150 The Fox Terrier. 



— namely, coat. To my mind, no terrier has a good coat 

 unless when it is rubbed the wrong way it will almost at 

 once replace itself naturally. There are not very many 

 now-a-days which conform to that standard." 



Perhaps there are some admirers of the little dog, to 

 which this volume is dedicated, who may urge that the 

 writer has not introduced so many anecdotes of its sagacity 

 as he might have done. Still, we all know what " dog 

 stories " are — they may be either true or otherwise ; at any 

 rate, they can be concocted by the bushel. There are, how- 

 ever, so many fox terriers in the world, that it necessarily 

 follows some of them at times must have exhibited an 

 unusual share of intelligence. Occasionally we have had 

 them performing on the stage ; at other times, when sore 

 wounded and injured, we have been told of a visit to the 

 hospital of their own intelligence, and a very patient waiting 

 at the gate until the turn for treatment came. Their 

 ''homing faculty/' if there be such a thing, has been 

 praised ; indeed, there is scarcely a piece of intelligence 

 any dog has displayed which has not been claimed for the 

 fox terrier — with what truth is a matter of opinion. There 

 is no doubt he is intelligent when brought up in the house, 

 but he is not such an apt pupil for the circus or the stage 

 as the curly-coated poodle. 



A story comes to me from British Columbia, where a 

 big fox terrier, 231b. in weight, became quite a skilful 

 fisherman. He did not, however, follow on the lines of 

 that other cute American dog (whose owner was a disciple 

 of Izaak Walton), which would sit with a line in its mouth 

 and wait until a tug or nub was felt, when it ran back 

 and dragged the struggling fish which caused that tug to 

 bank. This done, its master re-baited the hook, cast out 



