66 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



St. Bernard. Tell was the hero of the shows 

 at which he appeared, and his owner was 

 recognised as being the introducer into this 

 country of the magnificent variety of the 

 canine race that now holds such a prominent 

 position as a show dog. 



The names of Tell and Bernard have been 

 handed down to fame, the former as the 

 progenitor of a long line of rough-coated 

 offspring ; the latter as one of the founders 

 of the Shefford Kennel, of which more anon. 

 Mr. Macdona continued his successful career 

 both as an exhibitor and breeder. Her 

 Royal Highness the Princess of Wales 

 (now Queen Alexandra) graciously accepted 

 a beautifully-marked dog puppy, which was 

 named Hope, and which eventually won 

 first prize at the Crystal Palace. Moltke 

 was another rough-coated dog of fine 

 quality, which annexed a long list of prizes 

 for Mr. Macdona, and proved an excellent 

 stud dog ; whilst Alp, Hedwig, and their 

 daughter, Hospice, are names to conjure with. 

 Following Mr. Macdona, the next fancier 

 to devote his attention to St. Bernards 

 was Mr. J. H. Murchison — well-known as 

 a prominent exhibitor of Fox-terriers — who, 

 from the kennels of M. Schumacher, 

 obtained the noted rough-coated sire 

 Thor, and the smooth-coated Jura. Thor 

 was defective in head, and, therefore, 

 not a high-class show dog, but he was 

 destined to produce the finest litter that 

 so far had ever been bred. Mr. Murchison 

 also owned the smooth-coated Monarque, 

 one of the grandest dogs of his variety. 

 Monarque was first shown by Mr. Macdona 

 at Laycock's Dairy Yard, Islington, in 1869, 

 when he won the chief prize, Victor and 

 Jungfrau being second and third. Jungfrau 

 was a sister by an earlier litter to Bernie, 

 of whom more will presently be heard. At 

 the same show Mr. Macdona was first and 

 third in the rough-coated division with Tell 

 and Hedwig, this pair being divided by Sir 

 Charles Isham's Leo, who was an immense 

 white dog with brindle markings imported 

 from Switzerland, and who afterwards 

 became celebrated as a sire. He was parent 

 of several winners and an ancestor, too, of 

 the great Plinlimmon. 



It was at about this time that my own 

 famous kennel of St. Bernards at Shefford 

 in Bedfordshire was started. I had been 

 presented with a smooth-coated bitch 

 puppy by the late Mr. T. J. Hooper, 

 of Biggleswade, who, from Bernardine, a 

 bitch that he brought from Switzerland, 

 had bred Jungfrau, already referred to, and 

 the puppy in question from an alliance with 

 Mr. Macdona's Bernard. This puppy, after- 

 wards named Bernie, was allowed to run 

 about at its own sweet will, until she was 

 three years old, when it occurred to me that 

 as St. Bernards were then becoming popular, 

 I might turn her to good account. But 

 how to make a start was the question, and 

 where to find a sire not too far from home. 

 The Birmingham Show was just over. 

 The Field said that Leo had run Tell very 

 close for first in the champion class. Leo 

 was the property of Sir Charles Isham, of 

 Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire, which 

 county adjoins Bedfordshire. Here was 

 the opportunity, but some difficulty was 

 experienced, as Leo had not commenced 

 his public career at stud. Matters were how- 

 ever, arranged by the intervention of friends, 

 and the remuneration of a guinea was to be 

 presented to an Orphan Asylum. In due 

 course a family of fourteen arrived, Bernie 

 having selected a standing in a stable for her 

 nursery. She herself was nearly self-coloured 

 — a red brindle with only a very narrow 

 line of white on her face ; the whelps seemed 

 to be all colours, one a white, another a 

 black. Ignorant of the correct colour of 

 St. Bernards, I consulted my groom, who 

 had taken the journey to Lamport Hall, 

 and was relieved of my anxiety when I 

 heard that the white puppy was somewhat 

 like Leo. The order was, pick out the six 

 biggest and put the other eight into a 

 bucket — they cannot all be kept ! Fortu- 

 nately, the black and also the white puppy 

 were amongst the six biggest. The former 

 lived to be the rough-coated champion Monk, 

 who was rich mahogany brindle with white 

 markings, and the latter, Champion Abbess, 

 who was smooth-coated. Monk won ten 

 championships at the Kennel Club's shows, 

 besides many others at less important 



