214 Modern Dogs. 



the North of Ireland, and many a day's outing we 

 had together ; she was harder and closer in coat 

 than those mentioned above, coloured bright wheaten, 

 and nearer in shape and character, and in all 

 respects, to the present show type than anything 

 else I saw at that period. 



" Few people in those early days gave much 

 attention to the appearance of their terriers, and if 

 they were game, and good at destroying rats and 

 other vermin, they would be kept and bred from, 

 and as these terriers were principally owned by 

 farmers and cottiers, who kept one or two roaming 

 about their houses and farms, they were hardly 

 likely to be very select in the matter of breeding. 

 Even to this day, in parts of the country, one 

 comes across this old breed, as often as not with 

 tails undocked, and sometimes, alas, showing a 

 dash of greyhound blood. Many of them, too, are 

 brindled in colour, and certainly smart terrier-like 

 animals. 



(< I have several times been assured by those from 

 whom I sought information, that a special strain of 

 Irish terriers was kept in their families for generations, 

 and they usually described them as wheaten coloured, 

 open coated, with long, punishing jaws, and I was 

 shown by a friend of mine (lately deceased) a game- 

 looking wheaten coloured bitch, long and low on the 



