40 THE BOSTON TERRIER 



noticed its workings in the human family, how 

 many children bear a stronger resemblance to 

 their grandparents, uncles, cousins, etc., than to 

 their parents, and in the lower order of animals, 

 and it seems to me in the Bostons especially, 

 this tendency to atavism, or throwing back to 

 some ancestor, in many cases quite remote, is 

 very pronounced, hence the necessity of a good 

 general knowledge of the pedigree and family 

 history of the dogs the breeder selects for his 

 foundation stock. A kennel cannot be built in 

 a day; it takes time, money, perseverance, and 

 a strict attention to detail to insure success. 



"Breed to the best," is a golden rule, but this 

 applies not only to the animals themselves, but 

 also in a far greater measure to the good general 

 qualities possessed by their ancestry. Far more 

 pregnant with good results would be the mating 

 of two good all-round specimens, lacking to a 

 considerable extent show points, but the prod- 

 ucts of two families known for their general 

 excellence for several generations, than the off- 

 spring would be of two noted prize winners of 

 uncertain ancestry, neither of which possessed 

 the inherent quality of being able to reproduce 

 themselves. It will be noted that very few first 

 prize winners had prize winning sires and dams. 

 The noted stud dogs of the past, "Buster," 

 "Sullivan's Punch," "Cracksman," "Hickey's 



