278 THE BOOK OF THE DOG. 



It would be, perhaps, rather perilous to go into details as to the modern show dogs, but 

 few will deny that the last few years have seen a considerable improvement. Not only are 

 most of our prize-winners genuine working Terriers, in appearance and character, but they also 

 most of them derive their good qualities from certain definite and well-established strains. 

 We may therefore reasonably hope that breeders are at length on the right tack, and that we 

 may look for a marked improvement during the next few years. 



I propose now to take a survey of the leading families of show Terriers. But before I do 

 so I must say a word about two or three special groups of Terriers somewhat antecedent to 

 show days. First of all, there is one type which has contributed something, though not a great 

 deal, to our stock of prize-winners. This is the old Cheshire or Shropshire Terrier. By far 

 the most important strain of this sort was that belonging to Domville Poole, a well-known 

 Shropshire squire. His kennel was in its prime some five-and-thirty years ago. Where he 

 obtained his original blood from I have never been able to learn. They were bred with great 

 care, and had at one time reached such uniformity of type that, as I was told by a friend of 

 Mr. Poole's, a stranger often failed to distinguish one dog from another. This ought to be at 

 once a warning and an encouragement to modern breeders. At one time Mr. Poole had about 

 twenty couples of them, and was painted with his pack around him. At a later period, within 

 my own memory, they had been reduced to about half a dozen, partly from their pugnacity 

 and frequent deadly battles, partly, as Mr. Poole himself believed, from too persistent adher- 

 ence to his own blood. Their pluck was most severely tested, and if a young one fell short in 

 that respect, he was soon sentenced to the horse-pond. This pluck was undoubtedly originally 

 obtained from a Bull-dog source, and I suspect occasionally replenished in the same fashion, 

 and as a natural consequence, pink noses and prick and tulip ears found their way in. At the 

 same time Mr. Poole always endeavoured to keep out those features ; in fact, he tried to get 

 his dogs with as much as possible of the exterior of pure Fox-terriers and the internal temper 

 and character of the Bull-terrier. I do not know whether any of his Terriers ever ran with 

 hounds. If they did I should think they must often have been too savage for their work, 

 and inclined to close with and murder their fox, instead of snapping at and bolting it. And 

 I would here remark that the Bull-terrier cross affects the whole temper and character as 

 much as his external appearance. It does not, as far as my experience goes, affect a dog's 

 nose, as might be expected ; indeed, some of the keenest hunters I have known have been 

 dogs with a strong Bull cross. But it tends to make him mute instead of noisy, and more quarrel- 

 some than belongs to tlte trite Fox-terrier's character. Nor is the pluck of a Bull-terrier and a 

 Fox-terrier -wholly identical. The former is stoically indifferent to pain : the latter feels 

 punishment, yet returns to the charge again from sheer keenness and love of sport 



The Cheshire Terriers (or Shropshire, for the sorts were identical), were perhaps best 

 known to the world through the kennel of Mr. Stevenson of Chester, whose blood was mainly 

 obtained from Mr. Poole. In the early days he won a few prizes, but for the most part 

 contented himself with breeding game useful dogs, for which he always found a ready market. 

 Champion Tartar, whom I shall speak of again, was of his blood, and the late Mr. Arrow- 

 smith, who won a good many prizes at Yorkshire shows, built up his kennel from a bitch of 

 Mr. Stevenson's breed. Another well-known Shropshire kennel was Lord Hill's. His dogs 

 were, I think, rather smaller and neater than Mr. Poole's, but of the same stamp. In former 

 days I owned a Shropshire Terrier bred by Mr. Stevenson from Mr. Poole's blood, and he 

 might serve as a good type of the sort. He weighed just 15 Ib. when in good condition, 

 and though he showed a little Bull in the head, was not otherwise deficient in Terrier character. 



