156 THE WEST HIGHLAND WHITE TERRIER 



day. Colonel Malcolm, of Polt'alloch, has for long 

 kept a strain of terriers similar to these, and I see 

 that Captain Keene is credited in one of the dog 

 books with also having bred some of these white 

 dogs. Perhaps in the interest of the breed it is as 

 well to place on record how this came about. I 

 have before me a letter from Captain Keene, dated 

 in 1895, in which he speaks of his efforts to produce 

 terriers with white markings, as he considered them 

 more easily distinguishable. To achieve this object 

 he began crossing Scottish Terriers with Wire-haired 

 Fox Terriers, but without success, the puppies always 

 following the Scottish parents in type and colour, 

 a little white only occasionally appearing at the ex- 

 tremities of the feet and tail, and sometimes on the 

 chest. One day, however, he read of a white Scottish 

 Terrier being exhibited at Ayr, which shows that 

 the dog was then in existence, and he at once pur- 

 chased her. Breeding her to the Scottish Terriers, 

 he only succeeded in obtaining dark brindle or black 

 puppies, so he put her to one of his half-bVed dogs 

 by a Fox Terrier. Again the puppies were brindles 

 and blacks. Eventually he bred her to one of her 

 own sons by the half-bred dog, with the result that 

 four white puppies appeared. Possibly it is one 

 of these that is recorded as having been shown in 

 England. I am merely giving this to show how a 

 white Scottish Terrier bred by Captain Keene may 

 be accounted for, and not because I consider it has 

 had any appreciable effect in establishing the West 

 Highland White Terriers as they now exist. 



These terriers must not be confused with the 

 Scottish, as they are of a distinct type, and should 

 not be judged on the same lines. They are smaller 



