The Japanese Spaniel 735 



"I recall the spaniels perfectly; the dog's name was Yiddo and he was 

 black and white, the bitch was tan and white and if I remember rightly we 

 called her Jap. They were much the same as the dogs of the present day, 

 but as I remember Yiddo he did not stand over so much ground as those I 

 have seen at the bench shows, and he was a little more on the leg. I was 

 about five years old at the time, but I have no recollection of their having any 

 puppies, or if they did they did not live." 



The presumption is that the Japanese either came from the Pekinese 

 dog or both came from a common origin. Mrs. McLaren Morrison is of 

 the opinion that they came from the Tibet spaniel and that the English dogs 

 had a similar origin. To that we can hardly subscribe, for the short faced 

 toy spaniel of England is a London product the result of selection, starting 

 about 1835 with very ordinary faced spaniels. We have not the faintest 

 idea that the Asiatic spaniels had anything to do with the European toys, and 

 when it comes to the Asiatic dogs it cannot be gainsaid that the Pekinese is 

 by far the most impressive dog in the way of character. Either the Tibet 

 dog was wonderfully improved at Pekin or not having the same ideal to 

 breed to the Tibetese took no pains to keep up what they got from Pekin. 

 The Japanese must have come from the mainland and that means China so 

 that we must conclude that the Pekinese and Japanese are of one origin, 

 bred along divergent lines and thus assuming differences of type and char- 

 acter, which have become established. 



Japanese spaniels were far more numerous than were the English var- 

 ieties in the early days of dog shows in this country and classes of from six 

 to twelve entries were the custom when we had but two or three, and some- 

 times none at all of the English breeds. At the show of 1882 at New York 

 there were nine entries of Japanese, but by far the best of the breed was en- 

 tered as a "Pekinese (China) spaniel" by Mrs. William H. Appleton in the 

 miscellaneous class. Mr. George De Forest Grant had already judged the 

 Japanese when the miscellaneous class was called, but the quality of this dog 

 Chico was so high that the three judges, Mr. Grant, Mr. John S. Wise and 

 ourselves, decided to recognise its merits by giving a special prize, being 

 compelled to pass it in view of its not being eligible for the class, because of 

 there being one it should have been entered in. We doubt if we have ever 

 seen a Japanese spaniel with the wealth of coat that Chico had: what its 

 merits were in other points we cannot now recall, but we will never forget 

 its coat. 



