66 THE AIREDALE 



first place, they count their pennies very care- 

 fully when buying a dog ; and in the second place, 

 they are not really fanciers at heart, but have 

 merely taken up dogs as a fashionable whim. 



The first American shows were run in a hap- 

 hazard, friendly, go-as-you-please way, but it 

 very soon become evident that some governing 

 body was as much a necessity in dogdom as on 

 the race track, in college athletics, or among 

 yachtsmen. Accordingly, the American Kennel 

 Club grew up naturally to fill this place. In 

 form the A. K. C., as it is called, is a congress. 

 Its members are not individuals, but clubs, 

 which are represented by regularly elected dele- 

 gates at the meetings of the parent organization. 

 These clubs are of two types, the local clubs, 

 composed of the fanciers of a certain city or dis- 

 trict, and the specialty clubs, whose members are 

 the fanciers the country over devoted to one par- 

 ticular breed. 



The local clubs, like the Westminster Kennel 

 Club of New York City or the Philadelphia Dog 

 Show Association, are organized primarily for 

 the giving of bench shows. The specialty clubs, 

 of which the Scottish Terrier Club of America and 

 the Airedale Terrier Club of New England are 

 examples^ are devoted primarily to fostering the 

 interests of thir breed, which they do by offering 



