THE DOGS OF AUSTRALASIA. 



473 



Club, whose book of rules and standard of 

 points bears upon its front the portrait of 

 a typical specimen named Dandy. This 

 portrait presents what appears to be a wire- 

 haired Terrier with cropped ears and a half- 

 docked tail. As an example of the breed it 

 is not altogether convincing, but one is 

 brought by later knowledge to the conclusion 

 that it is the engraving and not the dog 

 that is at fault. 



At the Kennel Club show in 1906, Mr. 

 W. H. Milburn entered three of these 

 terriers, but only one, .Adelaide iliss, was 

 benched. She was 

 an engaging little 

 bitch, reminding 

 one of the old-fash- 

 ioned working Skye 

 Terrier, or one of 

 the early Scotties 

 crossed with a 

 Yorkshire Terrier. 

 Her owner mod- 

 estly averred that 

 she was not a su- 

 perlative specimen 

 of the breed. Since 

 then he has been 

 good enough to se- 

 cure for me from 

 Melbourne the pho- 

 tograph of Champion Tarago Masher, who 

 is probably the best Australian Terrier 

 yet bred in the Antipodes, and who has 

 had a very successful career since he took 

 a first prize as a puppy at the Victorian 

 Kennel Club Show in 1903. Masher, who 

 was bred by Mr. George Keyzer, of ^lel- 

 boume, is a blue-tan dog, weighing 13 lbs. 

 He is by Trapper out of English Rose, 

 and is of good pedigree on both sides. In 

 the show ring he has never been beaten. 

 When this photograph was taken he was 

 considered to be in good coat, and if one 

 may judge by his portrait, he answers well 

 to the standard laid down bv the club for 

 judging the breed. That standard is as 

 follows : — 



I. General Appearance. — A rather low-set, com- 

 pact, active dog, with good straight hair of wiry- 

 texture, coat about from two to two and a-half 



AUSTRALIAN TERRIER CH. TARAGO MASHER 



BY TRAPPER ENGLISH ROSE. 



BRED BY MR. GEORGE KEYZER, MELBOURNE. 



inches long. Average weight about 10 ib. or 

 II lb. Extreme weights, from 8 lb. to 14 lb. 



2. Head. — The head should be long, with a 

 flat skull, full between the eyes, with soft hair 

 topknot, long powerful jaw. Teeth level ; nose 

 black ; eyes small, keen, and dark colour. 



3. Ears. — Ears small, set high on skull, pricked 

 or dropped towards the front, free from long 

 hairs. Ears not to be cut since August, 1896. 



4. Neck. — Neck inclined to be long m proportion 

 to body, with decided frill of hair. 



5. Body. — Body rather long in proportion to 

 height ; well ribbed up ; back straight ; tail 

 docked. 



6. Legs. — Fore-legs perfectly straight, well set 



under body, slight 

 feather to the knees, 

 clean feet, black toe- 

 nails. Hind-legs, good 

 strong thigh, hock 

 slightly bent, feet 

 small and well pad- 

 ded, with no ten- 

 dency to spread. 



7. Colou r. — 1st : 

 Blue or grey body. 

 tan on legs and face, 

 richer the better; top- 

 knot blue or silver ; 

 jnd : Clear sandy, or 

 red. 



8. Disqualifying 

 Points. — Flesh - col- 

 oured nose, white toe- 

 nails, white breasts, 

 curly or woolly coat 



all black coat (puppies excepted). Uneven mouth 

 will not altogether disqualify, but will be much 

 against a dog. 



There has lately been an endeavour in 

 Australia to establish a new breed to which 

 has been given the name of the Sydney 

 Silky Terrier ; but the type does not appear 

 yet to be fixed, and I hesitate to give a 

 description which may not be accurate, 

 merely surmising that the Yorkshire Terrier 

 has been largely instrumental in justifying 

 the name. 



Needless to add, our kin in Australasia 

 are as earnest dog lovers as ourselves. 

 They possess excellent specimens of aU 

 the breeds that are familiar to us at home, 

 and exhibit them in competition at their 

 well-managed shows, reports of which 

 are regularly to be found in the English 

 periodicals devoted to canine matters. 



60 



