Dandie Dinmont Terriers

I’d never heard of the Dandie Dinmont Terrier breed until I was watching a Dogs 101 episode on Animal Planet, and saw a dog that looked exactly like our Samantha, a dog we adopted from the animal shelter several months previously.  We’d been told she was a Cairn Terrier mix, however the descriptions of temperament and physical attributes were spot on with what we see in Sam.

Sam is mixed with something, perhaps a lab, as she is heftier than a purebred Dandie looks in pictures, without being overweight.  She has the distinctive stature (longer than tall), a scimitar-shaped tail, and the dark nose, ears, and eye rims associated with the breed.

From our experience, Dandies are wonderful companions.  Sam has the sweetest disposition.  She loves being with her people and maneuvering snuggles from us.  Other times she is positively impish, teasing us with various games she’s invented.  She’s an excellent guard dog, alerting us whenever someone comes to the door and the size of her bark suggests a much larger dog is protecting the premises.

Sam had been at the shelter for 11 days after being picked up off the streets---an underweight, untrained puppy of approximately 10 months of age.  We knew the instant we saw that sweet face that she’d be the one coming home with us.  We had visited the shelter, finally ready to get another dog after months without one, and she was the one.  She absolutely rescued us from the emptiness we felt in our lives every bit as much as we rescued her.