CHAPTER V 



DOG SHOWS AND SHOWING 



THE Britisher's inborn love of sport, dogs, 

 and breeding invented the dog show, but 

 not so very long ago, for even in England 

 bench shows, as a recognized institution, are only 

 a little over half a century old. Their fame and 

 popularity have, however, circled the globe. 



The English fancier can truly boast that there 

 are more thoroughbred dogs to the mile in Great 

 Britain than to fifty miles in any other country, 

 and one is not surprised to find that there are 

 more bench shows held there in a week than in a 

 month in the United States. We, on this side of 

 the ocean, are their nearest rival, for while Euro- 

 pean countries have taken up the dog and his 

 showing, still they are as much behind us as we 

 are behind " the tight little isle." 



Continental fanciers have a great deal to 

 learn about dogs, and from their very disposi- 

 tions it is doubtful if, with the possible exception 

 of the serious, hard-working, painstaking Ger- 

 mans, they will ever become truly doggy. In the 



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