Selkirk’s new and exclusive sausages are just dandie

Calum Flanders, dog Lucy and John Taylor with the new sausages.

Taylor’s butcher’s shop, in Market Place, has created two types of Dandie Dinmont-inspired banger as a tribute to the town’s association with the rare breed of pooch.

Its Fine and Dandie (Dinmont) pork and mustard and cracked black pepper and beef” sausages, created by shop boss John Taylor, went on sale this week.

Butcher John Taylor with his new 'Fine and Dandie' sausages.

Every modern-day Dandie Dinmont terrier can trace its ancestry back to Selkirk as the first of its kind, Old Ginger, was born on the Haining Estate in 1842.

The breed is named after a character called Dandie Dinmont in Walter Scott’s 1815 book Guy Mannering.

Dinmont owned a number of terriers, named Pepper and Mustard after the colours of their coats, and those generic terms have inspired the names of many Dandie Dinmonts since – and now John’s sausages too.

“I’m delighted with the outcome of our new sausage project,” former Jedburgh man John, who reopened the former Halliwell’s shop in September, said.

“I used my 32 years of butchering experience and chucked something together.

“I didn’t know if they would work out first time, but they did and the feedback so far has been great.”

It was Bowhill House and Estate caretaker Calum Flanders, who owns a Dandie Dinmont called Lucy, who approached John and asked him to come up with the recipes.

“I was delighted when I was asked to make something exclusive to Selkirk,” John, 46, now living in Kelso, added.

“I jumped at it as its a chance to raise awareness of the rare breed too.”

Calum added that the town’s connections with the dogs don’t stop with Sir Walter Scott.

“We also have the second oldest dog club in the world for the Dandie Dinmonts here in the Fleece hotel,” he said. “There was old John Stoddart, a Selkirk blacksmith, who was reputed to have the purest line of Dandie Dinmonts from 1820 and 1830, and if you go up to the Haining House you will find a statue to Old Ginger, who all Dandie Dinmonts can trace their ancestors back to.

“The Duke of Buccleuch was a great lover of the breed.

“These terriers are well rooted in Selkirk.”