168 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM 



should be under the weight of 25 lb., a limit arbitrarily and 

 somewhat irrationally hxed, since in the case of an animal 

 just on the border-line he might very well have been a Cocker 

 before and a Field Spaniel after breakfast. 



It is not easy to find authentic pedigrees going back further 

 than a quarter of a century, but Mr. C. A. Phillips can trace his 

 own strain back to 1860, and Mr. James Farrow was exhibiting 

 successfully thirty-five years ago. The former gentleman 

 published the pedigree of his bitch Rivington Dora for eighteen 

 generations in extenso in The Sporting Spaniel; while the 

 famous Obo strain of the latter may be said to have exercised 

 more influence than any other on the black variety both in 

 this country and in the United States. 



It was in 1880 that the most famous of all the " pillars " 

 of the Cocker stud, Mr. James Farrow's Obo, made his first 

 bow to the public, he and his litter sister Sally having been 

 born the year before. He won the highest honours that the 

 show bench can give, and the importance of his service to the 

 breed both in his owner's kennel and outside it, can scarcely 

 be over-estimated. Nearly all of the best blacks, and many of 

 the best coloured Cockers, are descended from him. At this 

 period the type mostly favoured was that of a dog rather 

 longer in the body and lower on the leg than it is at present, 

 but the Obo family marked a progressive step, and very 

 rightly kept on winning under all the best judges for many 

 years, their owner being far too good a judge himself ever to 

 exhibit anything but first-class specimens. 



Meanwhile, although the blacks were far the most fashion- 

 able and it was said that it was hopeless to try to get the 

 same quality in coloured specimens several enthusiastic 

 breeders for colour were quietly at work, quite undismayed 

 by the predilection shown by most exhibitors and judges 

 for the former colour. Among them was Mr. C. A. Phillips, 

 whose two bitches from Mr. James Freme, of Wepre 

 Hall, Flintshire, succeeded in breeding from one of them, 

 whom he named Rivington Sloe, the celebrated dog Rivington 



