Dogs and All about Them Part 18

This dog's antecedents were very questionable, and his breeder is given as Mr. Stevenson, of Chester, most of whose dogs were Bull-terriers pure and simple, save that they had drop ears and short sterns, being in this respect unlike old Trap, whose sire is generally supposed to have been a Black and Tan Terrier. This dog came from the Oakley Kennels, and he was supposed to have been bred by a miller at Leicester. However questionable the antecedents of these three terriers may have been, they are undoubtedly the progenitors of our present strain, and from them arose the kennels that we have to-day.

Mention has been made of Mr. Murchison, and to him we owe in a great measure the start in popularity which since the foundation of his large kennel the Fox-terrier has enjoyed. Mr. Murchison's chief opponents in the early 'seventies were Mr. Gibson, of Brockenhurst, with his dogs Tyke and Old Foiler; Mr. Luke Turner, of Leicester, with his Belvoir strain, which later gave us Ch. Brockenhurst Joe, Ch. Olive and her son, Ch. Spice; Mr. Theodore Ba.s.sett, Mr. Allison, and, a year or so later, Mr. Frederick Burbidge, the Messrs. Clarke, Mr. Tinne, Mr. Francis Redmond, and Mr. Vicary. About this time a tremendous impetus was given to the breed by the formation, in 1876, of the Fox-terrier Club, which owed its inception to Mr. Harding c.o.x and a party of enthusiasts seated round his dinner table at 36, Russell Square, among whom were Messrs. Ba.s.sett, Burbidge, Doyle, Allison, and Redmond, the last two named being still members of the club. The idea was very warmly welcomed, a committee formed, and a scale of points drawn up which, with but one alteration, is in vogue to-day. Every prominent exhibitor or breeder then, and with few exceptions since, has been a member, and the club is by far the strongest of all specialist clubs.

It will be well to give here the said standard of points.

HEAD AND EARS--The _Skull_ should be flat and moderately narrow, and gradually decreasing in width to the eyes. Not much "stop" should be apparent, but there should be more dip in the profile between the forehead and top jaw than is seen in the case of a Greyhound. The _Cheeks_ must not be full. The _Ears_ should be V-shaped and small, of moderate thickness, and dropping forward close to the cheek, not hanging by the side of the head like a Foxhound's. The _Jaw_, upper and under, should be strong and muscular; should be of fair punis.h.i.+ng strength, but not so in any way to resemble the Greyhound or modern English Terrier. There should not be much falling away below the eyes.

This part of the head, should, however, be moderately chiselled out, so as not to go down in a straight line like a wedge. The _Nose_, towards which the muzzle must gradually taper, should be black. The _Eyes_ should be dark in colour, small, and rather deep set, full of fire, life, and intelligence; as nearly as possible circular in shape. The _Teeth_ should be as nearly as possible level, _i.e._, the upper teeth on the outside of the lower teeth. NECK--Should be clean and muscular, without throatiness, of fair length, and gradually widening to the shoulders. SHOULDERS AND CHEST--The _Shoulders_ should be long and sloping, well laid back, fine at the points, and clearly cut at the withers. The _Chest_ deep and not broad. BACK AND LOIN--The _Back_ should be short, straight, and strong, with no appearance of slackness. The _Loin_ should be powerful and very slightly arched.

The fore ribs should be moderately arched, the back ribs deep; and the dog should be well ribbed up. HIND-QUARTERS--Should be strong and muscular, quite free from droop or crouch; the thighs long and powerful; hocks near the ground, the dog standing well up on them like a Foxhound, and not straight in the stifle. STERN--Should be set on rather high, and carried gaily, but not over the back or curled. It should be of good strength, anything approaching a "pipe-stopper" tail being especially objectionable. LEGS AND FEET--The _Legs_ viewed in any direction must be straight, showing little or no appearance of an ankle in front. They should be strong in bone throughout, short and straight to pastern. Both fore and hind legs should be carried straight forward in travelling, the stifles not turned outwards. The elbows should hang perpendicular to the body, working free of the side. The _Feet_ should be round, compact, and not large. The soles hard and tough. The toes moderately arched, and turned neither in nor out. COAT--Should be straight, flat, smooth, hard, dense, and abundant. The belly and under side of the thighs should not be bare. As regards colour, white should predominate; brindle, red, or liver markings are objectionable. Otherwise this point is of little or no importance. SYMMETRY, SIZE, AND CHARACTER--The dog must present a general gay, lively, and active appearance; bone and strength in a small compa.s.s are essentials; but this must not be taken to mean that a Fox-terrier should be cloggy, or in any way coa.r.s.e--speed and endurance must be looked to as well as power, and the symmetry of the Foxhound taken as a model. The terrier, like the hound, must on no account be leggy, nor must he be too short in the leg. He should stand like a cleverly-made hunter, covering a lot of ground, yet with a short back, as before stated. He will then attain the highest degree of propelling power, together with the greatest length of stride that is compatible with the length of his body.

Weight is not a certain criterion of a terrier's fitness for his work--general shape, size and contour are the main points; and if a dog can gallop and stay, and follow his fox up a drain, it matters little what his weight is to a pound or so, though, roughly speaking, it may be said he should not scale over twenty pounds in show condition.

DISQUALIFYING POINTS: NOSE--White, cherry, or spotted to a considerable extent with either of these colours. EARS--p.r.i.c.k, tulip, or rose. MOUTH--much overshot or much undershot.

In order to give some idea of the extraordinary way in which the Fox-terrier took the public taste, it will be necessary to hark back and give a _resume_ of the princ.i.p.al kennels and exhibitors to whom this was due. In the year in which the Fox-terrier Club was formed, Mr. Fred Burbidge, at one time captain of the Surrey Eleven, had the princ.i.p.al kennels. He was the pluckiest buyer of his day, and once he fancied a dog nothing stopped him till it was in his kennels. He bought Nimrod, Dorcas, Tweezers, and Nettle, and with them and other discriminating purchases he was very hard to beat on the show-bench.

Strange to say, at this time he seemed unable to breed a good dog, and determined to have a clear out and start afresh. A few brood b.i.t.c.hes only were retained, and the kennels moved from Champion Hill to Hunton Bridge, in Hertfords.h.i.+re. From thence in a few years came Bloom, Blossom, Tweezers II., Hunton Baron, Hunton Bridegroom, and a host of others, which spread the fame of the great Hunton strain.

When the kennel was dispersed at Mr. Burbidge's untimely death in 1892, the dogs, 130 lots in all, were sold by auction and realised P1,800; Hunton Tartar fetched P135, Justice P84, Bliss P70, and Scramble P65.

Messrs. A. H. and C. Clarke were at this time quietly founding a kennel, which perhaps has left its mark more indelibly on the breed than any before or since. Brockenhurst Rally was a most fortunate purchase from his breeder, Mr. Herbert Peel, and was by Brockenhurst Joe from a Bitters b.i.t.c.h, as from this dog came Roysterer and Ruler, their dam being Jess, an old Turk b.i.t.c.h; and from Rollick by Buff was bred Ruse and Ransome. Roysterer was the sire of Result, by many considered the best Fox-terrier dog of all time; and Result's own daughter Rachel was certainly the best b.i.t.c.h of her day. All these terriers had intense quality and style, due for the most part to inbreeding. Very little new blood was introduced, with an inevitable result; and by degrees the kennel died out.

No history of the Fox-terrier could be complete without mention of Mr. Francis Redmond and his kennel, going back, as it does, to the Murchison and Luke Turner period, and being still to-day the most prominent one in existence. We can date his earlier efforts from his purchase of Deacon Nettle, the dam of Deacon Ruby; Dusty was the dam of Ch. Diamond Dust; d.i.c.kon he had from Luke Turner, and in this dog we have one of the foundation-stones of the Fox-terrier stud-book, as he was the sire of Splinter, who in his turn was the sire of Vesuvian.

Mr. Redmond's next great winners were D'Orsay and Dominie, two sterling good terriers, the former of which was the sire of Dame D'Orsay, who, bred to Despoiler, produced Dame Fortune, the mother of Donna Fortuna, whose other parent was Dominie. Donna Fortuna, considered universally the best specimen of a Fox-terrier ever produced, had from the first a brilliant career, for though fearlessly shown on all occasions she never knew defeat. Some took exception to her want of what is called terrier character, and others would have liked her a shade smaller; but we have still to see the Fox-terrier, taken all round, that could beat her.

As an outcross Mr. Redmond purchased Dreadnought, one of the highest cla.s.s dogs seen for many years, but had very bad luck with him, an accident preventing him from being shown and subsequently causing his early death. We must not forget d.u.c.h.ess of Durham or Dukedom; but to enumerate all Mr. Redmond's winners it would be necessary to take the catalogues of all the important shows held for the past thirty years. To no one do we owe so much; no one has made such a study of the breed, reducing it almost to a science, with the result that even outside his kennels no dog has any chance of permanently holding his own unless he has an ample supply of the blood.

The great opponent of the Totteridge Kennel up to some few years ago was unquestionably Mr. Vicary, of Newton Abbot, who laid the foundation of his kennel with Vesuvian, who was by Splinter, out of Kohinor, and from whom came the long line of winners, Venio-Vesuvienne, Vice-Regal, Valuator, Visto, and Veracity. Fierce war raged round these kennels, each having its admiring and devoted adherents, until one side would not look at anything but a Redmond Terrier to the exclusion of the Vicary type. The Newton Abbot strain was remarkable for beautiful heads and great quality, but was faulty in feet and not absolute as to fronts, each of which properties was a _sine qua non_ amongst the Totteridge dogs. Latter-day breeders have recognised that in the crossing of the two perfection lies, and Mr. Redmond himself has not hesitated to go some way on the same road.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FOX TERRIERS 1. Mrs. J. H. Brown's Ch. Captain Double 2. Mr. J. C. Tinne's Ch. The Sylph 3. Mr. T. J. Stephen's Wire-Hair Ch. Sylvan Result _Photograph by Revely_]

It is fortunate for the breed of Fox-terriers how great a hold the hobby takes, and how enthusiastically its votaries pursue it, otherwise we should not have amongst us men like Mr. J. C. Tinne, whose name is now a household word in the Fox-terrier world, as it has been any time for the past thirty years. Close proximity, in those days, to Mr. Gibson at Brockenhurst made him all the keener, and one of his first terriers was a b.i.t.c.h of that blood by Bitters. With daughters of Old Foiler he did very well--to wit, Pungent, sister to Dorcas, while through Terror we get Banquet, the granddam of Despoiler. He purchased from Mr. Redmond both Deacon Diamond and Daze, each of whom was bred to Spice, and produced respectively Auburn and Brockenhurst Dainty; from the latter pair sprang Lottery and Worry, the granddam of Tom Newcome, to whom we owe Brockenhurst Agnes, Brockenhurst Dame, and Dinah Morris, and consequently Adam Bede and Hester Sorrel.

It has always been Mr. Tinne's principle to aim at producing the best terrier he could, irrespective of the fads of this kennel or that, and his judgment has been amply vindicated, as the prize lists of every large show will testify. And to-day he is the proud possessor of Ch. The Sylph, who has beaten every one of her s.e.x, and is considered by many about the best Fox-terrier ever seen.

No name is better known or more highly respected by dog owners than that of the late Mr. J. A. Doyle, as a writer, breeder, judge, or exhibitor of Fox-terriers. Whilst breeding largely from his own stock, he was ever on the look-out for a likely outcross. He laid great store on terrier character, and was a stickler for good coats; a point much neglected in the present-day dog.

Amongst the smaller kennels is that of Mr. Reeks, now mostly identified with Oxonian and that dog's produce, but he will always be remembered as the breeder of that beautiful terrier, Avon Minstrel.

Mr. Arnold Gillett has had a good share of fortune's favours, as the Ridgewood dogs testify; whilst the Messrs. Powell, Castle, Glynn, Dale, and Crosthwaite have all written their names on the pages of Fox-terrier history. Ladies have ever been supporters of the breed, and no one more prominently so than Mrs. Bennett Edwards, who through Duke of Doncaster, a son of Durham, has founded a kennel which at times is almost invincible, and which still shelters such grand terriers as Doncaster, Dominie, Dodger, Dauphine, and many others well known to fame. Mrs. J. H. Brown, too, as the owner of Captain Double, a terrier which has won, and deservedly, more prizes than any Fox-terrier now or in the past, must not be omitted.

Whether the present Fox-terrier is as good, both on the score of utility and appearance, as his predecessors is a question which has many times been asked, and as many times decided in the negative as well as in the affirmative. It would be idle to pretend that a great many of the dogs now seen on the show bench are fitted to do the work Nature intended them for, as irrespective of their make and shape they are so oversized as to preclude the possibility of going to ground in any average sized earth.

This question of size is one that must sooner or later be tackled in some practical way by the Fox-terrier Club, unless we are to see a race of giants in the next few generations. Their own standard gives 20 lb.--a very liberal maximum; but there are dogs several pounds heavier constantly winning prizes at shows, and consequently being bred from, with the result which we see. There are many little dogs, and good ones, to be seen, but as long as the judges favour the big ones these hold no chance, and as it is far easier to produce a good big one than a good little one, breeders are encouraged to use sires who would not be looked at if a hard-and-fast line were drawn over which no dogs should win a prize. There are hundreds of Fox-terriers about quite as capable of doing their work as their ancestors ever were, and there is hardly a large kennel which has not from time to time furnished our leading packs with one or more dogs, and with gratifying results. It is, therefore, a great pity that our leading exhibitors should often be the greatest delinquents in showing dogs which they know in their hearts should be kept at home or drafted altogether, and it is deplorable that some of our oldest judges should by their awards encourage them.

Before concluding this chapter it may not be out of place to say a few words as to the breeding and rearing of Fox terriers.

In the first place, _never_ breed from an animal whose pedigree is not authenticated beyond a shadow of a doubt; and remember that while like _may_ beget like, the inevitable tendency is to throw back to former generations. The man who elects to breed Fox-terriers must have the b.u.mps of patience and hope very strongly developed, as if the tyro imagines that he has only to mate his b.i.t.c.h to one of the known prize-winning dogs of the day in order to produce a champion, he had better try some other breed. Let him fix in his mind the ideal dog, and set to work by patient effort and in the face of many disappointments to produce it. It is not sufficient that, having acquired a b.i.t.c.h good in all points save in head, that he breeds her to the best-headed dog he can find. He must satisfy himself that the head is not a chance one, but is an inherited one, handed down from many generations, good in this particular, and consequently potent to reproduce its like. So in all other points that he wishes to reproduce. In the writer's experience, little b.i.t.c.hes with quality are the most successful. Those having masculine characteristics should be avoided, and the best results will be obtained from the first three litters, after which a b.i.t.c.h rarely breeds anything so good. See that your b.i.t.c.h is free from worms before she goes to the dog, then feed her well, and beyond a dose of castor oil some days before she is due to whelp, let Nature take its course. Dose your puppies well for worms at eight weeks old, give them practically as much as they will eat, and unlimited exercise. Avoid the various advertised nostrums, and rely rather on the friendly advice of some fancier or your veterinary surgeon.

Take your hobby seriously, and you will be amply repaid, even if success does not always crown your efforts, as while the breeding of most animals is a fascinating pursuit, that of the Fox-terrier presents many varying delights.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII

THE WIRE-HAIR FOX-TERRIER

The wire-hair Fox-terrier is, with the exception of its coat, identical with the smooth Fox-terrier--full brother in fact to him.

The two varieties are much interbred, and several litters in consequence include representatives of both; and not only this, but it is quite a frequent occurrence to get a smooth puppy from wire-hair parents, although for some generations neither of the parents may have had any smooth cross in their pedigrees.

The North of England and South Wales (to a lesser extent) have ever been the home of the wire-hair, and nearly all the best specimens have come originally from one or the other of those districts. There is no doubt that there was excellent stock in both places, and there is also no doubt that though at times this was used to the best advantage, there was a good deal of carelessness in mating, and a certain amount in recording the parentage of some of the terriers.

With regard to this latter point it is said that one gentleman who had quite a large kennel and several stud dogs, but who kept no books, used never to bother about remembering which particular dog he had put to a certain b.i.t.c.h, but generally satisfied himself as to the sire of a puppy when it came in from "walk" by just examining it and saying "Oh, that pup must be by owd Jock or Jim," as the case might be, "'cos he's so loike 'im," and down he would go on the entry form accordingly. However this may be, there is no doubt that the sire would be a wire-hair Fox-terrier, and, although the pedigree therefore may not have been quite right, the terrier was invariably pure bred.

In the early days the smooth was not crossed with the wire to anything like the extent that it was later, and this fact is probably the cause of the salvation of the variety. The wire-hair has had more harm done to him by his being injudiciously crossed with the smooth than probably by anything else.

The greatest care must be exercised in the matter of coat before any such cross is effected. The smooth that is crossed with the wire must have a really hard, and not too full coat, and, as there are very, very few smooths now being shown with anything like a proper coat for a terrier to possess, the very greatest caution is necessary.

Some few years back, almost incalculable harm was done to the variety by a considerable amount of crossing into a strain of smooths with terribly soft flannelly coats. Good-looking terriers were produced, and therein lay the danger, but their coats were as bad as bad could be; and, though people were at first too p.r.o.ne to look over this very serious fault, they now seem to have recovered their senses, and thus, although much harm was done, any serious damage has been averted.

If a person has a full-coated wire-hair b.i.t.c.h he is too apt to put her to a smooth simply because it is a smooth, whom he thinks will neutralise the length of his b.i.t.c.h's jacket, but this is absolute heresy, and must not be done unless the smooth has the very hardest of hair on him. If it is done, the result is too horrible for words: you get an elongated, smooth, full coat as soft as cotton wool, and sometimes as silkily wavy as a lady's hair. This is not a coat for any terrier to possess, and it is not a wire-hair terrier's coat, which ought to be a hard, crinkly, peculiar-looking broken coat on top, with a dense undercoat underneath, and must never be mistakable for an elongated smooth terrier's coat, which can never at any time be a protection from wind, water, or dirt, and is, in reality, the reverse.

The wire-hair has had a great advertis.e.m.e.nt, for better or worse, in the extraordinarily prominent way he has been mentioned in connection with "faking" and tr.i.m.m.i.n.g. Columns have been written on this subject, speeches of inordinate length have been delivered, motions and resolutions have been carried, rules have been promulgated, etc., etc., and the one dog mentioned throughout in connection with all of them has been our poor old, much maligned wire-hair. He has been the scapegoat, the subject of all this brilliancy and eloquence, and were he capable of understanding the language of the human, we may feel sure much amus.e.m.e.nt would be his.

There are several breeds that are more trimmed than the wire-hair, and that might well be quoted before him in this connection. There is a vast difference between legitimate tr.i.m.m.i.n.g, and what is called "faking." All dogs with long or wire-hair or rough coats naturally require more attention, and more grooming than those with short smooth coats. For the purposes of health and cleanliness it is absolutely necessary that such animals should be frequently well groomed. There is no necessity, given a wire-hair with a good and proper coat, to use anything but an ordinary close-toothed comb, a good hard brush, and an occasional removal of long old hairs on the head, ears, neck, legs, and belly, with the finger and thumb. The Kennel Club regulations for the preparation of dogs for exhibition are perfectly clear on this subject, and are worded most properly. They say that a dog "shall be disqualified if any part of his coat or hair has been cut, clipped, singed, or rasped down by any substance, or if any of the new or fast coat has been removed by pulling or plucking in any manner," and that "no comb shall be used which has a cutting or rasping edge." There is no law, therefore, against the removal of old coat by finger and thumb, and anyone who keeps long-haired dogs knows that it is essential to the dog's health that there should be none.

It is in fact most necessary in certain cases, at certain times, to pull old coat out in this way. Several terriers with good coats are apt to grow long hair very thickly round the neck and ears, and unless this is removed when it gets old, the neck and ears are liable to become infested with objectionable little slate-coloured nits, which will never be found as long as the coat is kept down when necessary.

b.i.t.c.hes in whelp and after whelping, although ordinarily good-coated, seem to go all wrong in their coats unless properly attended to in this way, and here again, if you wish to keep your b.i.t.c.h free from skin trouble, it is a necessity, in those cases which need it, to use finger and thumb.

If the old hair is pulled out only when it is old, there is no difficulty about it, and no hurt whatever is occasioned to the dog, who does not in reality object at all. If, however, new or fast coat is pulled out it not only hurts the dog but it is also a very foolish thing to do, and the person guilty of such a thing fully merits disqualification.

Most of the nonsense that is heard about tr.i.m.m.i.n.g emanates, of course, from the ignoramus; the knife, he says, is used on them all, a sharp razor is run over their coats, they are singed, they are cut, they are rasped (the latter is the favourite term). Anything like such a sweeping condemnation is quite inaccurate and most unfair. It is impossible to cut a hair without being detected by a good judge, and very few people ever do any such thing, at any rate for some months before the terrier is exhibited, for if they do, they know they are bound to be discovered, and, as a fact, are.

When the soft-coated dogs are clipped they are operated on, say, two or three months before they are wanted, and the hair gets a chance to grow, but even then it is easily discernible, and anyone who, like the writer, has any experience of clipping dogs in order to cure them of that awful disease, follicular mange, knows what a sight the animal is when he grows his coat, and how terribly unnatural he looks.

The wire-hair has never been in better state than he is to-day; he is, generally speaking, far ahead of his predecessors of twenty-five years ago, not only from a show point of view, but also in working qualities. One has only to compare the old portraits of specimens of the variety with dogs of the present day to see this. A good many individual specimens of excellent merit, it is true, there were, but they do not seem to have been immortalised in this way. The portraits of those we do see are mostly representations of awful-looking brutes, as bad in shoulders, and light of bone, as they could be; they appear also to have had very soft coats, somewhat akin to that we see on a Pomeranian nowadays, though it is true this latter fault may have been that of the artist, or probably amplified by him.

Perhaps the strongest kennel of wire-hairs that has existed was that owned a good many years ago by Messrs. Maxwell and Ca.s.sell. Several champions were in the kennel at the same time, and they were a sorty lot of nice size, and won prizes all over the country. Jack Frost, Jacks Again, Liffey, Barton Wonder, Barton Marvel, and several other good ones, were inmates of this kennel, the two latter especially being high-cla.s.s terriers, which at one time were owned by Sir H.

de Trafford. Barton Marvel was a very beautiful b.i.t.c.h, and probably the best of those named above, though Barton Wonder was frequently put above her. Sir H. de Trafford had for years a very good kennel of the variety, and at that time was probably the biggest and best buyer.

Mr. Carrick, of Carlisle, was also a prominent owner years ago, and showed some excellent terriers, the best being Carlisle Tack, Trick, and Tyro. The latter was an exceptionally good dog.

Mr. Sam Hill, of Sheffield, had also a strong kennel, always well shown by George Porter, who is now, and has been for some years, in America, where he still follows his old love. Mr. Hill's name will ever be a.s.sociated with that of his great dog Meersbrook Bristles, who has undoubtedly done the breed a great amount of good. Mr. Mayhew is another old fancier, who nearly always showed a good one. Mr.

Mayhew has been in America now for many years. One dog of his, who it is believed became a champion, viz. Brittle, did at one time a big business at stud, perhaps not to the advantage of the breed, for he was possessed of a very bad fault, in that he had what was called a topknot ring, a bunch of soft silky hairs on his forehead, an unfailing sign of a soft coat all over, and a thing which breeders should studiously avoid. This topknot was at one time more prevalent than it is now. Whether it is a coincidence or not one cannot say, but it is a fact that in the writer's experience several terriers possessed of this fault have also blue markings, which again are almost invariably accompanied by a soft coat, and taking these two peculiarities together it would seem that at some time, years ago, a cross with that wonderfully game but exceedingly soft-coated terrier, the Bedlington, may have been resorted to, though if so it would appear that nowadays any effect of it is gradually dying out.

Mr. George Raper is one of the old fanciers who has for many years owned some of the best specimens of the variety, Ch. Go Bang perhaps being the most notable. Go Bang was a beautiful terrier; there was no denying his quality. Mr. Raper sold him to Mr. G. M. Carnochan, of New York, for something like P500, probably the biggest price that has ever been paid for any Fox-terrier. Mr. Hayward Field is another gentleman who has been exhibiting the breed for very many years, and has owned several good terriers. The late Mr. Clear had also at one time a strong kennel, the best of which by a long way was Ch. Jack St. Leger.

Mr. Wharton was a well-known exhibitor and judge some time back. It was he who owned that excellent little terrier Ch. Bushey Broom, who created quite a furore when first exhibited at the Westminster Aquarium.