194 Modern Dogs. 



appeared to have attained thirteen or fourteen years 

 ago, I am sorry to state that as an ordinary com- 

 panion he has not advanced in public favour ; and I 

 am sadly afraid that if some admirers of the breed 

 or variety do not soon come to the rescue, a useful, 

 hardy, and game terrier will be supplanted by a 

 more fashionable dog, which may not be better in 

 any respect. 



There was a time, and that not very long ago, 

 when the competition in the Bedlington terrier 

 classes at all our shows was much keener than it 

 is now. At Cruft's great exhibition held at the 

 Agricultural Hall, Islington, in March, 1894, w ^ n 

 four classes provided, there were but nine dogs 

 competing, not one of which was a really first-rate 

 specimens ; this was even a worse entry than that 

 alluded to on another page. It is seldom we see 

 terriers of this variety running in the streets at the 

 heels of their owners, yet they are quite as likely 

 animals for the house and as companions as either 

 the Airedale terrier or the Irish terrier, and are cer- 

 tainly more cleanly than the shorter legged terriers 

 of any of the Scottish strains. Perhaps their lack of 

 popularity is purely accidental, and their opportunity 

 of becoming fashionable canines has not yet arrived. 



