350 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



who does not in reality object at all. If, 

 however, new or fast coat is pulled out it 

 not only hurts the dog but it is also a very 

 foolish thing to do. and the person guilty 

 of such a thing fully merits disquahtication. 



There are black sheep in every walk of 

 life. There are some terriers of all varieties 

 of the wire-hair or rough-coated ones, whose 

 coats are so bad naturally that the grooming 

 and pulling would be quite useless, simply 

 because the dog's coat is practically never 

 anything else but a new and fast coat, 

 there never being any undercoat on him to 

 force out and cause him to shed his old coat. 

 These dogs, as terriers, either for work or 

 exhibition, ought to be put out of the way 

 at once. 



Unfortunately, however, this is not alwaj's 

 done, and, perhaps in other respects good- 

 looking terriers, they get into the hands of 

 unscrupulous owners, who by clever clipping 

 and manipulation barber them up and show 

 them, sad though it be, with a certain 

 amount of success under some judges. To 

 anyone who knows anything about it, any 

 such are easily detected as wrong-coated 

 ones, and treated accordingly, but inasmuch 

 as at times these artificial terriers attain — 

 under judges who know nothing about it, 

 or who knowing yet dare not act — to 

 high places, and consequently are probably 

 used as sires or dams, it will readily be 

 understood what a drawback they are, and 

 how much better we should be without 

 them . 



Most of the nonsense that is heard about 

 trimming emanates, of course, from the 

 ignoramus ; the knife, he says, is used on 

 them all, a sharp razor is run over their 

 coats, they are singed, they are cut, they 

 are rasped (the latter is the favourite term). 

 Anything hke such a sweeping condemnation 

 is quite inaccurate and most unfair. It is 

 impossible to cut a hair without being 

 detected by a good judge, and very few 

 people ever do any such thing, at any rate 

 for some months before the terrier is ex- 

 hibited, for if they do, they know they are 

 bound to be discovered, and, as a fact, are. 



When the soft-coated dogs are clipped 

 they are operated on, say, two or three 



months before they are wanted, and the 

 hair gets a chance to grow, but even then it 

 is easily discernible, and anyone who, hke 

 the writer, has any experience of clipping 

 dogs in order to cure them of that awful 

 disease, follicular mange, knows what a 

 sight the animal is when he grows his 

 coat, and how terribly unnatural he looks. 

 The people who, perhaps, know how to 

 keep their terriers in good form better than 

 anybody are the inhabitants of those two 

 great counties Lancashire and Yorkshire. 

 They know the art of grooming to perfection, 

 and their terriers, therefore, nearly always 

 look healthy, well, and happy. They are 

 naturdily very fond of a dog, and though 

 at times the master no doubt is a bit rough, 

 the dog invariably exhibits a great affection 

 for him. The writer, when up North a short 

 time ago, had a conversation with a Lancas- 

 trian who is a very old fancier, and in years 

 gone by a very successful one. Times, 

 however, have changed with him, but his 

 interest in " tarriers " is as keen as ever. 

 It was just about the time when there was 

 an extra amount of talk about " faking," 

 in consequence of some attempt by some- 

 body or other to introduce further legislation 

 on the subject, and this had apparently 

 attracted our friend, for he said : " 'A 

 can't understand, Mr. Glynn, why they 

 keep bothering about the trimming of 

 tarriers ; why don't they leave it alone ? 

 'A suppose it's only those who know nowt 

 about it that are talking ; they can't 

 understand what it is to keep a tarrier ; 

 lor bless vou, they'll never stop the loikes 

 of you and me trimming our toikes ; 'a don't 

 know what it is, but if 'a have a tarrier I 

 mun be doin' soom'ut with him, "a can't 

 leave him alone, 'a mun either be fettlin' 'un 

 or"a mun be giving 'un a d — d good latherin'." 

 This, although somewhat crudely put, will 

 show, to those who understand it, exactly 

 how to keep a " tarrier " fit, gives the secret, 

 in fact, in a nutshell, and they can take the 

 assurance of the writer that the terriers 

 shown by this man were always shown 

 fairly, and in the best of form, condition, 

 and health, bright, happy, and full of life. 

 My friend was, of course, exaggerating. 



