392 The Dog Book 



he had nothing else on hand he would go all the way from London, and then 

 sit down and study Crib till it was time to catch the train for home again. 

 We saw both of these dogs shortly before we returned to America, and we 

 can best convey the idea of our recollection of them by saying that Crib 

 was a Thackeray Soda style of dog, while Monarch was more on the lines 

 of Rodney Stone. Vero Shaw was then one of the prominent bulldog and 

 bull terrier men, and we discussed this very point, coming to an agreement 

 on the decided superiority of the son, for Monarch was by Crib. Monarch's 

 fault was a pinched muzzle, but otherwise he was a wonderful dog, and it 

 may be truthfully said that our show bulldog dates from Monarch. We 

 did not see Monarch till he was shown at Birmingham in December, 1879, 

 but we knew of him when he came out at Bristol as a puppy, for we were 

 calling on Mr. George R. Krehl in London when Mr. Alfred Benjamin 

 came in and showed a telegram from Mr. Vero Shaw, advising him of the 

 coming out of a puppy that could beat anything in the fancy, and strongly 

 urging Mr. Benjamin to let him buy the dog, if he could, and go as high as 

 two hundred pounds, but the dog was not for sale at any price at that time. 

 He failed to get any progeny for some time, but at last they came — and 

 good ones at that. 



It is useless for fanciers either here or in England to argue that the 

 present-day dog is the same as the old sort; those who say so cannot have 

 any personal knowledge of what bulldogs were before Monarch came out. 

 The old ones were good dogs, undoubtedly. Strong, active bulldogs, pos- 

 sessed of character, and from conformation and strength fully fitted to 

 show that their name was not misapplied. Not one of them, however, 

 would get beyond the V.H.C. stage at any show of the present day where 

 the breed was respectably represented, and then more than likely it would 

 take an all-round judge devoid of specialty fads to recognise his merits. 

 Monarch was such a step in advance in many ways that he moved the ideal 

 mark quite a distance ahead and made the breed more than ever a fancy 

 variety. 



The first presentable bulldog shown in this country was the light- 

 weight Donald, sent over in company with some bull and black-and-tan 

 terriers by the Irish exhibitor, Sir William Verner, for the New York show of 

 1880. This dog was about the best lightweight in England at that time, 

 and the illustration we give is from a photograph by Mora when the dog 

 was here. We do not think the dog was so leggy as the photograph shows 



