CHAPTER XXXVII 

 THE WELSH TERRIER 



THIS breed is near akin to the wire-hair Fox-terrier, the 

 principal differences being merely of colour and type. The 

 Welsh Terrier is a wire-haired black or grizzle and tan. The 

 most taking colouring is a jet black body and back with deep 

 tan head, ears, legs, belly, and tail. Several specimens have, 

 however, black foreheads, skulls, ears, and tail, and the 

 black will frequently be seen also extending for a short way 

 down the legs. There must be no black, however, below the 

 hock, and there must be no substantial amount of white any- 

 where ; a dog possessing either of these faults is, according 

 to the recognised standard of the breed, disqualified. Many 

 of the most successful bench winners have, nevertheless, 

 been possessed of a little white on the chest and even a few 

 hairs of that colour on their hind toes, and, apparently, by 

 the common consent of all the judges of the breed, they have 

 been in nowise handicapped for these blemishes. 



There are not so many grizzle coloured Welsh Terriers now 

 as there used to be. A grizzle and tan never looks so smart 

 as a black and tan ; but though this is so, if the grizzle is 

 of a dark hard colour, its owner should not be handicapped as 

 against a black and tan ; if, on the contrary, it is a washed- 

 out, bluish-looking grizzle, a judge is entitled to handicap its 

 possessor, apart altogether from the fact that any such colour 

 on the back is invariably accompanied by an objectionable 

 light tan on the legs, the whole being a certain sign of a soft, 

 silky, unterrierlike coat. 



The coat of the Welsh Terrier slightly differs from that of the 

 Avire-hair Fox-terrier in that it is, as a rule, not so abundant, 



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