The Proper Weight. 137 



forget that every pound of weight over i61b., in working con- 

 dition, is a set-off against a dog's utility. A 2olb. dog, if 

 well and strongly made, is not necessarily useless, but one 

 three pounds less can do a great deal more. I have been 

 gravely told, and by those who should know better, that a 

 dog of i81b. is undersized. I constantly, too, see dogs 

 advertised as sires who are confessedly too big for show, 

 /.., probably about 23lb. weight. It stands to reason that 

 if we keep on using big sires, we shall gradually get a breed 

 of big dogs." 



Perhaps there are some admirers of the little dog, to 

 which this volume is dedicated, who may urge that the 

 writer has not introduced as many anecdotes of its sagacity 

 as he might have done. Still, we all know what " dog 

 stories " are they may be either true or otherwise ; at any 

 rate, they can be concocted by the bushel. There are, how- 

 ever, so many fox terriers in the world, that it necessarily 

 follows some of them at times must have exhibited an 

 unusual share of intelligence. Occasionally we have had 

 them performing on the stage ; at other times, when sore 

 wounded and injured, we have been told of a visit to the 

 hospital of their own intelligence, and a very patient waiting 

 at the gate until the turn for treatment came. Their 

 " homing faculty," if there be such a thing, has been 

 praised ; indeed, there is scarcely a piece of intelligence 

 any dog has displayed which has not been claimed for the 

 fox terrier with what truth is a matter of opinion. There 

 is no doubt he is intelligent when brought up in the house, 

 but he is not such an apt pupil for the circus or the stage 

 as the curly-coated poodle. 



A story comes to me from British Columbia, where a 

 big fox terrier, 23lb. in weight, became quite a skilful 



