The Irish Terrier. 203 



better coats, invariably as hard as pin wire. I am by 

 no means certain that by not using the latter to 

 breed from we are losing the hard, wiry coats, and 

 brighter red colour ; and were it not for the art of 

 trimming many of our winning terriers would have 

 coats almost as shaggy as are found on some moun- 

 tain sheep. 



u When Irish terriers were first shown it was the 

 fashion to crop their ears to a point, making them 

 look very sharp. As they were often used as fighting 

 dogs in the good old days, this might have been of 

 some service, but of late years a strong feeling has 

 grown up against it, and acting on the advice of the 

 Irish Terrier Club, the Kennel Club passed a rule 

 that no cropped Irish terrier born since Dec. 31, 

 1889, can compete at shows under their rules. 



" Although nearly all our best terriers are, as 

 already stated, descended from Killiney Boy, many 

 trace their pedigree back to a union of that dog 

 with a bitch named Erin, bought by Mr. W. Graham, 

 of Belfast, before being shown at Dublin in 1879. 

 This bitch was perhaps the best Irish terrier ever 

 seen, and I very much doubt if any terrier of 

 to-day is her superior, if her equal. Both Killiney 

 Boy and Erin were cropped, but in their first litter 

 there was a puppy born whose ears were so good 

 that they were allowed to remain as nature made 



