THE IRISH TERRIER. 35 



them for fighting purposes, crossed them with the bull terrier, to 

 increase their gameness and punishing power. 



" Wexford, Dublin, and other parts, had strains of their own, and 

 when classes were formed at shows, and good prizes offered, fair speci- 

 mens of the old sort were to be had, which, with judicious mating, pro- 

 duced a level and neat terrier; but these, as before observed, frequently 

 threw back to the old stock, and sometimes a rough, open-coated puppy 

 still appears in the best bred litters, differing from all his brothers and 

 sisters. Strange to say, the freedom from stop, which is one of the 

 characteristics of the present dog, was highly thought of in the dogs 

 bred in former days, and as the ears were almost invariably cropped, it 

 mattered little how they came ; but if uncut, were usually heavy and 

 carried low on the head. 



" A glance at the earlier show catalogues confirms what I have 

 written above as to the doubtful breeding of the earlier terriers. 



" Take the Exhibition Palace Show at Dublin in 1874. Here classes 

 were divided as ' dogs and bitches exceeding nine pounds, and dogs and 

 bitches under that weight.' In the former class, ten competed, and half 

 that number had no pedigree assigned to them ; in the latter class, only 

 three competed, — one of these, the second prize winner, having no pedi- 

 gree. The following year, three classes were provided, including a 

 champion class ' for winners of a first prize at any show.' Dogs over 

 nine pounds and bitches over nine pounds. Four champions (save the 

 mark!) competed; two had pedigrees, and the other two had none. In 

 dogs over nine pounds, six competed, two only having pedigrees. Four 

 bitches over nine pounds were entered, half that number having pedigrees 

 and half not. 



" In the Dublin Show, in 1S78, there were even fewer competitors, 

 a dog and bitch class being given, with no restrictions as to weight. In 

 the former, there were four entries, and in the latter, three, but only two 

 of the lot appear to be able to boast of a pedigree. 



" Does not the above prove that pedigrees, in those days, were little 

 attended to.? otherwise, surely, they would be stated, if known. Some 

 of the entries in these old catalogues are amusing, one entry being 



