IRISH TERRIER ORIGINS
About the same time that Erin entered the Irish Terrier scene, Howard Waterhouse of Dublin acquired “Killiney Boy.” The dog had several previous owners, including one who left him behind after an estate sale. In The Irish Terrier (1907), author F.M. Jowett describes Killiney Boy as a “rare good, game little Terrier with a hard coat and grand Terrier head, but rather low on the legs.” Kil- liney Boy did some winning in the show ring, but his claim to fame was earned as a sire. Matings of Champion Erin and Killiney Boy, planned by William Graham, produced outstanding offspring. The first lit- ter produced Ch. Playboy, the best show dog of his day, and two other champions. The influence of Erin and Killiney Boy was broadly stamped on the breed with very close breeding among their offspring. As a result, twenty-five years after the first breeding, ninety percent of the Irish Terrier show dogs were descended from the pair. The bitch found in a hamper at a show, and the once-deserted dog, became the mother and father of the breed. Irish Terriers arrived in the United States in 1878. Two years later the first one was shown, James Watson’s “Kathleen.” The fol- lowing year, the Westminster Kennel Club offered Irish Terrier classes for the first time. In 1897, the Irish Terrier Club of America was formed and the original members adapted the breed standard of the Irish Terrier Club of Great Britain and Ireland. Over the past 100 years, Irish Terriers have been influenced more by one individual than any other: Jeremiah J. O’Callaghan. Noted Irish Terrier author George Kidd fondly referred to him as the “Dean of the Irish Terrier fancy.” Jerry bred his first Irish Ter- rier in 1902 and continued a breeding program until his death in 1973. With a keen instinct for breeding the right dogs, his Kilvara bloodlines became highly influential. Jerry outlived his early Irish Terrier breeder rivals, and the new breeders chose to found their kennels with his Kilvara dogs. As a result, a majority of today’s winning dogs trace back to Kilvara stock. Born on September 27, 1886 in County Cork, Ireland, Jer- ry O’Callaghan came to Boston at age 11. In 1902, his uncle, Father O’Gorman, gave him his first Irish Terrier. Later that year, his uncle returned to Ireland and purchased Celtic Badger who became the foundation dog of the Kilvara Kennel. Ch. Celtic Bad- ger provided the blood link between Ireland’s top dogs of the day and the American Kilvara line.
Ch. Mile End Barrister, pictured in a 1903 painting by Maud Earl.
Aroostook Aviator at 9 months, bred and owned by Jeremiah J. O’Callaghan.
O’Callaghan felt that the bitch, Crow Gill Patricia, purchased by Father O’Gorman from F.M. Jowett, also played a key role in the development of the Kilvara strain: “Jowett’s dogs had good coats. Patricia was bred to Celtic Badger and produced Celtic Dream. She was bred to Ch. Thorncroft Sportsman, a great dog but with a poor coat. They produced Kilvara Lily. She was smooth-coated. Meanwhile, I had seen Andrew Albright’s Reprieve, an import from Mile End Kennels. Reprieve had an open coat but he was assertive. I bought him and bred him to Lily to try to give his pup- pies an undercoat. It worked. A bitch from his mating, Aroostook Meg, was bred to Aroostook Historic and this produced Aroostook Aviator, a great sire.” Lewellyn Powers founded Aroostook Kennels in 1912. In 1917, Jerry O’Callaghan joined forces with Powers. All of the dogs other than those of O’Callaghan’s breeding were sold. The frequent show ring success of the Aroostook dogs during this period was curtailed by Jerry’s 22 month of service in the U.S. Army during World War I. While Jerry was in France, hard times forced Powers to sell most of the Aroostook dogs. Upon O’Callaghan’s discharge, the Aroos- took partnership was dissolved and the Kilvara prefix reactivated. He acquired Aroostook Aviator from Powers and began to rebuild. Aroostook Aviator became an outstanding sire and a major player in the intense linebreeding of the Kilvara program. Bred to a wide variety of bitches, even smooth and kinky-coated ones, he almost always seemed to correct their faults. Aroostook Aviator appears in the extended pedigrees of most strictly American-bred Irish Terriers. Most would agree that he has influenced American Irish Terriers more than any other individual dog.
Killiney Boy (sitting) and Peter Bolger. Photograph of 1883 oil painting by R. Waterhouse, a relative of H. Waterhouse who owned the dogs. (Copyrighted by Marg G. Best and may not be reproduced without her permission.)
SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, MAY 2022 | 255
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