Greyfriars Bobby was a breed apart, literally

Loyal dog was unlikely to be a Skye terrier as they were mainly bred on the isle itself, research suggests

GREYFRIARS BOBBY’S image has been immortalised in films and books and even a commemorative statue.

But the Skye terrier famed for visiting its deceased master’s grave for fourteen years after his death was in fact a lesser-known Dandie Dinmont terrier, researchers have claimed. “The more I researched him for our book… the facts led to only one conclusion: that Greyfriars Bobby had to be a Dandie Dinmont terrier,” said Mike Macbeth, who with fellow Crufts judge Paul Keevil wrote The Dandie Dinmont Terrier, the True Story of Scotland’s Forgotten Breed.

They argue that in 1855, when Bobby was born, Skye terriers were kept mainly on the Isle of Skye, 255 miles from Edinburgh.

But at the time, Dandie Dinmonts were extremely popular in Scotland, where Bobby lived, with 60 breeders in the Edinburgh area alone. The pair analysed contemporary news reports about the dog and found it was referred to as a “Scotch terrier”, never a “Skye terrier”.

The former was a common name for the Dandie Dinmont. They said it is impossible to be sure what breed it was, but the Dandie Dinmont is the most likely.

“There have been so many competing stories about Greyfriars Bobby that the truth has faded like the mist on an Edinburgh morning,” said Mr Macbeth, president of the Canadian Dandie Dinmont Terrier Club.

According to the traditional story,

Greyfriars Bobby was the pet of John Gray, who worked for the Edinburgh police as a night watchman.

Bobby walked with its master as he made his rounds through the city, before Gray’s death from tuberculosis in February 1858.

Bobby was said to have followed its master even after death, finding his grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard in the centre of Edinburgh.

It was said to have visited the grave every morning for 14 years. However, its presence was perhaps not as constant as commonly thought: it would leave the grave and trot off every lunchtime to be fed by locals. Various attempts were made to evict it from the graveyard, to no avail.

Bobby died in January 1872, and was buried near its former master in Greyfriars Kirkyard.

A statue of it was erected outside the churchyard to commemorate it a year later.

Unlike the island-bred Skye terrier, the Dandie Dinmont was developed along the Scottish borders.

It got its name from a character in Walter Scott’s novel Guy Mannering, who is thought to be based on a real farmer called James Davidson, who bred terriers. Dandie Dinmonts have a long, low body with short legs and a mop of fluffy hair on their heads.

It is the only breed to have permission to wear an official Scottish clan tartan, after being granted the black and white pattern of Scott in 2015 by the Duke of Buccleuch, chief of the Scott clan.

Confusion between the Dandie Dinmont and the Skye terriers is not a new problem.

The Royal Collection has a painting of a dog owned by Queen Victoria, which was apparently a Skye terrier who was called Dandie Dinmont.