CHAPTER LXII 

 OTHER DIMINUTIVE TOY DOGS 



IT is not the worst feature in human nature that displays itself 

 in a liking for the little a disposition to care for and caress the 

 diminutive. Of course, there are giant minds that find no room 

 in their affections for trifles, and can stoop to deal with nothing 

 less than the fundamental laws and colossal forces of Nature ; and 

 yet of such Thackeray could write : 



How very weak the very wise, 

 How very small the very great are ! 



The diminutive animal appeals to us for help and protection, 

 and that touches one of the secret springs of action in the best 

 side of our nature, and is, probably, the foundation of our liking 

 for little pets. Indulgence in this natural tendency is excellent 

 in effect when properly regulated, but when excessive, or unwisely 

 directed, it is harmful alike to the person and the pet. It is 

 most to be condemned when wasted on abortive products, the result 

 of some infraction of Nature's laws. 



THE BLACK-AND-TAN TERRIER (MINIATURE) 



Three decades or so ago, and even less, a large proportion of 

 the Black-and-tan Toy Terriers (as they were then called) were 

 of the sort called by "fanciers" "apple-headed 'uns " that is, 

 round-skulled, and with prominent foreheads ; and this variety was 

 supposed to owe these features to a cross with the King Charles 

 Spaniel. Another variety, finer in the head, and generally showing 

 the wheel back and tucked-up flank of the Italian Greyhound, 

 owed its peculiar features to a cross with the last-named dog. Both 

 of these have now, however, given place to a much neater animal, 

 showing truer Terrier character being, in fact, a pocket edition 

 of the large Black-and-tan Terrier, dwarfed by constant selection of 

 the smallest and continued in-and-in breeding. 



This continued consanguineous breeding is not, however, an 

 unmixed good, and in some instances appears to have already been 



