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History and Development of The Decker Terrier This story begins with a dog named "Henry". This Terrier possessed qualities that are seen only once in a lifetime. Henry was a 32# male with button ears and exhibited tremendous working and hunting qualities. He was quite intelligent made a superb all around family dog with an excellent disposition. Being so taken with this dog, and wanting to preserve that all around, versatile dog, there embarked a journey about the year 1970. Traveling from Oregon to as far away as Texas, Kansas and Mississippi; searching for the largest "Rat" Terriers to locate for breeding stock to recreate the ideal of that perfect dog. By breeding the Henry dog to the Rat Terrier stock that were obtained the "Decker" strain was on its way to development. There has also been rumored Basenji added in for fixing erect ear set and Cur for size. Although these were added at the beginning of the strain and should not be added now as our genetics are set. Because there was a need for larger dogs at the time, this made way for breeding and retaining the large size. Deckers Terriers were then established along with fixing in an erect ear set. And so the name Decker "Giant" Terrier came into existence.
The dogs that were produced from
these lines lived up to all
expectations. Here was a utility
dog that was an excellent all around
hunter. Vermin, squirrel, bird and
upland quail were commonly hunted
and they would also retrieve from
water when necessary. These dogs
were capable of baying up wild pig
and would tree just about anything.
they were also skilled in hunting
big game like deer, cougar and
bear. Some were even used on Jaguar
in Central American before they hit
the endangered species list. Bow
hunters loved them because they were
such a great scent trailers. the
dog would stay within 300 feet of
the hunter and have been known to
even turn the hunt back. |
