I wondered if there are any Patterdale terriers in Serbia! I’ve visited before and saw a few street dogs similar to Patterdales. This week, out of the blue, I received an email from Glenn who told me about his adopted Serbian stray called Millie, who grew up to be the boss of their labradors and looked very terrier like. We have to agree – she looks very Patterdale! I invited Glenn to write his story on our blog, so here it is. Thanks Glenn for your guest post, and Millie is absolutely gorgeous!
My name is Glenn, and I’m a British expat with an interesting Patterdale story to tell. In 2021, owing to a change from office working to remote working, my Serbian wife Milica (pronounced ‘Milizza’) and I decided to move to her native Serbia from Galicia, Spain where I had been living and working since 2010. We moved here in November 2021 with our two lovely labradors. Something which immediately struck me was the noticeable stray dog issue here in Serbia.
In about March 2022, I happened to be at the corner shop in the rain, and when I came out of the shop there was a tiny forlorn and soaked pup sheltering under my jeep. I thought ‘jeepers if I take this little thing home Milly will go bananas’. So I went home alone. I did mention it… The following day, I was working at the computer when Milly arrived home from visiting her Mum. “Can you help me?” she called up the stairs. Going to see what was up, I saw that she brought the same pup I had seen home with her. Contrary to going bananas of course, I fully accepted the little mite 😊. We called her Millie, got her cleaned up, removed all the ticks and consulted the vet for an approximate age (January 2022) and to get her vaccinations done. Little by little she settled and has turned into a superb little dog.
So why am I telling you all this? Early on she demonstrated a terrier-like fearlessness which I found quite remarkable (notably having kept hunting Jack Russells as a young man in the UK). She has completely dominated our two labradors (not difficult, I hear you cry 😊). This, coupled with an amazing hunting instinct has made me wonder… As a pup she caught and devoured a young beech Marten and now will put up pheasants and hares and valiantly pursue any species of deer (don’t let her near a stray dog). So I was thinking, what mix has made up this superb little dog? Then one day when I was watching her and I remembered Patterdales! She has a strong resemblance to a Patterdale and absolutely a 100% character match. Here are a couple of photos – see what you think… I have read that there are Patterdale breeders here in Serbia, so it is possible…
Kind regards,
Glenn, Milica
Marley, Freyja and Millie
Vrčin, Serbia