VARIOUS POINTS IN FOX-TERRIEKS. 



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coat does not offer half the protection against wet given by a fairly good smooth coat. The 

 latter throws off the rain, the former absorbs it, and becomes, after a hard day, like so much 

 sloppy seaweed. 



There seems to be also a great tendency on the part of modern wire-haired Terriers to 

 be overgrown and leggy, and to lose all uniformity of type. In fact, they give me the 

 idea of a breed produced by recent crossing, which, without care, would break up again 

 into its original elements. Were I a breeder of these dogs I should be strongly inclined to 

 try to refresh their merits by dipping into the original fountain-head, and to re-combine the 



MR. THEODORE BASSETT'S FOX-TERRIER "BROKENHURST STING." 



smooth Terrier, selecting a good hard-coated strain, such as that of Foiler, with either the 

 original Yorkshire stock described above, or, if that could not be recovered, with a good 

 Irish Terrier. By an Irish Terrier I mean a genuine Terrier of working dimensions, not one 

 of the 24 Ib. monstrosities that too often disgrace the name. 



So far I have been concerned with the method according to which Terriers have been 

 and ought to be produced. I now come to what many will consider probably a more 

 practical question what a Terrier should be. Obviously he must have good legs and feet, 

 the former straight, clean, muscular, and not too fleshy ; the latter close, round, and well 

 braced up. The straightness of the legs should be tested rather by looking at the inside than 

 outside, as a very muscular swelling fore-arm, which is an undoubted merit, may give an 

 appearance of crookedness outside, when there is no real malformation. The chest should be 

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