Norfolk Terrier: One Woman's 30-Year Fight for Recognition

If you've read our Norwich Terrier guide, you know the two breeds were originally considered a single type, split by ear carriage in 1964 (UK) and 1979 (US). Worth adding real, specific detail: the separation wasn't a passive administrative shift — it was driven by one specific person, Marion Sheila Scott Macfie, who championed the drop-eared variety for over 30 years. She repeatedly showed her dogs to build the variety's reputation, sent two pairs to the United States during World War II specifically to expand American interest, and in 1957 fought — unsuccessfully at first — to have drop ears recognized as equal to the more dominant prick-eared type. Seven years later, in 1964, she finally achieved separate recognition for what became the Norfolk Terrier.

Worth stating clearly, since most casual sources oversimplify this: it's often claimed the only difference between Norwich and Norfolk is ear carriage, and breed clubs themselves note this isn't fully accurate. While ears remain the most visually obvious distinction, real differences in temperament and build exist between the two breeds today, shaped by decades of separate, deliberate breeding since the 1964 split.

Worth knowing as a genuine, practical detail: breeders in the 1930s experimented with crossing the two ear types, but the resulting puppies had ears that were neither properly drop nor properly prick — a genuinely unappealing middle ground that breeders found undesirable. This practical outcome is part of why the two lines were deliberately kept separate well before formal breed recognition caught up.

Worth knowing as specific history: a dog named Willum — described as red-coated, short-legged, with a foxlike head — was informally called a "Norfolk Terrier" by name even before the breed's official recognition, used by J. Watson Webb, master of Vermont's Shelburne foxhounds, to develop his own strain of small, tenacious fox bolters suited to New England's rocky terrain.

Percy Roberts, a renowned handler, judge, and buyer's agent, began bringing pairs of drop-eared Norwich to the US starting in 1937, expanding the growing group of Northeast enthusiasts even though he was never a breeder of the variety himself — a real, specific, if often overlooked, contributor to the breed's early American establishment.

Norfolks are commonly described as slightly more independent than their Norwich relatives, though both remain energetic, prey-driven terriers requiring consistent training and genuine daily exercise — a small but real personality distinction worth knowing if choosing between the two closely related breeds.