THE IRISH TERRIER 475 



"I fear some of our English friends are rather inclined to like a 

 type of Irish Terrier that we Irish do not consider quite the correct 

 one I mean the small, short-backed dog, with not enough coat, 

 and lacking to a great extent the ' racing build.' I have no hesita- 

 tion in saying, if this idea is persisted in, we shall have breeders 

 breeding for Fashion, and Fashion's sake, rather than the correct 

 and recognised type." 



It was a humane feeling that prompted the Kennel Club to 

 abolish cropping, or, rather, to exclude dogs so mutilated from shows 

 held under its Rules. It was the first nail driven into the coffin of 

 a senseless and cruel prac^ce, now happily relegated to the limbo 



FIG. 99. MR. C. J. BARNETT'S IRISH TERRIER CHAMPION 

 BREDA MUDDLER. 



of forgotten absurdities. Fancy a cropped Terrier poking his head 

 into a rabbit's hole ; he would be certain to get his ears full of sand 

 and dirt. Again, in working gorse, hedgerows, or long grass in 

 wet weather, his poor ears would be sure to get full of water, when 

 ear canker and premature deafness would probably result. The 

 flaps of the ears act as natural protectors for such delicate 

 structures, and in the past the removal of portions of the ears has 

 ruined many a good dog. The cropping was not usually done until 

 the dogs were a year old, and the pain the poor brutes had to 

 endure, until the ears had healed, may be better imagined than 

 described. 



Some years ago nearly all the Irish Terriers one saw in Ireland 

 had their ears cut off. They could hardly be described as cropped, 



