THE KENNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3495, 1 March 1921, Page 20

THE KENNEL.

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TERROR.

Fanciers anfl breeders of dogs are cordially Invited to contribute to this column. "Terror”' will endeavour to make this department as interesting and up-fco-dats as possible, but in order to do this he must have the 00-operatton of his readers, henc6 ha trusts this invitation will b« oheeriuila responded to. The wire-haired fox terrier reported sold by hlr J. Drurie, Christchurch, to Mr Aitcheson was sold to Mr Gibson. Mr J. Fleming, Dunedin, has sent his coloured cocker bitch by' Maismore Prince ex Sylvan Spangle on a stud visit to Mr S. C. Crisp’s (Christchurch) Vogel Gunner. By the way, this dog is siring really good colours. Mr R. T. Hodgson’s Irish terrier bitch Conagher Clonburno is now heavy in whelp to his young Ch. Professor dog Conagher Athenry. Mr J. R. Williams has disposed of one of his English setter bitches to a North Island fancier. She was sent north after the Otago Kennel Club’s Show.. Ashmont says: —“There is no difficulty in fixing the time at which the education of a puppy should commence, for a pi .non of intelligence can always detect when the little one is capable of reasoning. This stage reached, he should be subjected to salutary restraint and prevented if possible from acquiring bad habits. Moreover, every time he falls very far from grace he should be at once corrected for it. The reader must not assume from this that rigid propriety is to be enforced or severe punishment. inflicted for every' breach. The idea desired to convey is that precisely the same methods of restraint and correction—and no more exacting—should be employed with pirn that u, vise parent would, employ with

her child while yet it was strong in impulses but poor in will power. In a word, let the first treatment which is administered to a puppy be much the same as that which reason tells is right and proper for a child between one and two years of age.” tiome dogs persist in tire bad habit of demonstrating their affection by their foreleet—an act which, of course, no person neatly dressed cun tolerate. In “Modern Training and Handling” Air Waters says: —■ “When the puppy places his forefeet upon tile person grasp a foot gently but firmly in each hand, speaking to him in the blandest tones and the choicest pet phrases, the manner bein" the perfection of kindness, at the same time stepping on his hind feet iust hard enough to pinch them. He will soon endeavour to break away, notwithstanding the kindness of manner; but the punishment should be continued a few moments before releasing him. Soon thereafter call him up and repeat the lesson. Usually two or three of these simple lessons are ample. He cannot then be induced to put his feet on tire person. Occasionally, at long intervals, he may forget himself for a moment, but the slightest reminder adjusts him to instant correctness.’’ Rawdon B. Lee, writing of the bull terrier, says:—“There is no doubt that the original bull terrier was a cross between an ordinary kind of terrier and the bulldog, and some of the largest specimens had a touch of the mastiff thrown in. He had beep bred for fighting or for killing rats, and long before the era of canine exhibtions some of the rougher so-called sporting men in London and in the Midlands, of which Birmingham may be taken as the metropolis, had strains of more or less celebrity. The dogs that fought with Wombell’s lions at Warwick in 1825 were large bull terriers, and not bulldogs, as stated in the journals of that day, and the fighting dogs of the time and now (for this brutal sport is still followed in many places) were and are bull terriers. The popularity of the bull terrier was established fairlv enough, and before the era of the fashionable and comely fox terrier he was, no doubt, the dog of his day. _ He could he obtained of any weight ranging between 41b and 551 b, and. although in some places he had a reputation for pugnacity, this was more due to his surroundings than otherwise, though those dogs trained to fight in the ring were as savage as savage could be. The typical dog of Bill Svkes, the typical burglar-ruffian, was a bull terrier, a thick, heavy-headed creature, with bandy legs, a patch on his eye, and one or two on his body. ‘William’ did not like him all white; a pure dog in colour and reputation would be out of place in such company, and perhaps for this reason the more respectable and peaceful members of society, with a fondess for a ‘game terrier,’ preferred the entirely white dog; hence its popularity, and possibly the reason why only such came to be looked upon as the genuine article. Still, there were others which obtained a better education than the pugilist could give, and they were useful os companions and ns watch dogs.” According to the English Bull Terrier dub standard the dog should be white, but a patched fawn or hr in rile marked need not he discarded. The weight is from 151 b to 50! b.