The Plummer terrier is a leggy, smooth coated terrier with a strong working instinct.

The Fell terrier comes in a smooth- and rough-coat pattern and often the smooth-coats are referred to as Patterdales. Many have infusions of Welsh and Lakeland terrier blood. They are usually  black though may be chocolate coloured. The Fell terrier has been bred for many years specifically as a working terrier and, therefore, has a strong desire to do so.

The Fell terriers Brian Plummer used in producing the Sporting Lucas were of the black rough-coated variety, however, there has either been a further infusion of a Fell terrier that was chocolate, or the dogs used carried the recessive for chocolate, as I have recently (2006) seen a Sporting Lucas terrier with the typical liver coloured nose, lip leathers and eye rims plus light eyes associated with chocolate/liver coloured dogs. Lucas terriers do not have this recessive (b) allele as it is neither found in Sealyhams nor Norfolks.

A Plummer terrier was mated to a Fell terrier bitch. The progeny were then mated back to a Plummer terrier. From this mating came a white bodied, rough-coated bitch called Gram. Gram was then mated to a Lucas dog, Fielder's Polo and her aunt, a Fell terrier called Dotty Patch, was also mated to him. From these matings came Pippin and Samantha. This line was inbred to establish the type of working terrier Brian Plummer was looking for.

A son of Polo called Parsons' Patch, but often referred to as William Box, whose dam was a Sealyham bitch, Lulu, bred by the Churclo kennels was mated to some of these bitches and later a 'working Sealyham' called Clayton's Teddy was added to the mix. Some lines also have a Sealyham dog called Sydney in their pedigrees, His breeding is the same as Parsons' Patch's dam, Lulu.

There are many differences between the two breeds both in looks and temperament.

As can be seen from the photograph above, SOME Sporting Lucas terriers are longer in the leg than the Lucas terrier, which is not surprising since both the Plummer and Fell terrier are longer-legged dogs than either the Sealyham or Norfolk terrier. The ones above have harsh, spiky coats whereas the coat of the Lucas tends to be softer (though not SOFT - it could be equated to that of the Cairn terrier). The dogs above are narrower throughout (head and body) than the Lucas. These dogs were bred in the mid-1990s and may not be representative of the Sporting Lucas Terrier today. Contact would  need to be made with the Sporting Lucas terrier breed organisations to find out if a type has been fixed yet, and what they look like. I have see a range of quite different looking terriers described as Sporting Lucas terriers.

It is noted as a fault for a Sporting Lucas to have a 'box Sealyham head'. this is a desirable attribute in the Lucas terrier because Sir Jocelyn was attempting to produce a small Sealyham-type dog. And whilst the Sealyham head type of the 1940s was not as exaggerated as it is today it was still a distinctive feature of the breed then.

The Lucas is an altogether gentler character, not so hyperactive and does not have the same keen working spirit that is often displayed by the Sporting variety.

Anyone seeking a dog to work below ground would probably be more suited to the Sporting type.  The Lucas was never intended to go to ground, as it was employed to push game out of heavy cover to waiting guns, a role it still fulfils today. Guns are never keen to have to waste time looking for, or digging to, a dog that has disappeared down a hole! How many shooting people want to carry a gun AND a spade? The Sporting Lucas is described as having a working role where it will 'go to ground when required', unwillingness to do so is noted as a fault in the Sporting  Breed Standard.

Sporting Lucas terriers sometimes have classes at Hunt Shows and Game Fairs. The Lucas Terrier Club has one Show per year, run by the Club, and only registered Lucas terriers are eligible for entry.

Neither Sporting Lucas terriers nor the progeny of Sporting Lucas/Lucas matings are eligible for registration with the Lucas Terrier Club, and breeding the two types together is not encouraged. From a recent (2006) conversation with the Secretary of the Official Sporting Lucas Terrier Club, Mary Creelan, I understand that only puppies from matings where both parents are approved and registered by the OSLT Club will be entered onto their Breed Register, so that would, presumably, exclude those with a Lucas terrier parent.

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