306 Modern Dogs. 



but my own belief is that Japanese spaniels are best 

 all round at about 81b., and that if you breed them 

 much under this weight you sacrifice both strength 

 and beauty to a foolish and even cruel fad. That 

 the breed is not naturally so small is proved by the 

 fact that if you leave nature alone you cannot 

 produce diminutive specimens, and I challenge 

 anyone to dispute this assertion. I have seen some 

 very small ones bred, and they have either died 

 young, or been ' effeminate ' indeed. 



" I write this from no personal interest, for I 

 possess a prize Jap of 61b. weight, and another 

 prize one of I2lb., but in the hope not a very 

 great hope, since the ladies are against me of 

 saving what I regard as the most beautiful breed 

 of small dogs in the world from the fatal danger of 

 attenuation. 



" May I add that the dogs, though called, and 

 doubtless rightly called, spaniels, are not a bit like 

 typical spaniels in their nature, being the liveliest, 

 sauciest, almost maddest-spirited little dogs in 

 creation ; but, then, to be this they must not be 

 dwarfed beyond the limit Nature demands for healthy 

 organism." 



There is a good deal of common sense in the 

 above extract, and coming from a great authority on 

 the variety, is the reason of its reproduction here, 



