24 The Fox Terrier, 



standing quite erect at times, were, when their owner 

 came to be at work, thrown back into the hair of the 

 neck, which for purposes of protection Nature provided 

 stronger and more profuse there than on any other part 

 of the body. To a great extent fancy has outdone Nature 

 in this respect, and few of the terriers seen winning on. 

 the benches now have that strong, muscular, hair-protected, 

 neck required by thorough workers. Smartness and quality 

 are sought. In nine cases out of ten when a dog- show 

 man possesses a fox terrier with a greater profusion of 

 hair on the neck than elsewhere on the body, it will be 

 pulled off in order that a neatness and cleanness there 

 would better attract the admiration of the judge. 



Still there are some modern strains of the fox terrier 

 which are not anything like so smooth in their jackets as 

 they might be ; longish and open in coat, and with sterns 

 which would not make bad illustrations as bottle brushes. 

 These longish jackets were mostly introduced immediately 

 following a period when coats were wrong in quite the 

 opposite direction, being almost glossy and anything but 

 weather resisting. It was ever thus, and will, I suppose, 

 always be the custom to run to extremes, especially so far 

 as the general public are concerned. Thus a reason became 

 apparent for the variety in type seen now as compared with- 

 that which was the case in our terriers forty or fifty years; 

 ago. 



Our old terriers, before the era of dog shows, were 

 strong and healthy, perhaps even more so than now ; at 

 any rate they were not pampered pets, as many modern 

 show and house dogs are ; originally they were kept only 

 because they were muscular, hardy, and game. The delicate 

 and puny were consigned to the water barrel, the river, oir 



