CHAPTER XVI 



Something About Foreign Dogs 



I think, perhaps, it will be best for me to say some- 

 thing about these, although my friend, Mr. Edwin 

 Brough, was wont to call them by the generic term of 

 " Wild Beasts," particularly those belonging to our 

 mutual friend, Mr. W. K. Taunton, who for very 

 many years had one of the best collections of rare 

 breeds of foreign dogs, I should say, to be met with in 

 Europe, comprising specimens from the Arctic Re- 

 gions, China, Australia, India, Africa and other distant 

 parts of the world. I have often had specimens of 

 his before me at different shows, particularly those held 

 in the London District, and remember paying a visit, by 

 invitation, some years since to his kennels in Essex and 

 being very much interested in the many typical speci- 

 mens I saw there. I should consider Mr. Taunton 

 not only a first-rate judge of bloodhounds and mastiffs, 

 but (although one of the most unassuming men I 

 know) far and away, the ablest and best judge of 

 " Foreign Dogs " in this country, or probably in any 

 other. He has bred and owned more than most other 

 judges have even seen! 



The Norwegian Elk-Hound — One of the kinds most 

 often kept is the Norwegian Elk-Hound, which much 



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