THE KENNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2735, 15 August 1906, Page 30

THE KENNEL.

Br Tebbox.

T»*ei«r« »».! kreedtr. of c*tt are cordl»ll» larltcd to ct». trikou Ue«i« U tkfi eoluas. " Terror " will e»d«»»»ur :• miM* klidtfirtacßt v iaMrt«Ua» and upl«-a»i» at tMiiible. kat la •rd«r t»4o tklt k* Bail k»»e tb<- c«-»»<M-»tlo» of kl« readen, keaoa ha trust! tku lutuml.u will be cktcrfulljr re«pon««d t. — The fox terriers Wakari Pride, Glendon Major, Chingford Nipper, and Waingawa Wix have returned from their visits to the North Island shows, looking none the worst for their trip. — Wakari Pride has been served by Glendon Major, and Mr Thomson's other bitcli by Double First, all in the same kennels. — Mr Webster's Waingawa Wix (smooth) has visited Chingford Nipper (rough). — All said and done, it will be seen that due preparation is made for terriers of the finest quality, and locally bred, to be ready for the'puppj classes o£ next year's show. —Mr W. Henderson (Forbury) has sold his Irish terrier puppy St. Denis to Miss Thomson, of Invercargill. The phenomenal entry of Irish terriers at the recent show has evidently attracted attention to th« breed. The pup in question is halfbrother to Mr Fuller's champion dog, and may yet be heard of. — "Another injustice to Ireland" was inflicted on her representative at the late Hawke's Bay Bhow at Napier, where the judge, Mr. Wark, sent the champion Irish terrier bitch Alta Melody out without a card. And yet this bitch, which is undoubtedly, tbc best of her sex in New Zea-

• land, had only the week previously won first under Mr Court Rice at the Dunedin show, first under Mr Clifford-Braxnah at Wellington last August, and 30 firsts and champion in Australia under different judges! The action of the judge in this matter must remain, like many others, a mystery. — Fanciers generally will regret to hear that Mtf W. Mills, of Skye terrier fame, has nad the, misfortune to lose his dog Jim, which during the week died from inflammation of the stomach, probably caused by swallowing a bone or some other foreign substance. The usual remedies were applied, but without avail. Jim was seven years old, and had to his credit numerous first prizes, besides specials, won throughout different parts of New Zealand. Jim had proved himself an efficient stud dog, whose loss will be felt by breeders of the variety. Mr Mills has already opened negotiations for the purchase of another good dog to fill, as far as possible, the void caused by the loss of his favourite. — The Wellington Kennel Club's schedule for their twentieth annual show is to hand. The show ie to be held on the 12th, 13th, and 14th September, and it is notified that entries close .on the Ist prox. Mr Court Rice has been engaged to judge all classes. —An arrangement notified in the schedule which I consider unsatisfactory is the fixing Of the classes for dogs and bitches alternately.'" This system will lead to endless confusion and loss of time. Take the case of smooth fox terriers, for instance. First maiden dogs, followed by maiden bitches ; then dog puppies, followed by bitch puppies, resulting in the leading in of maiden dogs and their subsequent tying up to allow the same process with the bitches : a process of continual tying and untying to be repeated in all classes. How much better it is done in Dunedin, where all dog classes follow consecutively, allowing all dogs to be judged in the various classes for which entered before being tied up again. Another thing I notice is that doge competing for challenges must be entered in the Open Class at a fee of ss. This is contrary to the spirit, and I believe to the letter, of the law of the New Zealand Kennel Clnb. Tho idea of challenges is that the best dog of its breed, puppies excepted, is entitled to be awarded a challenge certificate and a prize of £1 without any extra entrance fee, and need not be entered in the Open Class. It looks like compelling an entry for the Open. (See Rules 21 and 22, N.Z.K. Club Laws.) A pertinent inquiry to be made of the club is whether the stipulation "local bred" in fox terriers should not read "New Zea-land-bred," as in Irish terriers. As it appears to breeders in the south Wellington fox terrier fanciers are restricting competition in a manner suggesting lack o! that sportsmanlike spirit which their brethren of the Irish terrier fancy chow. —It seems . .strange how .some of the old breeds, of the dog have well-nigh departed—the English white terrier, for instance. Little is to, be found of him now, and as things go the possibilities are thai in two more generations he will have ceased to exist- The Kennel Club's stud books are evidence of his decline, the reasons for which are perhaps not difficult to divine. He was a delioate creature, and flourished during the era when ear-cutting was sanctioned by the doggy authorities, although not allowed by law. He was also subject to deafness, and generally proved more of a fancier's dog than a sportsman's. The latter attribute might have assisted as a show dog, but such has certainly riot been the case. His few admirers still consider him tho most desirable of all terriers as a companion, but even they believe much of his sprightly and smart appearance has departed xiow that he has to wear his ears intact. Lancashire and the northern counties were the homes of the English white terrier, and that at one time they were not difficult to produce in great perfection was in evidence from the beautiful specimens that were invariably to be seen at the Manchester and neighbouring shows. — About the same period the ordinary bull terrier flourished amazingly, and he, too, began to fall in public admiration when his ears ceased to be cropped. Still, these terriers never approached the lowly grade of their cousins above mentioned, and although difference of opinion existed, anJ still exists, as to the most appropriate carriage of ears, there have been good bull terriers since the days of the Madmans and the Victors. A lady officiated at a judge of bull terriers not long ago; a new club in their interests has been formed, whilst quite recently one or two of the north country exhibitions "have contained quite satisfactory classes of the variety ; still, nothing to equal such a gathering of the white dogs' as" was seen at Edinburgh in 1871, wlien there were 35 in the group, and not a bad one in the lot. The bull terrier can' "be made into a useful dog for the field. " He is a capital water dog, swimming "weTl^ and strongly ; he has admirers in India, who prefer him to all others as an aid to the gun and as a withstander of the climate, whilst as a companion he is faithfulness itself, and, kept in order, is not fonder of fighting than any other member of his race. If the fanciers of the large bull terrier, whilst retaining the reputation of their favourite breed, can conduce to tho reponularity of the smaller varieties of the family, they will accomplish something of which they may feel proud. — The English Field says : — Several attempts have been made within the past three or four years to reintroduce the smallsized bull terriers, once almost the commonest of all little dogs. As a fact, in the early days of dog- shows there wor* two sizes of these dogs acknowledged, the one being such as wore about 101b weight each, or less ; others up to 18lb or so. Of the latter, those a couple of pounds below the maximum wore the choicest, and of the former the smaller the better so long as their heads and faces were sufficiently long, and the round or apple-headed skull usually found in dwarfed specimens of the canine race was not apparent. At one time the president of the Kennel Club, the late Mr S E. Shirley, kept the best of the mediumsized dogs, perfect terriers in every respect, game and handsome, and hardy enoußh for anything. Such animals as Dick, Nelson, Rebel, and others that might be mentioned were matchless in their way, and that the strain has actually become extinot is to be deplored. There was a time when classes .were provided for them at the leading shows, but such were never so well filled as those for the more toy-like and diminutive bull terriers. At the exhibitions of about 40 years ago 30 or 40 were to be seen in one group; indeed, at one of the London shows in 1866 there were 32 bull terriers benched under 151b and 20 under 101b in weight. Ifc must be confessed that there were several distinct types

i to be found, some of which nearly api proached the English white terrier, . -whilst ; others were patched on one ear or cheek. I However, irregularity of type notwithstand- ; ing, few of these toy bull terriers are now i to be found, nor have their few admirers , been able of late to introduce anything very great in excellence at the few shows ■ where classes aje provided for them. Good i little dogs though they were, and still are, they have fallen victim's to the foreign invasion — spaniels from Asia and Pomeranians and Schipperkes from the continent of Europe, to say nothing about the comparatively recent popularisation of fox, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh terriers. There may be still a chance for the small-sized bull terrier, and the modern "dog maker" ought to take him in hand. — Two Kinds of Fox Terriers. — There are two varieties of the fox terrier — the smooth-coated and the wire-haired. Both have hosts of admirers, and, while the smooth has always been well to the front and a popular customer, the wire lan- , guished for a wliile in remote obscurity. Now, however, they, too, are rapidly gain* ing in popularity on this 6ide of the water, although it can hardly be expected that we shall produce here for a long time either the quantity or qu«lrfcy manifest at an important English chow. The early fox terriers seemed to have belonged to a somewhat nondescript group of small dogs known as "terriers." and were to be found of all colours — black and tan predominating. Some authorities have held that judicious crossing with the old white English terrier influenced the markings, and in this manner the white body was obtained. This is possible, but we know that some terriers existed, contemporaries of the black-and-ctns, of the colour now in vogue. While the type of the fox terrier has changed considerably during the past 25 years, it is a fact worth noting that several of the good ones shown in the 70's or thereabouts could still hold their own on the show bench. For instance, how many of the crscks of to-day could lower the colours of old Belgrave Joe? Of course we cannot make any positive statements regarding the type of fox terrier of the Elizab»than_penod, but we do know that in the middle of the last century a smaller stamp of dog than exists now was general. The present craze for abnormally long heads and the question of size have been causing a considerable amount of arguments and tongue wigging. In fact, there has been discussion on these too all-important subjects since the time that the smaller, thick-jet' terriers — those of true working dimensions — were superseded by those larger and or more slender appearance. — Outing. — How to Treat Dogs. — Dogs and all animals should be made as happy as possible, and as we. are their masters they are dependent on us for this. , Now doc« your dog look trim and well-groomed? Does he wag his tail with pleasure whenever he sees you?- Can. he upon you fcr seeing that he always has a bowl of clean <^ater where he can drink- it wheneytr he wishes? Ca.n he feel s_ure that you will take him for a run when you come home from school -or your wok? He ought to be able to expect all these things, or e!ee you are not the right sort of boy or girl to own a dog. No one should keep a tiog vho does not intend tadp h» best for him., and even make some little sacrifices for' his sake. Do you talk to your dosf, or do you think he is only m. dumb animal* and cannot understand our language? Well, I might ahnost aa well say you are dumb because you cannot speak do^ language. The truth is that we do not understand «.ach other's language as well ac we might, if we only took a little more pains to teach the dogs our words, and to study tVxsir expressions and looks. How do your brother baby and sister understand you, or you them, although they cannot yet talk? You find a way, do you not, of knowing what they want. So you should look upon dogs more like children, but children who never grow up. Just think, though, of the many things they can do better than we can. Your dog would beat you any day in a running or swimming competition. If you lost anything on the ground, who would find it soonest in the dark by the help of his nose — you or your dog? Very likely he hears a strange footstep more quickly than j you do, and many other things he can do quite as well as you, if not better. Mr I J. K. Jerome says: — "They are always j glad to see us They axe morry when we are glad, sober when we are solemn, and sad j when we are sorrowful. Here lam frisking ; around you, leaping, barking, ready for any amount of fun and mischief. What .•iiall it be? A romp in the drawing room, and never mind the furniture, or a scamper in the fresh.. cool air, a scud across the field and down -tho hill ! Or you'd like to be quiet and think? Very well. And if you are very' miserable, and all the world seems wrong/ your dog will look up at you with his big true eyes, and says with them, 'Well, you've always got me, you know. We'H go through the world together, and always stand by each other, won't we?' " ' Here is a man who can understand dog language, you see. — The Animals' Friend. — In Denmark and Belgium dogs are formally enrolled as part of the police force. Thus Ghent possesses 16 well-trained police dogs, mostly collies, which (the Stock- j keeper 6ays) can cleverly climb walls in i pursuit of a criminal, seize a fugitive by the nape of the neck when jpoth are swim- I niing across a. sheet of water, and generally ! achieve feats which the ordinary policeman is done well in about four months They are taugnt at first to practise on lay figrjfts, able tc the force, who use them, not only when some extraordinary case is being inquired into, or some dangerous criminal is being tracked, but regularly from 10 o'clock every nisjVt until 6 the following morning. It i« no easy task to thoroughly train one of these do#s, but it can be effected, and is done well in about four months. They arc; taught at first to practice on lay figures, which are made to look as nearly as possible like living persons, and are placed in such positions ac thieves and housebreakers &re most likely to be found in. The animal is set to seek for one of theso dummies, which is hidden away under a bed, behind a door or safe, or in some other refuge, and, having come upon it, is taught not to maltreat, but merely to hold ifc fast. This is the most difficult part of the training, .the temptation being strong, < almost irresistible, to drive its fangs deep into the yielding stuff. But in time the dog learns to cling to its prisoner, and, without actually harming him, to keep him fixed, as it were to the 6pot. —Mr A. Neal, Surrey (England), scncls the following letter to Our Dogs: — "My little boy caught a little rabbit about a week old, and I put it with a Sehipperke bitch, who reared it with her own three

* puppies. It wae-, wonderful . how she care'o for it. and licked it in thes x eame way afi the puppies. It is now about eight weeks old, and a great pet with us." — Dog shows ia England seem to bw much relished by Russian visitors. Th« Stockkeeper, in referring to this subject, says: — "Great success and beautiful weather attended Keele show, which is held in Keele Hall, the English residence of H.I.H. the Grand Duke Michael of Russia, who* was announced to open the exhibition. Punctually at 12.45 the band struck up th« Russian National Anthem, announcing- the Grand Duke's arrival, accompanied by th« Countess Torby. and the hou«o party, Prince Henry of Nassau, the Princess Marenberg. Baron and Baroness Stoeckl, the Countess Adda and others. In a f#w terse, weil-spoken sentences the Grand Duke welcomed the visitors, expressed his pleasure at being present, -wished the society everj success and declared the show open." — There is in preparation at Messrs Har- • riscn's. Brunswick street, Dublin, a modest tablet of marble, "which "will be erected over the grave of His Majesty the King'i favourite Irith terrier Jack, who died recently in that city. The stone bears this inscription, composed by the King him~ self: "H«re lies Jack, King Edward's favourite Irish Terrier, who only lived 12 hours after reaching his native land." Jack's place has been filled by another terrier of the same breed, but his- real place in the affections of his royal master twill not readily be supplied.