376 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



The Airedale and the Fox-terrier had most 

 to do with his production, but several 

 other breeds and varieties added their 

 quota as his progenitors. Classes were 

 given for him at all the principal shows. 

 Where\'er there was a Welsh Terrier class, so 

 there would be one for Old English Terriers, 

 and some shows gave classes for Welsh or 

 Old English Terriers, which, inasmuch as 

 has been said the latter were the more 



MRS. H, D. GREENES 



CH. LONGMYND ENCHANTRESS 



BY MR. HOUDINI BRYNHIR BRIDE. 



Phulogtafh by T. Fall. 



showy, was felt by the supporters of the 

 former to be very objectionable and most 

 damaging to the interests of their breed, 

 then in the initial stage of its transformation 

 into the show dog. 



The Welsh Terrier Club, ably managed 

 as it was by its tirst secretary, "Sir. W. 

 WTieldon Williams, worked hard, however, 

 to set matters straight, and, from the first, 

 met with a certain amount of success. 

 Formed in the year 1885, it numbered 

 among its members several \\'ell-kno\Mr 

 men in the dog world who did all they 

 could to assist a deser\'ing cause. The 

 classes that were given at the very earliest 

 shows, such as Carnarvon, Pwllheli, and 

 others, were given for " Welsh or Black-and- 

 tan Wire-haired Terriers," and it was quite 

 marvellous the support they received and 

 the success attending them. One knows 

 that nowadays classes given for brand-new 

 breeds obtain at first but poor entries, are 



usually included in a schedule as a conse- 

 quence of the liberality of some individual, 

 and that a breed generally takes some years 

 to work up, so that a respectable entry is 

 obtained. Here, however, from the very 

 first, as soon as classes were pro\"ided for 

 the " Welsh or Black-and-tan Wire-haired 

 Terrier," a large entry was obtained in 

 every such class, and people flocked to 

 the shows in Wales to see them. The 

 writer himself was present at the first 

 shows that catered for the breed. One 

 such — Pwllheli, in 1885 — had three classes, 

 each with an entry of over thirty per class, 

 and was a notable example — notable not 

 only on this account, but also from the 

 fact that the whole show was judged by 

 two old \\'elsh squires, splendid old gentle- 

 men of the sporting type, both of them 

 Masters of Hounds at one time or other, 

 who had kept \\'elsh Terriers all their lives 

 and knew \-ery well what was required in 

 hunter, hound, or terrier. Both have been 

 dead now some years, but their memory 

 remains. The method of their judging, 

 though somewhat peculiar, seemed to gi\-e 

 satisfaction, and there is a probability that 

 the best dogs were properly recognised. Two 

 old black oak armchairs were procured from 

 a neighbouring cottage, and, seated in these, 

 our judges caused each dog to be separately 

 brought before them. Their good and bad 

 points were carefully noted down, and 

 the awards were ultimately given out with- 

 out further comparison being made. It 

 was a lengthy business, and, perhaps, rather 

 hard hnes on those whose terriers wanted 

 something in the way of dog-flesh to show 

 at. But there was httle if any grumbling 

 at the results ; the judges were so cheery, 

 and all was so pleasant and nice. 



It was, of course, ine\atable, in the cir- 

 cumstances, that at first animals which 

 were not pure-bred Welsh Terriers should 

 be found competing in the classes given at 

 some of the English shows. There was not 

 then any rule of the Kennel Club, as there 

 is now, to prevent any mongrel being shown 

 in any class. Some of them, too, were 

 awful freaks ; but as again several of the 

 judges appointed were quite ignorant of 



