162 The Fox Terrier. 



modern strain, with the opportunity afforded, will do his 

 duty with equal satisfaction. But a 300/. dog is too 

 valuable a commodity to place at the tender mercies of 

 badger, fox, or otter. 



Some of the earlier wire-haired terriers were remarkably 

 savage and ill-tempered, or perhaps it was the writer's 

 misfortune to possess such. I recollect that on a certain 

 occasion I had one sent me from Shropshire, which 

 originally came from the huntsman of the Albrighton 

 hounds. Anyhow, rare good-looking dog though he 

 seemed, his excellence was sadly marred by his detest- 

 able disposition. He was never safe, and always as 

 willing to growl at his owner as to take a piece out of 

 the leg of a tramp or anyone else. Entered for Darlington 

 Show at a few pounds, if he was not sold I had promised 

 him as a present to a friend. As it happened, he won 

 the first prize and the special cup, and was at once 

 claimed by a well-known admirer of the breed. Avenger 

 (the dog's name) was a little high on the legs, i81b. weight, 

 straight in front and terrier-like in head, with a hard jacket, 

 but not much of it. I need scarcely say he did not need 

 trimming, or " faking," to make him look his best. 



Owing to one cause or another, the wire-haired fox 

 terrier has occupied longer in popularising himself than 

 the smooth-coated one. For years he was without a 

 class at any of the shows, and when he became so 

 important as to be honoured by being so provided, he was 

 relegated to the non-sporting division ! Birmingham gave 

 him his first class in 1873, nine years subsequent to the 

 time when the smooth variety had been prominently brought 

 forward. Some of the stud books have the wire-haired 

 fox terrier entered amongst non-sporting dogs, sandwiched 



