THE IRISH TERRIER. 



369 



his era was Burke's Killeney Boy, to whom, 

 and to Mr. W. Graham's bitch Erin, with 

 whom he was mated, nearly all the pedigrees 

 of the best Irish Terriers of to-day date 

 back. Erin was said to be superior in all 

 respects to any of her breed previous to 

 1880. In her first litter by Killeney Boy 

 were Play Boy, Pretty Lass, Poppy, Gerald, 

 Pagan II., and Peggy, every one of whom 

 became famous. More than one of these 

 showed the black markings of their grand- 

 dam, and their 

 progeny for several 

 generations were 

 apt to throw back 

 to the black-and- 

 tan, grey, or brin- 

 dle colouring. 

 Play Boy and 

 Poppy were the 

 best of Erin's first 

 litter. The dog's 

 beautiful ears, 

 which were left as 

 Nature made them, 

 were transmitted 

 to his son Bogie 

 Rattler, who was 



sire of Bachelor and Benedict, the latter 

 the most successful stud dog of liis time. 

 Poppy had a rich red coat, and this colour 

 recurred with fair regularity in her descend- 

 ants. Red, which liad not at first been 

 greatly appreciated, came gradually to be 

 the accepted colour of an Irish Terrier's 

 jacket. Occasionally it tended towards 

 flaxen ; occasionally to a deep rich auburn ; 

 but the black and brindle were so rigidly 

 bred out that by the year 1890, or there- 

 about, they very seldom recurred. Nowa- 

 days it is not often that any other colour 

 than red is seen in a litter of Irish Terriers, 

 although a white patch on the breast is 

 frequent, as it is in aU self-coloured breeds. 

 In addition to the early celebrities already 

 named, Extreme Carelessness, Michael, 

 Brickbat, Poppy II., Moya Doolan, Straight 

 Tip, and Gaelic have taken their places in 

 the records of the breed, while yet more 

 recent Irish Terriers who have achieved 

 fame have been Mrs. Butcher's Bawn Boy 



mmt^ 



MR. GEORGE JAMISONS SPORT (1875). 



and Bawn Beauty, Mr. Wallace's Treasurer, 

 Mr. S. Wilson's Bolton Woods Mixer, Dr. 

 Smyth's Sarah Kidd, and Mr. C. J. 

 Barnett's Breda Muddler. Of these Sarah 

 Kidd was, perhaps, the most perfect, but 

 unquestionably the most famous was Bolton 

 Woods Mixer. Probably no dog of any breed 

 has in its career been more familiar to the 

 public. In his prime he was to be seen at 

 almost every important dog show, always 

 occupying a prominent position. He must 



have earned quite 

 a respectable in- 

 come for his 

 master. Indeed, 

 he was known as 

 "Sam Wilson's 

 Bread -winner." 

 Over two thousand 

 first prizes, cups, 

 medals, and cham- 

 pionships were 

 credited to him, 

 and it is not to be 

 wondered at that 

 Mr. Wilson refused 

 as much as £700 

 for him. Mixer 

 lived to a good old age, for at the time of his 

 death from pneumonia and blood poisoning, 

 in April, 1907, he was in his twelfth year. 



Naturally in the case of a breed which has 

 departed from its original type, discussions 

 were frequent before a standard of perfec- 

 tion for the Irish Terrier was fixed. His size 

 and weight, the length or shortness of his 

 limbs, the carriage of his tail, the form of his 

 skuU and muzzle, the colour and texture 

 of his coat were the subjects of contro- 

 versy. It was considered at one juncture 

 that he was being bred too big, and at 

 another that he was being brought too much 

 to resemble a red wire-hair Fox-terrier. 

 When once the black marking on his body 

 had been eliminated no one seems to have 

 desired that it should be restored. Red 

 was acknowledged to be the one and only 

 colour for an Irish Terrier. But some held 

 that the correct red should be deep 

 auburn, and others that wheaten colour 

 was the tone to be aimed at. A medium 



47 



