The Irish Terrier. 217 



coloured specimens often prove very serviceable 

 when bred from, and throw pups with plenty of coat, 

 and this I have proved myself, and heard other 

 breeders assert. Mr. Barnett's Benedict (brother to 

 Champion Bachelor) w r as a notable instance of this, 

 being very short in coat on body and sides, and he 

 probably got as many winners on the bench as any 

 dog of this variety. 



" The north of Ireland was the stronghold of the 

 Irish terriers for many a day, and still holds its own, 

 with Mr. William Graham to aid it. Even there I 

 should doubt if a pure descent of Irish terrier 

 could be traced back for thirty years, as so long 

 ago no one cared to go to the trouble of breeding 

 them to one uniform type, and those who used 

 them for righting purposes crossed them with the 

 bull terrier to increase their gameness and punishing 

 power. 



" Wexford, Dublin, and other parts had strains of 

 their own, and when classes were formed at shows, 

 and good prizes offered, fair specimens of the old 

 sort were to be had, which, with judicious mating, 

 produced a level and neat terrier, but these, as 

 before observed, frequently threw back to the old 

 stock, and sometimes a rough, open coated puppy 

 still appears in the best bred litters, differing from 

 all his brothers and sisters. Strange to say the 



