THE IRISH TERRIER. 43 



ming, many of our winning terriers would have coats almost as shaggy 

 as are found on some mountain sheep.'" 



The following we copy from " Whispers," in the " English 

 Stock Keeper," probably expressing Mr. Khrel's opinion : 



"Dark shadings in Irish terriers frequently form the subject of 

 serious discussion among the breeders of this variety, and by those whose 

 knowledge of the breed is superficial, are suspiciously regarded as evi- 

 dence of a taint in the pedigree. These wiseacres have as little founda- 

 tion for their surmises as a certain all-round judge possesses for calling 

 Irish terriers a made-up and fabricated breed, and who, in the same 

 breath, would probably be capable of considering bull-terriers to have a 

 better claim to purity of strain. The wheaten red is, now-a-days, the 

 orthodox Irish terrier color; but people who know this breed in the 

 rough, are cognizant of the fact that the national terrier of Ireland is 

 to be met with, in different parts of the country, of various shades of 

 color. The grey-blue used to be highly esteemed, brindles are to be met 

 with, and even black-and-tans, but they are always rough and Irish. 

 Any skillful dog breeder could take a few specimens of the old rough 

 parent stock, — the big, thirty-pound terriers with shaggy coats and often 

 linty heads, — and, by careful selection, breed from them a modern Irish 

 terrier. The different colors are undoubtedly in the blood of our modern 

 specimens, and the dark colors will occasionally re-assert themselves, 

 according to nature's law of atavism. All Irish terrier breeders have 

 remarked the grey patch on so many of their dogs' sterns, and the black 

 eyelids and muzzle may be attributed to the same cause. But to pre- 

 tend that they should be regarded as disqualifying defects is absurd ; 

 they are undesirable, and in competition with a dog equal in all other 

 points, but even colored all over, they would weigh against their pos- 

 sessor. The best dogs before the public throw back to a dark union, 

 for ' Killiney Boy,' the very pillar of the breed, was out of a rough black- 

 and-tan Irish bitch. A whole colored yellow dog is now orthodox ; but 

 even his ears ought to be of a darker shade than the rest of his coat, 

 without any linty, straggling hairs. The softer, light-colored topknot. 



