CHAPTER XXXI 

 THE BULL-TERRIER 



THE Bull-terrier is now a gentlemanly and respectably owned 

 dog, wearing an immaculate white coat and a burnished 

 silver collar ; he has dealings with aristocracy, and is no longer 

 contemned for keeping bad company. But a generation or 

 two ago he was commonly the associate of rogues and vaga- 

 bonds, skulking at the heels of such members of society as Mi . 

 William Sikes, whom he accompanied at night on darksome 

 business to keep watch outside while Bill was within, crack- 

 ing the crib. In those days the dog's ears were closely 

 cropped, not for the sake of embellishment, but as a measure 

 of protection against the fangs of his opponent in the pit when 

 money was laid upon the result of a well-fought fight to the 

 death. For fighting was the acknowledged vocation of his 

 order, and he was bred and trained to the work. He knew 

 something of rats, too, and many of his kind were famed in the 

 land for their prowess in this direction. Jimmy Shaw's Jacko 

 could finish off sixty rats in three minutes, and on one occasion 

 made a record by killing a thousand in a trifle over an hour 

 and a half. 



The breed is sufficiently modern to leave no doubt as to 

 its derivation. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century 

 attention was being directed to the improvement of terriers 

 generally, and new types were sought for. They were alert, 

 agile little dogs, excellent for work in the country ; but 

 the extravagant Corinthians of the time the young gamesters 

 who patronised the prize-ring and the cock-pit desired to 

 have a dog who should do something more than kill rats, or 



