THE KENNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2661, 15 March 1905, Page 58

THE KENNEL.

Bt Tebeor. ,

[F«nalerß and treeaers of doj;« ore cordially in-ritei to contribute items to this column. "Terror ' will endea-rour to make bis department *s interesting ana cp-to date as possible, bull" order t» do thi» He most h»ve the co-ooerstion of his readers hence Tie trust! tiii* mvitatlou will be cheerfallj responded to. — Fox terrier men will have to look well to their laurels if they wieh the white jackets to ' continue to hold the pride of place amongst terriers which they have done for some considerable time past, as, besides the Irish terrier bitoh, mentioned in this '■ column in the issue for March 1 as having j arrived at Auckland ex Rangatira, another grand bitch of the breed has arrived in Wellington to the order of Messrs Janson and Clark. This bitoh is the well-known -Australian champion, Alta Melody, who, though only two years old, has already won 56, first and champion prizes, amongst which may be mentioned four firsts, three specials, and champion, V.P. and Kennel Club; three firsts, special, champion, Williamstown; four firsts, special, and champion, Kennel Club of New South "Wales (Sydney) ; two firsts and champion, Royal Agricultural) Melbourne, — all in 1803; first, Geelong; two firsts and champion, Ballarat ; two firsts, ' Castlemaine ; one first, Bendigo ; one first, Royal Agricultural show, Sydney — all in 1904. Ch Alta Melody was bred by Mr Griffin, Melbourne, and is by Blarney Grip - ex Alta Duohees, by oh Towers Lad (imp.) •ex Alta Diamond. Blarney Grip, by eh, Munster Grip ex Tower Lady (imp.), by oh Bolton Woods Mixer ex Crowgill Sheela. Ch Alta Melody is accompanied by three puppies, two dogs and one bitch, by Norine Sportsman, by eh Criterion. Surely this is quality enough to please the. most fastidious fancier of the breed of daredevils, and Messrs Janson and Clark are to be congratulated' on their plucky purchase. —Mr Bett, of this city, has one pup by th& last alliance of Wishaw Jock and Blush. ; It is\a slut, is now five months old, and is, though still puppyish, full of promise. True collie character and' action are most notice- - able7~"and apparently there will bo large , size in' the adult dog. She- is a nice square"built pup, and her colour is black, tan, and j ■white, with all white frill. ! — "Hotspur," of the Melbourne Leader, writes : —Recently I paid a visit to the Shetland collie kennels of Mr G. E. Andrew, of Ormond, in company with Mr Mark Gawen, the noted animal painter. Mr ' Gawen will be remembered, by many sportsmen and fanciers when he painted most of the equine heroes of the St. Albans stud. Since then he has spent several years in England and Scotland, where ho had a busy v time painting most of tbe best thoroughbreds in the Old Country. His fine picture of St. Simon is now hanging in the V.R.C. zooms, and many works from his brush adorn the walls of the Duke of Portland's beautiful home at Welbeck Abbey. When in Adelaide recently I was very much impressed with a bush fire scene painted by Mr Gawen. A mob of horses bolting from ■the fire makes the picture very effective. It hangs in the Stock Exchange. Mr Gawen is a lover of all animals. At Welbeck Abbey he was much attached to two collies owned by the Duke of Portland, and he ihad opportunities of seeing many of the best in England. He was greatly impressed •with Mr Andrew's collie Shetland Elsie, th& tricolor which I have always written^ so •highly of in these columns. Mr Gawen declares that this bitch would win in England, and he lingered round her kennel for a long time describing her points from tip to "toe in a manner which fired one's love for this beautiful breed up to concert pitch. Elsie is just the sort of collie which grows on the fancier of this breed. We saw the j veterans First Shot and Allan Breok, now in the sore and yellow leaf. The Ormond j collie fancier has not been breeding many of his favourites, but he talks of importing a. new sire. — Concerning St. Bernards, Mr W. L. - Rae recently wrote that the breed at th© • present day lacked expression and other characteristics possessed by old-time specimens. Mr Rawdon Lee, kennel editor of the Field, in the following notes, differs widely from Mr Rae : A pessimistic portion of the admirers of the St. Bernard have got it into their heads that of late years their favourite dog has been degenerating. This may be the case in a certain respect, but is far from being so on the whole. At the f resent moment there are more really good t. Bernards alive than has ever previously •been th© case in this country. By the •word "good" it is intended to convey that . they are so in the leading features and characteristics of their race — -size, massiveness, and dignity of expression. In the latter respect they excel, and although comparisons are sometimes bad, it must be said that even the immense Plinlimmon and the characteristic Sir Bedivere would fail so far as head properties are concerned, could they be placed alongside the many beautiful and dignified, at the same time enormous, animals that came from the kennels of the llate Dr Inman. The unfortunate part of *he matter is that these leading qualifications for St. Bernard excellence have not, at the same time, been supported by sound limbs in front and behind, the loins and lioeks being very often wofully deficient. Still, this appears to be the same with almost all dogs of unusual stature and weight, as can easily be seen by the examination of our mastiffs, Great Danes, and Irish wolfhounds. The huge bodies and great heads are too heavy for the limbs, «,nd thus the latter become shapeless and more or less distorted. Now that head, Expression, and size produce themselves fairly true to type, the St. Bernard admirer can give his attention to the production of better hindquarters and straighter forelegs. — The present attraction to doggy visitors to Leadsnhall market, London, is a great

Dane, measuring 35in at the shoulder. MiReuben Taylor, who has spent over 60 years in the market, says it is the tallest dog he has ever had on sale. As a rule the dogs on sale there are riot up to very much, although a good working terrier can generally bo found. In my youthful days, bull terriers and b'ack-aud-tans were all in rage, and "Reuben" did a good trade in good ratters and "lilcely-looking ones." The latter were bought for dog fights ; at that time numerous, but not much indulged in nowadays, at anyrate in London. — A wolf recently escaped from a show travelling in Cumberland, and caused great slaughter amongst sheep in the neighbourhood. A London daily paper suggested that some of the fine wolf-hounds, so much prized by society leaders, should be given an opportunity of showing their abilities. The wolf, after being at large for several weeks, was eventually run over and killed by an express train, so owners of wolfhounds lost their opportunity. — Thistle, the clever Welsh terrier, the property of Mr Godfrey T. Allen, of tho Wynnstay Arms Hotel, Llangollan, and the most successful ooUe-ctor for the local accident hospital, is ' dead. He was following his master, who was out driving with some friends the other evening, when an Irish terrier attacked him, chasing him under the wheels of the carriage, which passed over his neck, causing fatal injuries. Ke was well known by thousands of visitors to the town, and any stranger in the vicinity of his headquarters might count upon being solicited for a donation to his fund. No sooner would he receive a coin that he mado tracks for the hospital box, and would cleverly manipulate it into the slit, looking for a suitable acknowledgment in tho form of a piece of biscuit. In this manner Thistle collected 5000 pennies for the local institution. Hi-s akin is to be stuffed, and a suitable memorial erected.

— Not to bo behindhand, the Japs have organised an army of canine outpost soldiers and dogs for hospital work, which are said to be performing their work admirably. Many of these dogs are of the English hardy breeds, such as Airedale terriers, Scotch collies, etc.

— In reference to the recent statement made by a leading English politician, that German workmen's wages were so low that horse flesh is largely used as food in Germany for economical reason', it is interesting to note that during the last 12 months over 3000 dogs were passed by the inspectors at ths Berlin slaughterhoxise as being fit for the consumption of human beings. — The Standard.

— The adage as to a man's goose being a swan is particularly applicable to dogs, and even when the owner actually sees his animal beaten in the ring through the opinion of a competent judge he is seldom satisfied as to the justice of the decision. But if there are differences of opinion as to the general merits of a dog, they are even greater where his height is concerned — i.e., when the animal in question has any pretensions to abnormal altitude. Long ago, when the Rev. Gambier Bolton judged' at the first show held by the Great Dane Club at Barn Elms, and Captain Graham measured the immsr.se doors, it was almost amusing to find how hounds said to be 34in high at the shoulders dwindled down, under a carefully used standard measure, to less than 31in, and the biggest of all only just reached 33|in, this being the then wellknown dog Leal ; Cedric the Staxon, a remarkably handsome and shapely fawn dog, was half an inch leas. The tallest Dane reorided was, perhaps, one called Morro. a moderate specimen excepting in height, which was 34-in. and he scaled 1901b — an enormous weight for a dog of this variety. Some one or two Irish wolfhounds have exceeded this height, the young dog Lancior Mr Hood Wright measuring td 35in at the shoulder : Mr Angelo's puppy Gofch II wae 34in, a height equalled by Mr Trainor's Thuggum Thu. Of the tallest St. Bernards, Ben Alder, at 34-|in at the shoulders, may be given precedence, but some time ago an animal of the same variety in Sydney, New South Wales, was measured to be 36ain, but as his weight was but 1751b, he must hare been somewhat disproportionate. The talle-st dog probably eveseen in this country was a rather handsome animal from Thibet, which, at first the property of Mr Wilson, of Oxford street, went to Tring Park, and subsequently to the Paris Zoological Gardens. It was fully 36in high at the shoulders, and a handsome, pleasant dog when we saw him, but later his temper became violent, hence his being sent across to Paris. When these huge beasts are compared with the tiniest of toy terriers, not infrequently found of not more than 2^lb in weight, it seems impossible to believe that all varieties of the domestic dog have afc some period or other sprung from the same original stock. — Field. — Mrs Sparks: "Oh, that big dog isn't the one I lest and advertised for. My dog was a little fox terrier." Tommy Tradds: "Yes, ma'am ; your dog's inside of this, one." — The charge was one of keeping a dogwithout a license, and the defendant evinced a tendency to interrupt the evidence. He was sternly Inished, but eventually his turn came. The clerk of the court turned to him. "Do you wish the court to understand that you refuse to renew your dog license?" "Yes: but " "We want no 'buts.' You must renew the license, or you will be fined. You know it expired on January 1." "Yes ; but so did the- dog. Do I have to renew him. too?"