84 Dog Shows and Doggy People 



the Royal Agricultural Hall. These are the first two Non-Corded 

 Poodles to attain the rank of champions. 



All who have seen Mrs. Crouch's dogs at the shows will acknowledge 

 the grand form in which they always appear, and such of my readers 

 as, like the writer, have had practical experience of that beautiful and 

 intelligent variety, will know how much credit is attached to the fact 

 that their fair owner attends to their toilettes, even to the artistic 

 clipping of their coats, and their many and important triumphs, in 

 the best company, is evidence of the workmanlike manner in which 

 it is done. 



The portraits herewith are of The Pilot and The Black Coquette, 

 the only two champions amongst Curly-coated Poodles, both the 

 property of Mrs. Crouch. 



Mr. Charles Cruft 



ALTHOUGH I am not aware that the subject of this sketch has ever 

 displayed any doggy proclivities, he certainly can claim to have aided 

 and abetted vast multitudes of his fellow-creatures in the furtherance 

 of their hobbies, as he has had a very long connection with doggy 

 affairs, and is, perhaps, to-day the best-known person to Doggy 

 People in the whole world. 



It may be a surprise to many of my readers to hear Mr. Charles 

 Cruft was for some years engaged as a manufacturing jeweller, a 

 business in which his father, who is still living, has been engaged all 

 his life. But the sedentary and somewhat humdrum nature of the 

 occupation did not satisfy Mr. Cruft, jun., and he left the business in 

 1865 and entered the service of the late Mr. James Spratt, who at 

 that time was in quite a small way of business in Middle Row, 

 Holborn, as a vendor of dog biscuits, and Mr. Cruft remained in the 

 firm, to which he was much attached, and gradually rose to the 

 position of General Manager. Aided by his fostering care the busi- 

 ness eventually grew to be the largest of its kind the world has yet 

 seen, and under its present title of Spratt's Patent, Ltd., caters for 

 everything in the way of biscuits and foods for dogs, cats, rabbits, 

 poultry, pigeons, game, and cage birds, besides manufacturing and 

 supplying everything required in any way associated with all those 

 varieties of live stock. 



During the latter part of his connection with the firm, which lasted 

 over thirty years, Mr. Cruft was for many years the head of their 



