The Wire-haired Fox Terrier. 155 



nose, and a hard close coat, than I would one with a 

 black nose and a soft coat. Indeed, there is a 

 belief in some quarters that the red-nosed dogs 

 have keener olfactory organs than have those 

 with black nostrils. I think, too, that, however 

 little the dog is undershot, he ought to be dis- 

 qualified, and one much overshot or " pig-jawed " 

 should likewise be placed at a disadvantage. How- 

 ever, it is to be supposed that descriptions of dogs, 

 like the animals themselves, can never be perfect to 

 all alike, and one honest judge's opinion is pretty 

 much as good as another honest judge's, if the 

 public can only be brought to believe so. 



It is no more than human nature that there is 

 difference of opinion as to the merits or otherwise of 

 a terrier. That which may be considered an almost 

 fatal fault by one person, by another may be thought 

 of little detriment. Some judges men, too, who 

 bear a deservedly high reputation as such, will put a 

 terrier out of the prize list if it be even a trifle 

 crooked on his fore legs or slightly heavy at the 

 shoulders ; whilst another dog, narrow behind and 

 weak in loins, to my idea a far more serious failing, 

 is considered pretty well all right so long as its fore 

 legs are as straight as arrows. As a fact, there are 

 judges who have recently gone to extremes in 

 awarding honours to these so-called " narrow- 



