YHE SKYE TERRIER $09 



breeds of dogs I think we are, to use the favourite expression, im- 

 proving them in the wrong direction. Those who keep animals for 

 their utility and not for their beauty study their requirements. So 

 it is that we find in the island of Skye a different dog from that on 

 the mainland, where the dogs are kept as pets. Scottish Terriers are 

 called Skye Terriers in many parts of the island, and it might be 

 said with some show of reason that they were the original Terriers 

 of the island. 



Much confusion has been caused by the nomenclature adopted 

 by the different families, who, when selling or giving away dogs, 

 used the name of the strain instead of that of the breed, and it was 

 difficult for those who did not know the breeds to say whether they 

 had a Scottish Terrier or a Skye Terrier. Here, as in most other 

 things, it was the least informed that made the most noise, and a 

 man who gets a dog from the island, and is told that it is the pure 

 article, will pose as an authority upon the breed, although it might 

 turn out that the specimen he had got was a mongrel. If those 

 who denounce the Skye Terrier wish to convince the public that 

 there is another dog that has a better right to the name, why not get 

 a class for working Skye Terriers ? 



We are assured that foreign blood has been infused into the 

 show breed, and that such dogs have been contaminated somewhere ; 

 but what the infusion has been I have never seen stated. I do not 

 think that any cross was required to bring out the points of the 

 present show dog ; nor, in my opinion, has there been any admixture 

 of foreign blood. Statements of the kind unsupported by proof are 

 of no value. The long-haired dog is no new creation, for Johannis 

 Caius, in his book published in 1576, mentions a breed 'which by 

 reason of the length of their heare, make showe neither of face nor 

 of body,' which might be the ancestors of our show Skye Terrier. 

 But for the sake of argument, suppose we allow that the present 

 show dog is a usurper so far as the name is concerned, that cannot 

 affect it as a breed, which, it will be agreed, is now well known and 

 thoroughly established, and which under any other name would 

 bite as quick. 



I am of the opinion, and I have been all along, that the show 

 Skye fanciers laid themselves open to censure when they claimed for 

 their dog the title of a working dog. He is nothing of the kind, 

 and never was. He may be, and no doubt is, capable of hunting 

 and killing vermin ; but he has never been kept for that purpose. 

 As well might we say that the Collie, because he may be taught to 

 point and to carry, is a field dog. 



Skye Terriers as pets and companions are everything that one 

 could wish in a dog. They are not over-demonstrative, are peace- 

 ably inclined, and where a few are kept together, they do not 

 fight and destroy each other. They are more inclined to snap and 



