Wheatens at Riverrun

In 1970, after exhibiting Bassets for six years, Ken and I decided to find "the perfect dog". After a year of study, we bought two Wheatens, never having seen one except in pictures. Sabrina had a coat so heavy it required daily grooming; Toby was a scrawny pup with a short, harsh coat. How could he be a Wheaten? But we loved our new babies, trained and showed them in Miscellaneous class, Sabrina always winning since she looked like other Wheatens being shown.

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Riverrun Chanel's Hot Number (Coco), a home-bred Irish girl

Toby was another matter. With his short little "strawstack" of coat, he was a snap to groom. But he wasn't very pretty. We despaired of his ever looking anything but bedraggled.

But we were wrong! (see "Puppy Coat as an Indicator of Adult Coat") Mrs. Holmes had said to be patient with the Irish coat - for that was Toby's type. And one day, when he was about two and a half, Toby suddenly turned into a swan! Almost over night he developed a shining golden halo of coat that fell in soft waves close to his body. Ultimately, Toby was the kind of dog we dreamed of developing: a strong body, good movement, happy personality, and a golden glow of coat.

The beautiful Irish coat, however, was not to become the one seen in the ring. The heavy, bouffant coat (the result of recessive genes) was shown (minus any trimming, a practice that soon had people calling Wheatens "blond sheepdogs"). Quickly, the ring looked changed as the coat was trimmed, thinned, and sculptured to emphasize the Wheaten's structural terrier lines. The dog was then called a "blond Kerry". In this storm of styling, the Irish coat was left behind, and Wheatens born with it were relegated to "pet" status.

Since we also exhibited, and since our Sabrina gave us heavy coated puppies, we joined the move away from the lovely Irish coat. However, our preference has always been the Irish-type coat. It is easy to care for and requires no special trimming, thinning, or shaping. Today, we are attempting to breed for the Irish coat as much as possible, easiest care for family dogs. If the Wheaten ever reaches any degree of uniformity in the U.S., it will probably be a terrier sound and healthy, of consistent type, and with a coat combining the gleaming wave of the Irish coat with the cloud-soft elegance of the American type.