THE KENNEL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17181, 26 October 1923, Page 4

THE KENNEL.

BY

"GREYHOUND.”

Mr F. Wessly’s Pomeranian Farnworth Lassie is rearing two black pups by Carnavon Wee Karo. Tho entry of dogs for the annual show of the Canterbury* Kennel Club to be held next month is large and the 6fow should prove one of the most successful vet held by the clubMr FT. G. Cook, of St Albans, has two litters of Sydney Silky Terriers, nnn ! eing a brace of dog pups by < bummie ex Edgewar© Tui and the other a litter of two. a dog and a bitch, from Edgeware Trixie by Edgeware daggers, her kennel mate. It is said that a judge of a dog. like the judge of a horse, is born, not made. A judge who gets catalogue information from n ring steward should be disqualified. No catalogue should be allowed in the ring during judging. No officials, especially ring stewards, should handle a dorr xvliile in the ring. A judge should be chosen for his integrity and abilityTHE POMERANIAN. Long before the Pomeranian was known in Great Britain, he was to be found in Germany, where, however, he was termed the to be a national breed. The title of Pomeranian is not admitted by them at all. In Italy this little dog is found am! known as the Volpino, in France as the Lulu, in Belgium under the name of Keesliond. Herr Knr! Wilfsholz in his work. Derdeutsche Spitz in Wort and Bild,” states that the remains oi' the Wolf spitz hav© been found in great number in the caves of Germany, and in lake dwellings in Switzerland and North Ttaly : and this statement is borne out. bv Albert Kull. That a variety of Spitz or Pomeranian was to be found in Italy has been borne out by travellers to that country. The peculiarity abotit them being that they are mostly of a bright yellow or orange colour - the now favourite shade. Ouida in her little book. “ Ruffino,” says. “ Rome was his birthplace, but he had never been able to comprehend how his race with their double coat of long hair and short hair underneath ever became natives of a hot country like Italy, yet it was quite certain that natives there had been for a vast number of centuries, and had been even cruelly honoured by being sacrificed to Flora in the remote days of the old Latin gods.” Dr Keller, in his “ Lake Dwellings,” regards the first century of the Christian era as the date when the Swiss dwellings ceased to bo occupied. If that is so, and if the remains were found in these dwellings, tho statements of Ouida as to tho antiquity of the Pomeranian becomes possible- In tho street of tombs at Athens there is a representation of a little Spitz prancing up to a wee girl, and which bears the date, said to be equivalent to 56 8.C., and in tho British Museum there is to be seen an ancient iar of Greek workmanship, upon which is engraved a small dog of Pomeranian type at the feet of a horse. The date signifies that it is a treasure of the second century B.C. It lias been finally aeAspted that, without a doubt, the Pomeranian owes his origin to tho arctic breed. His similarity of our big white dogs to the Samoyed is too marked to be purely accidental. His advent into England is ot comparatively late years. It is found that in 1870 he was practically unknown. Even in 18S1 his progress towards popularity was slow, ns at a kennel club show only fifteen dogs wore benched. These were of a larger leggier and looser build than the Pomeranian of to-day. In 1890,. instead of a natural increase in entries, the kennel club show catalogue showed a waning. r,o entries having been received. .lust about this time fickle fancy de creed a change in fashions and an impetus was given to the breed, and in 1893 at the toy dog show 38 dogs entered. under Mr Theo Mar pies, showing that the breed was coming into favour, while in 1905 at the Kennel Club show 125 dogs v.-ero beenched, and 124 at the Toy Dog Club show in the same year. ' This rapid bid for popularity has been

equalled only by the Pekingese, which now outshines his rival in England. The first club catering exclusively for the Pomeranian was founded in February, 1891, at the Agricultural Hall during u Cruft’s’ show. At the first meeting of the club Miss Hamilton, of Batb. uhe proud owner of the well-known Roz-elle strain, was appointed president. By rhe way, it should be noted hero that this lady, since deceased, was cousin to his Honor, Judge H. Montgomerie Hamilton, the esteemed president of the Kennel Association, patron of the General Dog Fanciers’ Club and vicepresident of various other clubs. Miss Hamilton held her position in tho dog world for many years. Theo Marples was appointed to the post of secretary, which position he filled for three years. ! The first publication dealing with this perky little dog, published by the club, appeared in 1892. It dealt with the ©standard was then lrawn up and included the scale of points and the club’s rules. The weights were divided into 81b and over and under 81b. Four championships were granted by the Kennel Club, one for each of the sexes in both weights. In 1908, however, much to tho consternation of the fanciers, the rule granting the awarding of challenges was revised, and two only given, irrespective of size. The various clubs as well as fanciers made frequent appeals and after a tiipe were successful, as the English Kennel Club agreed to the amending of the rule and ! the awarding of four challenges—two in over and two in under weight. This was probably due to tlidl fact that, notwithstanding all arguments to the contrary, the well-developed bitch, say, about 61b to 81b, were found to be absolutely imperative from the breed’s point of view and for the purpose of perpetuating the breed. And it is from such specimens that the best of our 6mall stock is produced. At about this time a revision in the rules as drawn up the club was found necessary, for where the coat had been described as being of a silky texture, the word glossy was found to better answer the requirements. And the frill was described as lieing ‘ ‘ long, straight, glossy.” Such a description would necessarily lead one to believe the coat to be “ hard ” in texture, this harshness being a very important essential as no matter how dense the soft wooly undercoat may be, if the top coat has not the required harshness, the coat must fail and to lose the stand-off appearance is to rob the Pomerarian of one of his principal characteristics.

Another alteration necessary to the first standard was the “ shape of head ” and “eye.” The large lul eye was set down as correct in the early standard, also the round apple head and stop, all three characteristics being nowconsidered so objectionable. The .larger dogs excelled in head properties, and were infinitely better in this respect than the miniatures, which were mostly full in eye and round of skull, leaving the ears set lown and showing too much skull space. The ears require to be closely set, to stand erect, and to give that alert, foxy appearance. A nicely-wedged head with little or no stop, showing no lippines3, with teeth level arc marked characteristics. Recently it has been found that the English Kennel Club has again limited the challenges to two, which is th© number at present given at shows. Considerable effort has been made to have the number increased, the argument vised being that, owing to the vogue for the diminutive type, the breed, has , and is deteriorating.