228 British Dogs. 



more than any other breed. If anyone has reared either a child or a 

 dog which fails to meet his approval, he should criticise his own 

 disposition and method of training to discover how the faults he 

 condemns have been acquired. As the only plausible objection that 

 has been advanced against the bulldog is its appearance, it is a 

 matter of surprise that bulldog breeders have not the good taste to 

 take the same pains to study the art of breeding for colour which they 

 take to produce the broad mouth, short face, and other points by which 

 the dog is judged. By so doing they would remove the prejudice im- 

 pressed on the admirers of other breeds by the pied specimens. The 

 colour is the most conspicuous point to a casual observer, and when a 

 bulldog is white and unevenly pied with brindled patches and a patch 

 over one eye and ear, and appears red and raw round its eyes, and 

 wherever its coat is thin, it is no wonder that fanciers of Pomeranians, 

 Italian greyhounds, and other breeds so diametrically opposed, should 

 decline to admit the bulldog's claim to beauty. But when of uniform 

 colour brindle, red, or fawn the bulldog is in many respects more 

 attractive than several other canine pets ; for example, the modern King 

 Charles spaniel, &c. ; and if its colour be whole and a " smut," like the 



pug whose 



Mouth was black as bulldog's at the stall, 



it is in every way to be preferred to that dog, being handsomer as well as 

 more useful, faithful, and intelligent. White animals have not generally 

 as strong constitutions as dark coloured ones, and are, therefore, much 

 more liable to disease. When bred together they frequently produce 

 "ricketty" or deaf whelps. 



"A Staffordshire Farmer," writing to a newspaper, said that he 

 has found from long experience that two good bulldogs always loose 

 in his yard do much more towards making his neighbours honest than 

 all the parson's preaching. Many writers often testify to the good 

 qualities of the bulldog in the "Field," "Bell's Life," &c. Meyrick 

 speaks most highly of it in his book. "Idstone" says, "The bull- 

 dog is the source of courage and perseverance. . . invigorates the 

 constitution and strengthens the nerves of certain breeds." " Stone- 

 henge," the highest modern authority on such matters, says, "The 

 bulldog is indisputably of British origin, and has never been permanently 

 introduced into any other country. ... If the brain is weighed with 



