Rowan

This afternoon on the way back from Byres Road I popped into the Botanic Gardens and bumped into Antje Karl the owner of the Yarn Cake. The Yarn Cake is Scotland’s only dedicated knitting cafe and we work with Antje on the Glasgow School of Yarn at the Mackintosh Church.

Antje was meeting up with Anna, who brought along her gorgeous little puppy, Rowan. Rowan is a 11 week old Cairn Terrier. It was difficult getting any shots of Rowan, but I liked this shot of the adorable little terrier.

The Cairn Terrier is undoubtedly descended from the original indigenous working terrier of the Scottish Highlands and Islands. There are references to them in the sixteenth century, when King James I and VI sent a group of “ Earth Dogges” to the King of France. So prized were they, that he stipulated that they be sent in separate ships lest disaster befall them en route.

The dogs were used by crofters, shepherds, and foxhunters for pest control - foxes, rats rabbits were their early quarry, but with the advent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries of sporting pursuits, the dogs were much favoured for use against badgers and otters. Their “gameness” - the ability to ignore pain and continue to fight on - became legendary, and even at the beginning of the 20th century there were packs of Cairns that could not be handled by anyone other than their keeper! Dogs varied enormously in size, shape and colour depending on the terrain they worked, and the quarry they were used against.