The Dandie Dinmont Terrier. 283 



had a bitch or two even better than either of these r 

 and no doubt the whole of the inhabitants of his 

 kennel were extremely well bred. They had been 

 " boomed " somewhat, and it came as a great 

 disappointment to many that at the Border 

 Counties Show r they were passed over altogether r 

 owing to bad condition. Dirk was one of the batch 

 entered. As a matter of fact, the Blackwood House 

 kennels had for years required a change of blood, 

 they having become so inbred as to be delicate, 

 weedy, and generally unsatisfactory. This was 

 greatly to be deplored, as I believe they had 

 originally been excellent dogs in every way, and Mr 

 Cook tells us, in his monograph on the breed, that 

 some of them would kill a badger outright. On an 

 occasion when their courage was put to a severe test 

 it was the custom to slip a terrier at two badgers at 

 once, when the dog would " pin " the one and at the 

 same time the other badger was inflicting severe 

 punishment, which was borne without a murmur. 

 The same authority says that in 1880 five of the 

 Blackwood House Dandie Dinmonts were wilfully 

 poisoned, and unfortunately the miscreant who did 

 the deed was never discovered. When Mr. 

 Bradshaw Smith died in 1882 the kennel consisted 

 of thirteen terriers, which with a single exception 

 were dispersed. 



