5 o8 BRITISH DOGS 



excited, the proper position of the tail is a little below the level of 

 his back. The feather of it should be long but thin. The coat, 

 which has been already referred to, is composed of two distinct 

 qualities or kinds of hair an under coat of short, soft, woolly hair, 

 and an outer coat, which is long and hard in texture. It should lie 

 close to the dog, and be free from either wave or curl. A soft- 

 coated dog looks larger than he really is. One of the best ways of 

 judging a Skye is to wet him, and if he is made as he ought to be, 

 and has a correct coat upon him, he will look nearly as large when 

 wet as when dry, whereas if he wants substance, or has a bunchy or 

 soft coat, he will not appear half the size. 



The usual colours of Skyes are a slate-blue, and all the inter- 

 mediate shades between light silver-grey and black. Fawns still 

 crop up occasionally, but as they are not general favourites, they are 

 gradually becoming scarcer. Whatever the colour of the dog, the 

 muzzle, ears, and tip of tail should be black, and the head and legs 

 should always be as dark as the body. A lightish grey, with black 

 points, is, perhaps, the colour most fancied by the public, but 

 breeders prefer the darker colours, as there is a tendency with 

 Skyes to throw stock lighter than themselves." 



Before giving the points of the modern SkyeTerrier (Fig. 102), 

 we may very well glance at what the late Mr. Thomson Gray had to 

 say in an article that he contributed upon the breed in 1895 : 



" As its name implies, the Skye Terrier is a native of our western 

 islands, although it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a dog 

 of the type of, say, Champion Laird Duncan in any part of the island. 

 The Terrier of the island to which the term Skye is applied in the 

 same way as we might call a Dandie Dinmont Terrier a Border 

 Terrier, as he is most plentiful there, is the Scottish Terrier, and a 

 dog something between a Scottish and a Skye, with sometimes prick 

 and sometimes drop ears. These (what are called working Skyes) 

 are much smaller than the show Skye, which would be of no use for 

 the work to which these dogs are put on the island hunting the 

 fox from the cairns. Besides being smaller, they have a shorter and 

 harder coat, are not so long in body or so level in the back they 

 being somewhat arched over the loin as our best show dogs, but 

 otherwise there is very little difference. Any difference there may 

 be is chiefly in size and length of coat. The usual show-goer, who 

 knows little of such dogs and their work, would call them * weedy.' 

 By and-by it will be very difficult to tell what is the genuine article 

 in any breed of dog, as all are more or less changing' improving,' 

 it is popularly termed. 



In all our other varieties of domestic animals we have been 

 changing their outward forms, and improving the breed ; but in sorqe 



