas and tips on the Message Board. You'll find more information at the top of the individual pages.

The Health & Care section gives a few tips and hints for keeping your Wire happy and healthy. No veterinary advice - we leave that to the experts.

The Newsletter: A few years ago we came up with the idea of sending out a Christmas Newsletter for some friends of ours, who run a kennels (for Wire Fox Terriers, of course). They had twelve Wires of their own, and clipped, stripped and boarded no end of other Wires during the course of the year. What started out as an idea for a single page newsletter turned into a 25 page full colour production reporting the antics - based loosely on true incidents exaggerated naturally for dramatic effect - of the residents of the kennels and the visitors and boarders. With kind permission from the author of the Newsletters, we'll publish extracts on here.

Fun Stuff is just that; bits and pieces taken from The Mitzy Gazette, which was an "unauthorized" off-shoot of The Newsletter. We've also included one or two of the Christmas cards we've sent out over the years; original artwork courtesy of Mike C, who good naturedly allowed us to add our own bits and pieces as required.

Your New Puppy - compiled with the help and advice of two very respected and experience breeders - gives you all the advice you'll need in the first few months of raising your new puppy.

Photo Gallery - The place to put your favourite photographs; we'll protect them so they can't be copied from the site.

The Story Board. Got a short story about a Wire Fox Terrier you want to see on a website? This is the place for it. Two rules, though; stories must be your own original work, and be about the Wire Fox Terrier. We'll protect your pictures so they can't be right-clicked and saved, but nothing is really safe on the world wide web - so if you're bothered, don't send it.

The Members Area. This is where you can tell us all about your dogs - and yourself, if you want to. See the members area page for further details.

The Message Board is where you can swap information. If you've lost or found a Wire Fox Terrier, or you're looking for one, or you need to re-home one - use the message board. Absolutely no personal information will be advertised here; email addresses only will be passed on as necessary following agreement from all concerned.

Flynders & Bindi's Page. We took on two new puppies in June 2006 and - after the initial couple of weeks of chaos - they settled in very well. Sam - our older Wire - took to them from the word go, and we've now got an extra puppy to deal with.

Flynders would like to point out that she's no relation whatsoever to the other Flinders (different spelling) who features very heavily in the Newsletter and the Mitzy Gazette.

The Wireville Page (see link at the top of this page).

New Wireville Page 10 with photographs of Flynders' new puppies.

Freckles now has her own page, with her own email address

New Photo Gallery Page 7

Pictures of Sam - now aged 14 - on Page 6 of the PhotoGallery. Update on Jan 2nd 2012

New picture of Charlie Brown on Flynders Second Litter Page (access via one of the Wireville pages)

New pictures of Bindi's puppies on Page 9 of the Wireville Pages.

Bindi had 4 puppies on June 7th 2011. Click HERE or go to the Wireville Page 9 via the link above.

March 2011

Charlie Brown Moves Into Little Foxes - report and pictures shortly

February 2011:

We've added 3 new pages to the Wireville section. As we're constantly receiving up-to-date photos of both Flynders and Bindi's puppies, we thought we'd have a separate page for each litter. They can be accessed via any of the Wireville pages.

New photos on Wireville Pages 7, 8 & 9.

New photos on Photo Gallery Page 6

NEW - See Page 4 of the Photo Galleries for some very old Wire photographs.

Photo Gallery Page 6 - NEW

The mystery of the vanishing strawberries solved - see Photo Gallery Page 5 for pictures.

Go to the Wireville Pages for puppy pictures

More pictures on Page 6 of the Photo Gallery

The latest picture of Sam HERE . You won't have seen this before

New - Fun Stuff Page 2

Flynders & Bindi's Pages - now split into several pages with more pictures.

Kelly's Problem Page Click Here

Classified Adds & Situations Vacant - Fun Stuff

Sam's Shows plus Bruno & Mitzy Have A Day Out - Fun Stuff

If you find a link to and from one of the newer pages doesn't work, come back to this page and try from here. We may have updated a page and not updated the link from that page. It will always work from he