The Fox Terrier. 103 



disqualification weighed anything between i lib. and 

 3olb., and had his tail docked, he was called a fox 

 terrier, and sold as such. He had a pedigree 

 made for the occasion perhaps. And if his ears 

 were too big, they could be sliced down, as they 

 sometimes were, and if they stood up erect instead 

 of dropping, they could be cut underneath, and often 

 were, and made to hang in the orthodox fashion. 



The British public had not then learned to 

 distinguish between one dog and another, long 

 heads, straight legs, round feet, and other important 

 essentials were considered secondary considerations 

 when placed against an evenly-marked " black and 

 tan " head " tortoiseshell headed " a clerical friend 

 called my little terrier, and he thought he had made 

 a good joke, too. With the multitude came, for 

 once at least, wisdom ; the youngsters studied from 

 their elders, hob-nobbed with fanciers, and so by 

 degrees obtained an inkling as to the requirement 

 and appearance of a perfect terrier, or one as nearly 

 perfect as possible. Any kind of rubbish almost 

 could have been palmed off as the genuine article 

 twenty-five years since ; but a difference prevails 

 now. 



Go to a dog show to-morrow, and eighteen out of 

 every twenty persons you meet (ladies of course 

 excepted) will argue with you as to the relative 



