KENNEL NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 101, 31 March 1937, Page 7

KENNEL NOTES

THE SMOOTH FOX TERRIER. (By “Fancier.”) The smooth fox terrier has been called the gentleman of the terrier world ; he is an aristocrat in the sense that his lineage can be traced back to the middle of the nineteenth century, there being photographs of a dog called Jack which won prizes in the year 1862 and onwards. AVhatever the craze of the moment ho in dog- breeds, one always finds some old stalwarts and their smooth foxies. He is an ideal companion because lie is the right size for a house-dog; he is equally at home in town or country, mansion or flat; has a jacket that is easy to care for; is always ready to defend his master’s possessions; will stick up for himself against foes three or four times his size ; is gentle with children ; can deal with any number of rats; bolt a badger or lox, and will learn tricks more quickly than must breeds. One constant source of annoyance to smooth fox terrier breeders is the type of terrier mongrel often passed off to the layman. The result of this is that the public gets the wrong idea of the breed which, instead of being thought of as a dog of symmetry and beauty, is looked upon in many cases as a gutter-snipe. An idea of what should he bred for is given below: —The head should be long and lean; the average length of the head on a dog weighing 171 b to 181 b measured with calipers is from seven to eight inches. Ears must he small and V-shaped, a good rcachy neck, hut this should not be thick or in other words throaty. The feet should be small, with an appearance of standing right up on the toes. Shoulders should he long and sloping, well laid back and fine at the points. The chest and brisket should he deep but not broad. Tbe back should bo straight, short and strong and when looked along should have a level top. The tail should be sat on high and carried gaily, but a tail carried over the back is a bad fault. Hindquarters should be strong, with tbe thighs powerful, and when the dog walks lie should move with perfect freedom. The coat should be straight, fiat, and dense, a curly coat in a smooth dog must be avoided at all costs. 'The dog must present a generally gay, lively, and active appearance; bone and strength in a. small compass arc essentials, but this docs nob mean that he must be cloggy or in any way coarse—speed and endurance must be looked to as well as power, and the symmetry of the fox hound taken as a* model. The terrier must not be leggy, nor must he he too short on the leg. He should stand like a cleverly made hunter covering a lot ol ground, yet with a short back. It will then attain the highest degree of propelling power, together with the greatest length ot stride that is compatible with the length of its body. In 1872 the Fox Terrier Club was formed, and the names of the pillars of the breed are too numerous to mention, just a few of them being Messrs Harding-Cox, Dixon, and Vicarv ; after them came Her Grace the Duchess of Newcastle, Rev. Rosslyn Bruce, Neville Dawson, and Theo Marples to mention just a few. One of the boasts of the smooth foxie lover is that the bleed requires very little preparation and trimming for' showing, regular grooming being the main consideration. 'To anyone desiring a pal and a guard without thinking of breeding or exhibiting, tbe smooth fox terrier fills tlie bill, and may you get lots of joy from owning one. JOTTINGS. Mr I\. Mouldey states that bis blue roan cocker bitcli 4 inker Bell Bowdier has returned from a stud visit to Mrs Uaccv’s young dog Rival Bowdier. Miss Nathan reports the mating ol Moerungi -'liss Muflit her young wire bitch, to Milo Mercury. CRAFT’S SHOW. LABRADOR AS “BEST DOG.” Cruft’s Show took place in February at the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington, reports the London Times. Nearly 45UU dogs were exhibited. Two varieties preponderated in the main hail. Cockers made an entry of 813 and Labradors one of 710. Long rows of beautiful little spaniels in tneir variegated colours convinced one that they were still favourites, and the solid black of the Labradors, relieved with a fair percentage of yellows, could not tail to arrest the attention. Lady Howe’s black Labrador, eh Cheverell’s Ben of Banchory, was awarded the trophy for the best in the show. A son of her oh. lnglelon Ben, he is of fine Labrador character. The run-ner-up wa3 Mrs I’owys-Lybhc’s elkhound, Krcn ol the Hollow, a brother of her cli Gylfi of the Hollow. He is an attractive dog of high quality. A feature of the show was the new, or comparatively new, breeds that blend with the old. The actual novelties were Mrs Burn’s Basenjis and Mrs Phil Gray’s Rottweilers. The Basenjis are really attractive little dogs, the demand for which is likely to outrun the supply. The Rottweilers, already well known on the Continent, are of more homely .. mearanee, but they look sensible anil teachable, solid and dependable. Mine. J. Harper Trois Fontaines entered four ol the handsome Pyrenean Mountain dogs, and Mrs \V . S. Powell and other ladies showed some of the dainty little Chihuahuas from America, (lose by were a number of Boxers, German dogs that have much that is likeable about them. MOUNTAIN DOGS. BEAUTY AND IMPOSING SIZE. RENEWED POPULARITY. The kennel correspondent of the London Times writes: Pyrenean Mountain dogs, noble creatures of imposing size, some of them nearly as tall as a British St. Bernard. but not so massive, active and capable of walking a distance, white of coat relieved with slight lemon or hr indie markings, are being made more popular, both here and in America. Their beauty is enhanced by long, thick coats, which carry a. frill round the neck. • Some 25 years ago Lady Sybil Grant searched the Basque country for the most perfect specimens with which she could start avkennel. One of them was Milanolo Patou. The old peasant who sold him remarked: “He has only one fault —he is too beautiful.'’ Whenever these dogs appeared at shows they were the centre of attention, and one imagined that they would soon lieeome firmly established. Why they failed to attract supporters immediately is one of those things that could not he understood. Apart from being so handsome, they had those qualities of disposition that made them ideal companions.

Lady Sybil Grant’s dogs bail to disappear during the War, and now serious efforts are being made to revive the. breed by Mine. Harper Trois-Fon-taines, who lives at Moor Park, Northwood. Her Kop do Carcil is familiar at shows and she has others that have been imported from France.

In America the breed is gaining adherents' There they are known as the Great Pyrenees, and a handbook and history lias been edited by Mrs Francis V. Crane for the Great Pyrenees Club of America, which is a production altogether beyond the ambition of any of our own breed societies. Pound in leather and freely illustrated, it contains nearly 200 pages of informative letterpress. CMR V A NTFS’S MASTIF FS. Professor Will S. Monroe, the president, made a six months’ tour in Europe a year or two ago for the purpose of visiting kennels and making researches into the history of the dogs. Mr and Mrs Crane also came here last year on a. similar quest. One result of their inquiries has been to show that •Sir Walter Scott’s favourite deerhound Maida had a Pyrenean cross in him. In the early part of last century elforts were made to “improve” the deerhound by the use of cross-breeding, and in one direction at least a Pyrenean dog was brought in. That' the breed is of a very ancient derivation is a fact that is generally accepted. At one time they were known as Pyrenean mastiffs, which makes one wonder if they were the mastiffs mentioned by Cervantes in his “Exemplary Novels.” They' may have been, though there is no certainty about the matter, for we know that some of the English kings presented our mastiffs to Spanish monarchs. Cervantes’s mastiffs, however, were employed in guarding the flocks, which lias been the duty of the Pyreneans for manv centuries.