Part II – by Larry D. Harvey
In Part I of this essay, the long history of breeding to create dog varieties that accommodate the desires and requirements of their Scottish owners and the habitats within which they existed was discussed. Throughout those thousands of years, many types of hunters, herders, guardians, vermin-exterminators, and pets were developed: wolf-like dogs, Curs, terrier-like dogs, the true terrier (the Scotch terrier), and finally the terriers (as well as other non-terrier breeds) with which we today are familiar. Most of the earliest types of dogs went extinct while others continued to be genetically worked to eventually produce today’s Scottish breeds, including Scotland’s terriers: Border, Cairn, West Highland, Dandie Dinmont, Scottish terrier, and Skye terrier. [Two fascinating articles in the National
Geographic magazine discuss why wolves were relatively easily domesticated and how quickly it may have happened. They also discuss why, by way of selective breeding, dogs are particularly so easy to morphologically alter into radically different breeds, while, through it all, their species essentially remains genetically unaltered. See the “Supplement” at the end of this essay.]
The Skye terrier had its origins as far back as the 1600s (some say even much farther back), and though there are many hypotheses, we can only speculate as to the details of who created the Skye, how it was done, when exactly it was done, where it was done (other than that it occurred somewhere on the Isle of Skye), or exactly what function(s) the “designer(s)” had in mind. Of course, the general function of the Skye, like all terriers, was to “go-to-ground” to capture or kill small and medium sized animals that were destructive to crops and/or to root out those critters that were to become part of the farmer’s menu.
“By the early 1800’s, the Skye Terrier was almost certainly the most popular companion dog in Scotland, and was in all likelihood the most common breed found in that country. During the 18th and 19th Centuries, major social changes were occurring throughout Scotland. The early stages of the Industrial Revolution were drawing more and more Scottish farmers to factory work in urban centers. Small enough to live in cramped urban conditions, and very useful for killing the rats that plagued early cities, many of these farmers brought their Skye Terriers with them. Urban dwellers had considerably less use for a rugged hunting Terrier than their ancestors, and they began to breed Skye Terriers primarily for companionship. Breeders of companion dogs greatly favored those with the most attractive coats. [Perhaps one of those breeding efforts was the creation of the Paisley / Clydesdale terrier.] Such breeders preferred coats that were both as long and as silky as possible. These breeders also preferred smaller dogs and ones with shorter bodies because such animals were better able to fit into a tiny apartment or flat. The tenacious Terrier temperament made these dogs tireless slaughterers of small mammals, but also made them less-desirable as companion dogs. Skye Terriers bred as pets came to have a friendlier and less ferocious temperament.”(2)
Throughout the history of terriers in Scotland there have been many breeding experiments. Some were successful and stood the test of time. Other attempts, however, were rejected and disappeared from the terrier landscape rather quickly. One of those successful but short-lived experiments started in the Clyde Valley of Scotland during the first half of the 19th century. (The Clyde River runs through the Clyde Valley and through the city of Glasgow. The word “dale” means valley. Hence, Clydesdale means the valley of the Clyde River.) Breeders in the Clyde Valley region, which included Glasgow and Paisley (a suburb of Glasgow), began to experiment with the production of a “Skye” with a softer, silkier coat. Because of the lack of documentation, there is no way to know exactly how they got to this “silky” Skye terrier, whether by crossing the Skye with other breeds that exhibited soft coats or by continually breeding softer-coated Skyes with other soft-coated Skyes.
Originally, the name given to this dog was the Paisley terrier after the town where much of the breeding took place. In the 1880s, the name was changed to Clydesdale for the name of the entire region. Most people consider the Paisley and the Clydesdale to be the same dog, however, there are some who insist that the two breeding areas produced slightly different versions and, therefore, should have maintained separate names. Other, but less familiar, names for this terrier are the Glasgow terrier, Pet Skye terrier, the Silky Skye terrier, and Show Skye terrier. [To keep things simple, I will use the name “Clydesdale terrier” since this is the name with which most people seem to be most familiar.]
Why the breeders wanted to produce a different style of Skye terrier isn’t clear. Perhaps, as has been suggested, they wished to produce a dog that was more likely to be accepted as a companion pet for the ladies of Britain, one that was more substantial than a toy but less than the “working” style dog that was the Skye
terrier.(2)(3) [As an aside, these breeding efforts eventually aided in the development of the Yorkshire terrier, one of the major factors that issued the death knell for the Clydesdale terrier.] Eventually, as dog shows and the exercise of dog-showing became popular, it seems they wanted to create a more attractive dog for the ring. What they produced is described by D. J. Thomson Gray, a purported 19th century dog expert, in his 1891 
book, The Dogs of Scotland. “Paisley Terriers are not so large as the average show Skye, which they much resemble. The non-dog-fancier would say that they were Skyes with a fine coat; but a discerning eye would see that they were a more compact dog, rather higher on the leg, shorter in the back, and with a greater wealth of hair of a delicate shade, and very profuse ear-feather. While possessing all the characteristics of the Skye, as far as form, colour, and length of coat are concerned, they have a soft, silky coat, and on this account have been known for the past ten years or so as Glasgow or Paisley terriers. Previous to this, however, they were simply known as Skyes, and exhibited as such. The Paisley terrier has never been very widely distributed, and seldom found beyond the valley of the Clyde. At the shows which used to be held at Glasgow a dozen or more years back, these silky-coated terriers were seen in all their beauty, and the fact of their appearing there as Skyes was what first brought them into prominence. The fanciers of the hard-coated Skyes rose in arms against them, holding that they were not Skyes, as they had a silky coat, and were only pretty ‘mongrels’ bred from Skye terrier ‘rejections,’ and ought to be known as Glasgow or Paisley Skyes. On the other hand, the breeders of the silky-coated dogs held, as a matter of course, that the texture of coat their dogs possessed was the correct one. This was untenable, as until the introduction of this breed no Scottish dog had a silky or soft coat.”(3)
In 1887, to promote the Clydesdale / Paisley terrier, devotees of their “Skye variety” established The Clydesdale Terrier Club. The club lasted for only a very few years before being replaced by the Paisley Terrier Club which survived into the 20th century. In 1902, The Kennel Club (of the United Kingdom) registered the Skye and Clydesdale Terrier Club into its mix.(4) This club continued to exist until 1946 (even though, by this time, the Clydesdale terrier was extinct) when the Skye Terrier Association and the Skye and Clydesdale Terrier Club were merged to form the Skye Terrier Club.(5)
Prior to 1887 (the year when The Kennel Club formed separate classes for Clydesdale terriers to compete in), Clydesdales were included in classes with the Skye terriers. Much to the annoyance of hard-coated Skye terrier exhibitors, Clydesdales won many of the competitions, mainly due to the attractiveness of their long, flowing, and silky coats. As time went on and to make the Clydesdale even more attractive in the show ring, breeders produced a dog with an even longer coat, a trait that genetically came along with a more diminutive size. “It became a common practice for Paisley Terriers to be placed on a box at dog shows, so that the full length of their coats could be observed.”(2) Eventually, Skye terrier people protested, causing the Clydesdales to be exhibited in classes separate from the Skyes. As a result of this separation and the increasing acclaim of the Yorkshire terrier, the popularity of the Clydesdale began to wane. By the end of the 1930s, the Clydesdale terrier was extinct.
So, returning to the original question: Was the Clydesdale terrier just a variation of the Skye terrier or was it different enough from the traditional Skye that it actually became a new and separate breed? Let’s look at all the major ways the Clydesdale and the Skye differed.
The Skye Terrier Club of Scotland’s standards for the Skye terrier and the Clydesdale terrier are reproduced in Robert Leighton’s 1910 volume. In part, they read as follows:
The Scottish club standard continues for the Skye: “Average Measurements: Dog – Height at shoulder, 9 inches . . . Bitch – Half an inch lower” . . . “Average Weight: Dog -18 lb.; bitch, 16 lb. No dog should be over 20 lb., nor under 16 lb. ; and no bitch should be over 18 lb., nor under 14 lb.”(6) Leighton suggests in his 1922 book that the Clydesdale terrier’s height and weight should be 7 inches and 12 pounds, measurements which were considerably lower than those for the Skye terrier.(7)
In summary, the major differences between the Clydesdale and Skye are found in body height, length, and weight; coat texture and overall colors (head and body colors were very similar to those of today’s Yorkshire terrier); and the existence of and lack of an undercoat.
The real question for me is: How far into selective breeding can you go without creating a new breed? Given that there seems to be significant physical differences between the traditional Skye and this new deviation, I personally am inclined to consider them, as did late 19th and early 20th century exhibitors of Skyes and the kennel clubs of both Scotland and England, as two separate breeds. I accept this regardless of how the Clydesdale came to be. You, of course, can decide for yourselves.
Supplement:
Ratliff, Evan. “Taming the Wild,” National Geographic, March 2011, pages 34-59.
In 1959, starting with 130 foxes, scientists at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Novosibirsk, Russia, began an experiment to try to recreate the evolution of dogs from wolves. From the beginning, for breeding purposes, they selected only those offspring that exhibited friendliness toward humans. Amazingly, the transformation from wild to domesticated animals was quite rapid: By the 6th generation, there was a small percentage (18 percent) that exhibited full affinity for humans. That percentage has increased ever since to about 75 percent. This helps to explain how quickly the domestication of the wolf may have taken place. By the 15th generation, morphological changes also occurred: from prick to floppy ears; coat color changes; curled tail rather than dropped; changes in the shape of their skulls, teeth, and jaws; and more. Basically, it is hypothesized that the act of domestication results in many inadvertent genetically associated morphological changes. [This so-called “domestication syndrome” helps to explain why, when a single trait of a dog is bred for, other characteristics seem to automatically and unintentionally also change. This may be the reason why, in the evolution of the Clydesdale terrier, more than one trait changed as the breeders continually altered the texture of the dog’s coat.]
Ratliff, Evan. “Mix, Match, Morph: How to Build a Dog,” National Geographic, February 2012, pages 34-51.
This article explains why it is so easy to alter the morphological makeup of dogs. It has been found that all the physical traits that define a dog’s breed are determined by only about fifty “genetic switches” (gene regulatory proteins and the specific DNA sequences that these proteins recognize), whereas, in humans, the alteration of just one physical trait requires hundreds of genes to interact. For example, in dogs, coat type is determined by only three genes and “The difference between the dachshund’s diminutive body and the Rottweiler’s massive one hangs on the sequence of a single gene.”
(1) Richardson, H. D. Dogs: Their Origin and Varieties, . . . . New York: C. M. Saxton and Company, 1857, page 83.
(2) “EasyPetMD.” http://www.easypetmd.com/doginfo/paisley-terrier
(3) Gray, D. J. Thomson. The Dogs of Scotland: Their Varieties, History, Characteristics and Exhibition Points. Edinburgh and Glasgow: John Menzies & Company, 1891.
(4) Jaquet, Edward William (Secretary of the Kennel Club). The Kennel Club: A History and Record of its Work. London: The Kennel Gazette, 1905, page 320.
(5) “The Skye Terrier Club – Constitution and Rules” (of the United Kingdom), 2017, page 1.
http://www.skyeterrierclub.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/STC-Constitution2017.pdf
(6) Leighton, Robert. Dogs and All About Them. London: Cassell and Company, 1910, pages 263-264.
(7) Leighton, Robert. The Complete Book of the Dog. London: Cassell and Company, 1922, pages 275.
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