THE KENNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2862, 20 January 1909, Page 35

THE KENNEL.

By Terrob. F»noi«rt and breeder* of dogs are cordialiy inTit«d to contribute to this oolumn. " Terror " will •adesToor to make ibis department as interesting mnd up-to-date as possible, but in order to do this k* mutt -hare the co-operation of hi* readers, henc« he trusts this iaTltation -will be cheerfully raiponded to. „— It is reported that breeders of Pomeranians in the Old Country, incited to effort by the great popularity of the breed and the craze for different colour markings, have by studying the crossing of certain colours and watching results (quite irrespective of the Mendel ian theory, the principles of which have not knowingly been applied) discovered a basis, by which some colours can be produced at will, and as what will apply in the matter of colour to one breed of the canine species may be presumed to apply to all breeds, the knowledge obtained should be interesting to all doff fanciers. It has been found that an orange sire and a black or chocolate b>tch will produce a preponderance of 6ound chocolate puppies, without light ehadings, whilst a chocolate sire and orange or sable bitch will produce pure orange puppies. Orange, 6able, and blue parents seldom produce blue puppies, unless there is more blue behind, but \voi£ »able and blue

I parents will produce orange puppies. Blues originally came from blacks. —In reply to a correspondent I have to szy that I have seen many records of hj-brid ; fox dogs, but, as far as I can recollect, the only other dog hybrid creation I have road of was mentioned in the following letter to the editor of Our Dogs in March, 1905-: "Tho African Bulldog.— Sh-,— With reference to Leon, shown by my father in 1877, and described as an African buWog, I can possibly solve this question by telling you lhat thi-> dog was brought from South Africa by some French merchants, who sold him to my father. This dog was undoubtedly a hybrid, as he never barked, but uttered a suppressed sound, rather like a lion'& roar, anly. of course, nothing like >>o loud. He was examined by Professor Huvley, who pronounced him a cro.-s between a dog, probably a mastiff, and an African lion, as at the end of his tail ho had a furry growth, in which was a hard bone nail, the characteristic feature of the African lion. This, of course, may sound impossible to my readers, but Profe*-or Huxley was certain of it. Leon was a most dcc?ptive dog, as, although ho was- barely higher than a retriever at shoulder, ho weighed more than the heaviest St. Bernard then shown. My father -has still got his head adorning the wallo of his billiard room, and 1 am sure that if you really want this interesting subject more lucidly explained my father would be plea«ed to ei\o you all the information you de=ire — Hatfield, Herts., is sufficient to find him — and you will then know why he was called an African bulldog. When -fit he weighed 2251b — a bad customer to moct on a dark night. He could easily clear a wall 10ft high. I will leave further information to mv fathpr. — P. R. Bassett." — At the "Fox Terrier Club's annual meetin? en the 10th November last at Che]tonham (England) discussion took place on the subject of points awarded for coat in wire ho in rl fox terriers, an<l. on rh-e motion of Mr liapor, it was re.-=oJved that in futui'O The word "rough" be deleted f i om the scale and the word "wire" substituted, and that 5 points (>e taken from '"symmetry, size, and character* and added to "coat." In speaking to the motion Mr Raper said: " Xow that so many were up in arms against the faking and trimming of ccats, he considered the present a very opportune time for tackling the whole thing. He excused to a certain extent the grooming and trimming; what they had to consider wa« the 'ncrea.se whveh bad taken plaoo in the silky and woolly nature of the coat itself. He would go so far as to suggest that th-°v be a disqualification, and considered that if a batter class of coat could only be obtained, it would obviate to a very groat extent the necessity for what- had been described as 'faking- and 'over-trimming.' A wire-haired dog, as indeed any other variety, must •be dressed in the came careful manner that a show horse, a racehorse, or prize cattle must be prepared and groomed, and like they themselves were for that dinner; they would not care to see them s-at down at "that table to dinner in a, corduroy suit. Be considered the wiivhaired variety had "been a neglected quantity co far as that club was concerned, and he believed that, at one time an attempt was made to exterminate it altogether. Ho asked everyone present to assist in encouraging the true and real wire-haired fox terrier, and the first step to this was the improvement in ;ts coat. \lv Raper concluded by adding that it. only needed their hearty co-operation to brine: about, this improvement ,and if they would direct that judges pay more attention to coat in the future than they had done in the past, it would go a very long way towards improving the breed they had worked hard for «o many years." — " M. X. T." writes to the Madras Mail from Tumkur: — "I was surprised to find that from time to time mv four dosrs, two terriers and two halfbreds, were in the habit of killing snakes, in which my compound abounds : but this morning I was terrified to find they had attacked a huge black cobra. sft in length. The bigger of the two halfbreds, Tumbo, caugbt the reptile by the spine, and shook it backwards and forwards until no breath was left in it at all, and then the other doer, Rorv. followed up the encounter by taking hold of the head and «overin«r rh~ body in two. Both doors were covered with blood, and for the time I was afraid they had boon bitten badly: but no harm has come to them, I am glad to say." — Unusual interest is being control throughout Canada and America in the biggest dog race in the world, which takos piar-o in April next in Alaska. It i* the All-Ala*"«i Sweepstakes, worth IO.OOOdoI (ovor £2C00). It is nothing but the dog race in the drift* of thp diggings and tho bank* of the city, the lobbies of the hotels and the camps of the prospectors, in tho saloons and everywhere elsa. Diecu.>=ion may start on any subject, but will certainly finish up by talking about the dog raco, n' though it is <to long before it actually take? place. This race will attract dog toair.f from all parts of Alaska and the Yukon. There is a great amount of monoy in 6ight now, and the willingness of the miners to bet on thsir favourites makes it very interesting to every owner of a dog team. Training has commenced in earnost, and will be continued throughout the wintor. As much care and attention will be given to tho dogs destined to enter the racp as an Enerli^h owner gives to hw Dorbv candidate. It is probable that more than 20 toams will participate. Mon from Fairbanks and «everal othor Alaskan towns have intimated that they will cntor. and il they do the All-Alaska Sweepstakes, will bo participated in by teams represent ing all the large camps in the north. — Dohkell, Vancouver. — At Masterton the other day a m.»n left hie bicycle inside a fonoe. and told his doc to" watch it. Unfortunately, a lady had left her bicycle in the same spot, and ! when she went ' for it thp. dog went for her, and she fled. In va.in she called in the aid of a constable. The dog challeneed the officer of the law, and he advised the lady to wait till the owner of the faithful animal arrived and relieved the eitua- . tion. I —An application to the- Kenr.el Club cf Eng'and that Australian terriers be placed j en the register of the club was coneidrr-->d in November last, and it wa<? deckled that ' the number of dogs of the breed and owners in the country was too limited for the matter to be entertained at present. | , — Mr Fred H. Evans hon. secretary of the Biit:.=h Bulldog Club of Xcw Zealand, forwards the following report of the ipeciali-st lmltdcg judjres on dog~ judged by him at the Wellington Kennol Club'n .-how ia Ootabjw >„?t, adding that the club is in

a very flourishing condition at present, with indications of a -successful year: — "A. E. Nichole's Bromley Smasher is ccr f ainly one of the best bulldogs I have seen in the colonies, having an excellent bead, be>in,g good in ears, under jaw, and fore-face, and what I consider a strong pomt — a really good eye. His body might bp improved upon, as he is deficient in width in front, and requires more spring of rib ; but * these defects are la-rge'ly counterbalanced by his gee.l bone and k>iw>£j.s to g!ou:icl and gc-nsra! appearanc-5. "A. E. Walton'e Greenstone is a good allround dog, posse-sing as ho doos an enormous skull, great width cf client, geed bone, fair reach, ?nd well cut up loin. His under jaw is good, but I do isot like the long fore-face, and although the eyes are well pkced, they are net >he correct eyes for a bulldog, and I would have liked to have seen him straighter in the fore-legs. Honours are very even between this dog and Mr C. E. Cutts's Fheffie'd Pyhu*. This is a dog with a gcod head, cxeeption-al turn-tip of under jaw, can, and eye-> good, with plenty of loo3e skin and wrinkle. He has good bone, but could do with more fo- hu size. I would afco like to have seen him wider, with a better spring of rib which defect seems to oredominate in most of th.3 degs I saw. "Mr K. T. Taylor's Kilbirnie Conqueror is a mctst compact little deg, hsing low to ground, with gcod bono. short back, good re-ach. and the best shoulder placement of a-uy dog in the show, but unfortunately he" fail.™ badly in fore-face, otherwise ho might hays taken the much-coveted blue ribbon. "My next mention nw*t certainly be Mr E. C." Curts's Sheffield Boss. Considering his age, it wat hardly a fail- thing to expect him to compote in open claf.s, especially a<~, his condition was vary much against him a!*o: but "I oeirtainly consider he is your coming dog, and when fully developed I shall expect to hear great thing* of him. \lreatly for his age he has a grand skull, with good eyes, cars, and splamJ-d expression; and the> wor&L fault I can find with him is hi? tail, which again is 'S a very pievaler.t Zault with jour dogs. "Another dog I wa* plea^d with was Mr C H. Barton's Sirdar, who is a very compact, little dog. He is good all over head and front, but I do not like his hindquarters. This— is enc of rhe ca<=es where we begin to require weight limits like they have in England; anyway, his stock should keep his memory green for years to come. . "Mr P. M. Cameron s Bonny Molb is an attractive Little dog, his colour and appearance demanding attention, but he la deficient in under jaw and wants more bone, yet hi* stock may make a name if he be properly mated. "In bitches I consider ycu are very much behind, and few are worth serious mention. , , - "Mr J. Lowden'e Sheffield -Polly showed a good front, with fair bone, and. as she showed in the ring, gcod ears, fair eye olaoement, with good square skull, but shallow. "Mr R. Menzies« Glenleddi Beauty is a compact little bitch, with good expression and wrinkle, slightly pinched in face, and is very deficient in bone, but, probably mated with a heavy-boned dog, should be very useful to her owner.. "Mr E. C. Cutts's Sheffield Betty I expect to hear more of later on. Like her brother Boss, she has a good let cf making up to do. but her expression i 3 good, width great, vwmkle good, under jaw and layback, but is rather loner in body and flatei<led, which latter will greatly improve with age ; and later on, if she proves herself a breeder, should help greatly to improve the national breed in New Zealand. — Signed, A. W. Wilkixs."