OLD RATTLER. 287 



concentration of old Foilcr blood, he is at least pretty sure that he will get a fixed and 

 definite type. 



The claims of Turk to be a son of old Grip are, I believe, much more doubtful. Turk 

 himself will be doubtless remembered by many as a square-built, workmanlike dog, a trifle 

 coarse and large. This character was faithfully reproduced in his stock, almost all of whom 

 were somewhat coarse about the head. From this charge I must except Saracen, a dog 

 whose failings are certainly not on the side of coarseness. The Turk blood at one time 

 seemed likely to take a high place, but though it has had good opportunities it has failed to 

 produce any one dog of great merit, and I question whether it is ever likely to figure 

 prominently in prize lists. 



And, now, some one will probably ask, Do you intend to pass over the greatest of all 

 show Terriers the dog whose prizes alone made up an income that many a rising barrister 

 might envy the invincible Rattler ? Certainly, to make no mention of Rattler would be to 

 ignore a most conspicuous figure in the world of Fox-terriers. Still, my survey has hitherto 

 included not so much celebrated dogs, as those strains of blood which have produced, and 

 may in future be expected to produce, high-class Terriers ; and, much as I admire Rattler 

 himself, I can hardly find a place for him in that classification. However, his many victories 

 and his real merits deserve mention, and I can at the same time deal with his great-grand- 

 father, who, like himself, at one time held a high place in show records, Champion Trimmer. 

 Trimmer himself was a dog who at least made no false claim to high pedigree, as it was 

 pretty well known that his sire and dam were accidentally picked up, and were animals of no 

 great merit. Trimmer himself was a neat wiry little dog, equally undeserving, in my opinion, 

 of the prizes he won and of the undiscriminating abuse heaped upon him. His brother, 

 Crack, was a dog of much the same stamp. Trimmer himself never, as far as I know, begot 

 anything of much merit ; but two of his descendants took a very high position indeed among 

 show dogs. One of these was Mr. Bassett's Tip, by Burnham's Trimmer, a compact square- 

 built dog, at one time of very great merit, but with a broad chest and a somewhat thick 

 head, two faults which increased terribly with advancing years. And I may here remark that, 

 as far as my experience goes, nothing more conspicuously distinguishes a really well-bred 

 Terrier from a specious-looking mongrel than the durability of the former's good qualities, and 

 especially of the outline of the head. A dog with Bull-terrier in him may have a good head 

 at eighteen months or two years old, but two years later the objectionable characteristics will 

 show themselves. A true Terrier, like Belgrave Joe, Dorcas, or Fussy, is almost as good at 

 eight years old as in his (or her) best days. Trimmer's other noted descendant was Rattler 

 by Fox, a son of Trimmer II., whose dam was that good bitch Vene, to whom I referred 

 when speaking of her sire, Trap. I have never heard any particulars of Fox, or of any of 

 Rattler's ancestors on the dam's side, so I think we may safely set Rattler down as the one 

 distinguished member of an otherwise unknown house. Whether he really stood out among his 

 contemporaries as far as was often thought may be questioned. Certainly, he did not impress 

 one with that high-bred look and that Terrier-like dash and fire of expression which we see 

 elsewhere. Still, when he was criticised in detail it was hard to find any faults beyond a 

 slight tendency to a wheel back, and a somewhat soft and listless expression the latter 

 doubtless increased by a life spent for the most part either in railway trains or on show- 

 benches. At the same time I cannot but look upon Rattler's unprecedented success as 

 somewhat of a misfortune for the interests of Fox-terriers. Possessing, as I have said, no 

 hereditary type, he utterly failed to transmit any to his progeny. Numbers of people set to 



