406 British Dogs. 



an inch or more. The feather on the tail, which is cut to a length of 

 about three and a half or four inches, should be silky, and from five to 

 six inches in length, constituting a marked " flag " of a square shape. 



In size, both breeds vary from 51b. to lOlb. in weight ; the smaller the 

 better, if otherwise well proportioned. 



CHAPTER IV. THE PUG. 



BY CORSINCON. 



I AM relieved from the necessity of following in the footsteps of every 

 writer on pugs since the issue of " Stonehenge's" work in 1859. One 

 and all of them have informed their readers that twenty, twenty-five, 

 or thirty years ago according to the date of their writing the pug dog 

 was exceedingly scarce, and indeed all but lost. There is no need to 

 lament any such scarcity now. As soon as the tide of fashion turned 

 and again set in for pugs the creation of the supply commenced, and 

 now, like so many others, the pug market is over-stocked, and every- 

 where in town and country these animals swarm. 



"Idstone," writing in 1872, hazards the opinion, or rather expresses 

 a doubt, whether we could produce half a dozen specimens equal to 

 what existed a century ago. I should say "Idstone" undervalued 

 the pugs of the day when he penned the remarks quoted, and ever 

 since there have been dozens of first class pug dogs shown, and there 

 are and always have been a very much greater number in private 

 hands which are never exhibited. There are, however, still too few 

 good ones, an immense quantity of mediocre ones, and a super- 

 abundance of weeds. The fact is dog shows have given a tremendous 

 impetus to breeding. Very few who take up dog breeding as a sort 

 of "hobby that can be made to pay" seem to have any idea that 

 there are certain laws of breeding which must be followed if success 

 is to be attained, and that, together with the exercise of a grasping 

 spirit which will turn every pup, however worthless, into coin of the 



