Judging from the old paintings and prints of the first known terriers, the Welsh Terrier is a very old breed, for these prints show us a rough haired black and tan terrier.

In old times this dog was more commonly known as the Old English Terrier or Black and Tan Wire Haired Terrier and as late as 1886 the English Kennel Club allotted one class for "Welsh or Old English Wire Haired Black and Tan Terriers." Even to this day, the colour of the Welsh is as it was over a hundred years ago.

In other respects also, the Welsh Terrier has changed very slightly. He is, as he was then, a sporting dog extensively used in his native home, Wales, for hunting the otter, fox and the badger and he possesses the characteristic gameness that one naturally looks for in such a dog.

The first record of Welsh Terriers have a classification of their own in England was in 1884 - 85 at Carnarvon where there were twenty one entries, but even at this time it was not uncommon for dogs to be shown as Old English Terriers and also as Welsh Terriers. As late as 1893 Dick Turpin, a well known show dog of those days, coninued in this dual role. Welsh Terriers were first brought to North America by the late Mr. Prescott Lawrence in 1888, when he imported a dog and a bitch, T'Other and Which, and showed them at the old Madison Square Garden in the Miscellaneous Class. No other Welsh however, were imported for some time. But about 1901 classification were offered for Welsh at Westminster and four or five dsogs were shown at that time. From then on their popularity has steadily increased.

Welsh Terriers should be black and a rich tan in colour, they should be built like a cleverly made hunter, with plenty of bone and substance. The head should be broader than that of the Fox Terrier but the skull should be very flat and the eyes set fairly far apart to give that intelligent, unmistakably Welsh expression, so different from other terriers and so characteristic of the breed.