CHAPTER XXXVI 

 THE BULL-TERRIER 



FEW breeds of British dogs have passed through more troublous times 

 than the Bull-terrier, whose advancement in public favour has been 

 delayed by unknown circumstances. Indeed, it may almost be said 

 that had not the faithful few who have championed its cause 

 through thick and thin possessed a good deal of the indomitable 

 pluck associated with the variety, it would long since have succumbed. 

 In the first place, it must be remembered that the breed has had to 

 live down a very evil reputation a relic of those days when rat-pit 

 competitions, dog-fights, and badger-baits were common, and regarded 

 as sport not only by the low and the degraded, but by those, for 

 instance, whose higher education was being cared for by their Alma 

 Mater. What Oxford sporting undergrad. of half a century or so ago 

 had not heard of Luker's Bull-terriers, or Brakespeare's tubbed 

 badger that had to run the gauntlet of every Bull and other Terrier 

 with sufficient pluck to " face the music " and whose owner could rake 

 up the necessary piece of silver for the "entry"? Or, again, what 

 undergrad. of that period having what was then considered as the 

 true sporting tendencies had not heard of the famous exploits of 

 the riverside Bull-terrier Salter's Dan, a big white-and-fawn, that 

 was about as keen as mustard and a terror on rats and such-like 

 vermin provided by the St. Aldate's and other purveyors for the 

 delectation of undergrads. who "fancied their dogs a bit"? Still 

 more degrading and cruel were the dog-fights that took place in 

 many parts of the country between matched Bull-terriers. 



Then followed a somewhat better time for the Bull-terrier 

 namely, the dog-show era, when the fallow smut, the brindle, and even 

 the patched dog gradually gave way to the smart, white, active dog 

 that we know to-day. The evolution of the all-white dog with his 

 lengthier head and generally smarter framework we owe to the late 

 Mr. James Hinks, of Birmingham, whose sons still maintain the 

 repute for the breed that their father had gained. The troubles of 

 the Bull-terrier fancier did not, however, end with the dawning 

 of the dog-show era and the necessarily considerable increase in the 

 number of fanciers that followed. Being a fighting dog, the ears of 



