Tiny the Wonder was an English Toy Terrier (Black & Tan) famous in the City of London in the mid-19th century for being able to kill 200 rats in an hour in the city's rat-baiting pits. [2] [3] At the time, the world record for killing 100 rats was 5 minutes, 30 seconds, held by a bull and terrier named Billy. [4]
Tiny's pedigree was by Old Dick out of Old Nell, [5] and in 1848 or 1849 he weighed five and a half pounds and was owned by Jemmy Shaw, the innkeeper of the Blue Anchor Tavern (now the Artillery Arms) in Bunhill Row in the City of London. [2] Shaw brought in rats from Essex for the rat pits under the pub, as they were healthier than London sewer rats, and kept as many as 2,000 rats there. [2] [6] Tiny was so small that he wore a woman's bracelet instead of a collar. [2] He once held the rat killing record, with 300 dead in just under 55 minutes. [7]
Tiny appears in a c. 1850–1852 oil painting, Rat-Catching at the Blue Anchor Tavern, Bunhill Row, Finsbury, where he is depicted trying to kill 200 rats in an hour. Tiny succeeded twice, on 28 March 1848 and 27 March 1849, "having on both occasions time to spare". [6]
During the 1840s rat-baiting reached its climax in popularity in London. Jemmy Shaw invented the no-touch rule, meaning neither the rat nor the dog could be removed from the pit before completion of the match. [9]
Tiny has been described as being an example of a dog close to today's English Toy Terrier. The breed was developed to produce a more evenly matched contest between the dog and the rats. [10] The breed's narrow head and lack of pronounced zygomatic arches allowed it to kill a rat with one bite and not waste any time chewing. [10] The dog's spotting pattern, especially the tan spots on its face brighter than its black eyes, could confuse the rats and also protect the dog's eyes from being bitten. [10]
Tiny's life is one of those being celebrated from 5 April 2019 in an exhibition titled, "Beasts of London" at the Museum of London. [2]
Terrier (from Latin terra is a type of dog originally bred to hunt vermin. A terrier is a dog of any one of many breeds or landraces of the terrier type, which are typically small, wiry, game, and fearless. Terrier breeds vary greatly in size from just 1 kg to over 60 kg and are usually categorized by size or function. There are five different groups of terrier, with each group having different shapes and sizes.
Dog fighting is a type of blood sport that turns game dogs against one another in a ring or a pit for the purposes of gambling or the entertainment of the spectators.
Jack Black was a rat-catcher and mole destroyer from Battersea, England during the middle of the nineteenth century. Black cut a striking figure in his self-made "uniform" of a green topcoat, scarlet waistcoat, and breeches, with a huge leather sash inset with cast-iron rats. Black promoted himself as the Queen's official rat-catcher, but he never held a royal warrant.
The Rat Terrier is an American dog breed with a background as a farm dog and hunting companion. They share much ancestry with the small hunting dogs known as feists. Common throughout family farms in the 1920s and 1930s, they are now recognized by the United and American Kennel Clubs and are considered a rare breed. Today's Rat Terrier is an intelligent and active small dog that is kept both for pest control and as a family pet.
The English Toy Terrier is a small breed of terrier in the toy dog group.
The Miniature Fox Terrier is a small, fine, lightweight working terrier developed as a hunting dog and vermin router. It is known colloquially in its native Australia as the “Mini Foxie”.
The Toy Manchester Terrier is a breed of dog, categorized as a terrier. The breed was bred down in size in North America from the Manchester Terrier, and is placed in the Toy Group by the American Kennel Club and the Canadian Kennel Club. Neither the Fédération Cynologique Internationale nor The Kennel Club recognize a Toy variety of the Manchester Terrier.
A rat-catcher is a person who kills or captures rats as a professional form of pest control. Keeping the rat population under control was practiced in Europe to prevent the spread of diseases, most notoriously the Black Death, and to prevent damage to food supplies. In modern developed countries, such a professional is otherwise known as a pest control operative or pest exterminator.
The Teddy Roosevelt Terrier is a small to medium-sized American hunting terrier. It is lower-set, with shorter legs, and is more muscular with heavier bone density than the related American Rat Terrier. Much diversity exists in the history of the Teddy Roosevelt Terrier breed, and it shares a common early history with the American Rat Terrier, Fox Paulistinha, and Tenterfield Terrier. The Rat Terrier's background is said to stem from the terriers or other dogs that were brought over by early English and other working-class immigrants. Since the breed was a farm, hunting, and utility dog, little to no planned breeding was used other than breeding dogs with agreeable traits to each other to produce the desired work ethic in the dog. The Feist (dog), Bull Terrier, Smooth Fox Terrier, Manchester Terrier, Whippet, Italian Greyhound, the now extinct English White Terrier, Turnspit Dog, and Wry-legged Terrier all share in the Teddy Roosevelt Terrier's ancestry. These early ratting terriers were then most likely bred to the Beagle or Beagle crossbred dogs and other dogs. Maximizing the influences from these various breeds provides the modern Teddy Roosevelt Terrier with a keen sense of awareness and prey drive, an acute sense of smell. and a very high intellect. Although they tend to be aloof with strangers, they are devoted companion dogs with a strong desire to please and be near their owners at all times.
The Manchester Terrier is a breed of dog of the smooth-haired terrier type. It was first bred in the 19th century to control vermin, notably rats, at which it excelled. So efficient at the task was it that it often appeared in rat-baiting pits until that sport, which had effectively been illegal in the UK since 1835, finally died out at the beginning of the 20th century.
The Black and Tan Terrier was a broad breed or type of terrier that was one of the earliest terriers breeds. Although it is now extinct, it is believed to be the ancestor of all modern Fell Terrier breeds and the Welsh Terrier, a breed recognised by The Kennel Club.
Rat-baiting is a blood sport that involves releasing captured rats in an enclosed space with spectators betting on how long a dog, usually a terrier, takes to kill the rats. Often, two dogs competed, with the winner receiving a cash prize. It is now illegal in most countries.
Jemmy Elton Shaw, also known as Jimmy Shaw and James Shaw, was a 19th-century pioneer fancier of the early dog show days, a promoter of dog fighting and rat-baiting contests, a breeder of Old English bulldogs, bull terriers and toy terriers and a contributor in the development of fancy rats.
The Ratonero Bodeguero Andaluz is a Spanish breed of dog of the terrier type. Its name reflects its main occupation: hunting rats and mice hidden between barrels in the wineries of Andalusia in Spain. It was recognised as an indigenous Spanish breed in 2000 by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and by the Spanish Kennel Club, the Real Sociedad Canina de España.
Bull and terrier was the most common name for bulldog and terrier crossbreeds that date back to the early 1800s. Other names used for these hybrids were half-and-halfs and half-breds. It was a time in history when, for thousands of years, dogs were classified by use or function, unlike the modern pets that have evolved into show dogs and family pets. The bull and terrier crosses were originally bred to function as fighting dogs for bull and bear baiting, and other blood sports that were popular during the Victorian era. The sport of bull baiting required a dog with attributes such as tenacity and courage, a wide frame with heavy bone, and a muscular, protruding jaw. By crossing bulldogs with various terriers from Ireland and Great Britain, breeders introduced "gameness and agility" into the hybrid mix.
Bunhill Row is a street located in St Luke's, London Borough of Islington, London. The street runs north–south from Old Street to Chiswell Street. On the east side are the cemetery of Bunhill Fields and the open space of the Honourable Artillery Company's Artillery Ground.
The English White Terrier is an extinct breed of dog. The English White Terrier is the failed show ring name of a pricked-ear version of the white fox-working terriers that have existed in Great Britain since the late 18th century.
The Russian Toy is a very small breed of dog originally bred in Russia from the English Toy Terrier. There are two types of coats in the breed: smooth coat and long coat. The smooth-coated variety was previously known as the Russian Toy Terrier and long-coated as the Moscow Long-Haired Toy Terrier. Both were brought together under the same Russian Toy Terrier name in 1988 and the "Terrier" was dropped from the name when the breed was added in 2006 to the official list of breeds registered with the Fédération Cynologique Internationale and has been registered in the Foundation Stock Service of the American Kennel Club since 2008, allowed to compete in AKC companion events since 2010. The first official breed standard of the two varieties was written in 1966 in Russia.
The Paisley Terrier was a breed of terrier-type dog that is now extinct. Originating in Scotland, the Paisley Terrier was bred primarily as a pet and showdog version of the Skye Terrier, and was the progenitor of today's Yorkshire Terrier. The breed was called the Paisley Terrier since most of the dogs came from that location, but it was also called the Clydesdale Terrier, for another location in the Clyde Valley where the dogs were bred.
Ratcatcher is informal attire worn when fox hunting and consists primarily of a tweed jacket with tan breeches. Other specific items of clothing, forming part of the "uniform", might be prescribed by individual hunting clubs.