2i 4 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM 



inordinate length have been delivered, motions and resolutions 

 have been carried, rules have been promulgated, etc., etc., 

 and the one dog mentioned throughout in connection with all 

 of them has been our poor old, much maligned wire-hair. He 

 has been the scapegoat, the subject of all this brilliancy and 

 eloquence, and were he capable of understanding the language 

 of the human, we may feel sure much amusement would be his. 



There are several breeds that are more trimmed than the 

 wire-hair, and that might well be quoted before him in this 

 connection. There is a vast difference between legitimate 

 trimming, and what is called " faking." All dogs with long 

 or wire-hair or rough coats naturally require more attention, 

 and more grooming than those with short smooth coats. For 

 the purposes of health and cleanliness it is absolutely necess- 

 ary that such animals should be frequently well groomed. 

 There is no necessity, given a wire-hair with a good and proper 

 coat, to use anything but an ordinary close-toothed comb, a 

 good hard brush, and an occasional removal of long old hairs 

 on the head, ears, neck, legs, and belly, with the finger and 

 thumb. The Kennel Club regulations for the preparation of 

 dogs for exhibition are perfectly clear on this subject, and are 

 worded most properly. They say that a dog " shall be dis- 

 qualified if any part of his coat or hair has been cut, clipped, 

 singed, or rasped down by any substance, or if any of the new 

 or fast coat has been removed by pulling or plucking in any 

 manner," and that " no comb shall be used which has a cutting 

 or rasping edge." There is no law, therefore, against the 

 removal of old coat by finger and thumb, and anyone who 

 keeps long-haired dogs knows that it is essential to the dog's 

 health that there should be none. 



It is in fact most necessary in certain cases, at certain times, 

 to pull old coat out in this way. Several terriers with good 

 coats are apt to grow long hair very thickly round the neck 

 and ears, and unless this is removed when it gets old, the neck 

 and ears are liable to become infested with objectionable 

 little slate-coloured nits, which will never be found as long 



