THE AIREDALE TERRIER. 



359 



and smaller until he should approach the 

 size of a ^^'elsh Terrier, a thing which lovers 

 of either breed are anxious should not 

 come to pass. But what terrible pains and 

 penalties are held over the heads of any 

 judges who dare offend ! " Any of 

 the club judges who, in the opinion of 

 the committee shall give prizes or other- 

 wise push to the front " (the italics are 

 the writer's) " dogs of a small type, shall 

 be at once hung, drawn, and quartered." 

 How do you push a dog to the front ? 

 What does it mean ? The only way 

 one can perform this feat on a dog 

 besides giving it prizes is, maj'be, if 

 you own and exhibit it or report on 

 it in some paper or other. It behoves 

 you to be careful, indeed ! 



Now let us consider the scale of points 

 drafted by the Airedale Terrier Club, 

 adopted — surely solel}^ out of loyalty 

 — by the South of England Airedale 

 Terrier Club. Out of a total of loo, 

 not one single point is given for character, 

 expression, or general appearance. It is 

 clear, according to it, that what is wanted 

 is simply an animal with points ; no such 

 thing as a dog that is a terrier, with per- 

 fect balance, manners, character, and ex- 

 pression is considered at aU. He is not 

 catered for ; he is not wanted. Let us 

 see what is wanted. Count the points given 

 for head and its appurtenances, and you 

 will find that nearly half the total — 40 out 

 of 100 — is gi\-en for head. Surely, this must 

 be wrong advice to give to anyone who 

 happens to believe that what is wanted is 

 a terrier, and a sound one. Will he not 

 naturally think that what is required is 

 something of a monstrosity — a clothes- 

 horse, e.g. with a head — it must be a head — 

 on one end of it ? The writer sometimes 

 comes across judges in other walks of 

 terrierdom who tell him that they cannot 

 look at a terrier unless he has what they 

 choose to call a " nob " on him. An Airedale 

 bred to standard must suit these gentry- 

 because there would be no doubt about 

 his " nob." It would be a " nob " ! It 

 must be, as has been said above, that this 

 standard was adopted by the new bod}' 



purely out of loyalty for its originators, the 

 older society. The Airedale fanciers of the 

 present day are so astute, and breed such 

 good terriers, that it must be assumed they 

 take little heed of the standard and go 



MR. E BANES CONDYS CH. HUCKLEBERRY LASS 



BY COMPTON MARVEL MISS SALT. 



their own ways. One often hears the present- 

 day Airedale man talking of type. He is, 

 in fact, a great stickler for type, and yet, 

 funnily enough, the standard which he has 

 fathered will not allow him to take any 

 notice of it, and does not allot even half a 

 point for it. 



As has already been hinted, the one great 

 factor in the life of the Airedale was the 

 foundation of the South of England Airedale 

 Terrier Club some twelve years ago. At the 

 time this club was formed the state of the 

 Airedale was critical ; possessed of perhaps 

 unequalled natural advantages, lovely dog 

 as he is, he had not made that progress 

 that he should have done. He had not 

 been boomed in any way, and had been 

 crawling when he should have galloped. 

 From the moment the new club was formed, 

 however, the Airedale had a new lease of 

 life. Mr. Holland Buckley and other keen 

 enthusiasts seem to have recognised to a 

 nicety exactly what was required to give 

 a necessary fillip to the breed ; they appear 

 also to have founded their club at the 

 right moment, and to have offered such an 

 attractive bill of fare, that not only did 

 everyone in the south who had anything 



