348 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



their thin feet cat-hke, their snipy jaws 

 more powerful ; that their owners, indeed, 

 ought all to be barbers and that the variety 

 was unworthy to be shown in competition 

 against the honest smooth, the latter being 

 a genuine article, the former a spurious one, 

 and so on ad infinihmi. Some of this sort 

 of exaggerated nonsense is still to be heard, 

 and all that can be said about it is that if 

 there is truth in it, if a wire-hair's bad points 

 can be hidden successfully in this way, it 

 does not say much for the judges ; for the 

 slightest amount of handling by them 

 would at once expose any such deception. 

 A silly little stab — as silly and little as it 

 can be — that has been given the wire-hair 

 by secretaries of clubs and others, supposed 

 to be fostering the breed, is that until 

 quite recently they would insist upon de- 

 scribing the variety under notice in their 

 schedules, rules, etc., as " rough " instead of 

 giving it its proper title, the one approved 

 by the Kennel Club, and on its registration 

 list, viz. " Wire-hair." Their coats, so 

 said the traducers, were not entitled to the 

 name, and the proper thing was to call them 

 " Rough," just as you do some Collies, 

 St. Bernards, and Pomeranians. Despite 

 the old maxim which concerns glass houses, 

 stones, and people, the greatest difhculty 

 has been experienced in putting this matter 

 straight, but it is believed that with one 

 exception this child's work has died out. 



The fourth difficulty referred to — " The 

 incompetency of gentlemen appointed 

 to officiate as judges of the variety at 

 several of the shows " — has always been a 

 stumbling block to the proper advancement 

 of the wire-hair. People have often judged, 

 and still frequently judge, the breed who, 

 on their own showing, on the statements of 

 their own lips, have no right whatever to do 

 so. It is the writer's belief that no person 

 is competent to judge a terrier, especially 

 one with a wire-hair coat, unless he has had 

 many years' experience in breeding and 

 keeping dogs with this peculiarity. With- 

 out this experience a judge cannot pick out 

 the sound, honest-coated dog from the one 

 who has had his coat prepared ; he is 

 therefore unable to do his duty in penalising 



the wrong-coated dog to the advantage of 

 the right one, and thus encouraging people 

 in the keeping, breeding, and exhibiting of 

 the latter, to the total exclusion of the 

 former. On many occasions a gentleman, 

 who, because he is a breeder and exhibitor 

 of the smooth variety, has been invited, 

 and agreed, to judge both varieties, has 

 been heard to declare, after he has finished 

 his smooths, that he wished to goodness he 

 had not to judge the wire-hairs, as he knows 

 nothing of them, hates the sight of them, 

 and is sure he will make a mess of them. 



He is invariably, or nearly so, correct in 

 this latter prognostication, and at times 

 most ludicrous awards are made. The 

 judge himself feels he is making a mess of 

 them, gets into a terrible tangle, and, sad 

 as it is to admit, falls back then upon the 

 well-known exhibitors who happen to be 

 exhibiting at the time, and almost, irre- 

 spective of the points of the animals led in 

 by them, awards them the plums. 



It must easily be seen how great a handicap 

 this sort of thing is bound to be to any 

 breed. There are several small breeders of 

 the wire-hair in the United Kingdom who 

 are trying hard to breed the bond fide 

 terrier ; they exhibit some very good 

 specimens from time to time, and their 

 disappointment and disgust at this sort of 

 business is naturally very acute. In fairness 

 to the judges as a whole it must be said that 

 there are, of course, very many able and 

 capable men among them ; this being so, 

 it is a great pity more care is not taken by 

 show committees in selecting judges for 

 wire-hairs, and they should not take it for 

 granted that the smooth judge is invariably 

 able to officiate also on the other variety. 



No one can possibly make a good job of 

 judging a class of wire-hairs if he does not 

 properly handle every exhibit. The re- 

 marks one hears about " putting their legs 

 and feet in water," to judge their points, 

 are senseless and beside the question. If 

 the judge will pass his hand down the legs, 

 right to the end of the toes, he can — if he 

 has any nous — find out everything he 

 wants, everything that is there. Re- 

 cently a case occurred at an important 



