THE KENNEL. Br Terror.

Otago Witness, Issue 2516, 4 June 1902, Page 50

THE KENNEL. Br Terror.

IFamcleri and breeder! of doss are cordially inrited to contrlkateitemi to tills column. "Terror ' will eu'deivour 10 m»ke ill department v interesting and up-to date us possible, but Id •r*w to do ill is be mint hare the co-ODcntlon or hl> reader*, fccnce *•« intfta tliii invitation will be cheerful] v responded CO.]

1 — The Arctic (Siberian) dogs sold by Mes3rs Park', Reynolds, and Co. last we«k Were well worth inspection by all true lovers of dogs. Three of them are pure white, (•with long, soft, silky hair, and conform to 'the description of a pure Siberian as given BJy Nahsen in his "Farthest North." In ■disposition Nonsen describes these dogs as Keing gentle and affectionate. It is now over two years sinoe a pack of 40 sledge dogs was landed on Stewart Island, and placed in Mr A. W. Traill's charge, and it is only after careful selection and the rejection of scores of pups that the owner hae succeeded in perfecting the type aimed at — viz., a pure Siberian without any Bign of the Russian collie or other cross, and now he can confidently state that no such dogs have hitherto been offered for sale in New Zealand. At the auction there was a very . large_ attendance of the public, and the biduing was energetic. The two dogs were sold at £5 10s and £4 7* 6d and the two sluts lit £4 17s 6d and £4 15s.

— The Kelpies advertised for sale at head '■of this column by Mr A. E. ivX'Leod, of Heronidale, N.S.W., can be relied upon as good /working sheep dogs, the breeder having made quite 'a name for himself and the strain he has developed. As an example of 'the quality of the Kelpie as against all , it may be mentioned that Biddy, ihe_J?.S."W. champion of 1901", is reported to ~"mv'<f started seven times, won four, twice Second, once third, beating, amongst others, jCoil, Wallace, Yarrie, Needle, Tweed, Bonnie and Donald ; she also has the record for lAustralia in publio, Hurdles, Maltese Cross, nnd Yard in seven minutes. Her work in Sydney is thus described by the Sydney ftlorning Herald, July 1, 1901:— "The Herinidale bitch then snowed some of the pleverest work ever seen on the ground, petting off the mark quickly she had her sheep past the poles and through the hurdles in-3£min. Two minutes later she drove through first half of the cross, and in eight minutes had done the other half. At the pen the red puppy astonished even the old jands with her knowledge of the game, fretting the sheep near the pen, she darted forward and retreated several times, and yarded the trio in beautiful style. Time. JLOmin. Biddy's grand performance received Ahe heartiest applause of the meeting." Mr 'J. Lilico, Box 184, Invercargill, may be applied to for further particulars. — Fanciers will be sorry to learn that Mr OR. Stanton has been unsuccessful in rearing the four pups which he had hopes of saving tfrom Mona's last< litter.

— Referring to the recent alterations in the Kennel Club rules. "Standard," of the Melbourne Weekly Times, writes:— The Kennel Club of England have recently made several alterations and additions to their rules which will certainly cause difference of opinion among fanciers. The first departure is the abolition of all limit weights in. cocker spaniels. For years past the limit •weight has been 251b, and now. „ after Sweeders have spent years in perfecting their htock up to that weight, they are confronted ■with a new rule under which dogs of all ■weights will be allowed to compete. For the next few years it may be expected that ■dogs of all sorts will be shown, and that ■uniformity of type and size, which has been the aim of all breeders of this useful variety, will be absent. Another alteration provides that no judge shall be allowed to officiate st a show at which he is an exhibitor. The shows in Great Britain are, of coarse, much (more extensive than thpy are h<*ro. and it lias been a rpgu'av practice to select judees "from the ranks of the exhibitors, thus saving expenses, besides "n«surin^ competent men as adjudicators. There is. of course. something to bo said ntjainst t^o nractice, "but I do nor. think that there is sufficient roa*>on for enforcing as stringent a rulp a» has •been adopted. It mnv pometimes hn'inc-n when a jv.npe is dngF at tho Fame show at which ho is jud^im; 'but in different cl.->ssp<-) that his attention vmy nof--bo given solely to the logs before him. and his j&iul nn it OOliwsuad to some extent

with iihoughts as to how his own exhibits are faring. But, apart from that, Ido not see where the necessity comes in for a change. In our list of judges for the Exhibition show, we have several fanciers who have large kennels, and it would, in my opinion, be unfair to debar those men from showing at the fixtures at which they will adjudicate. To do so would also result unfavourably to the interest* of the show, and entries would certainly suffer by the enforcement of the rule.