THE YORKSHIRE TERRIER 267 



ago waso ften called a Scottish Terrier, or even a Skye, and 

 there are many persons who still confound him with the 

 Clydesdale, whom he somewhat closely resembles. At the 

 present time he is classified as a toy dog and exhibited almost 

 solely as such. It is to be regretted that until very lately 

 the terrier character was being gradually bred out of him, 

 and that the perkiness, the exuberance and gameness which 

 once distinguished him as the companion of the Yorkshire 

 operative, was in danger of being sacrificed to the desire for 

 diminutive size and inordinate length of coat. 



Perhaps it would be an error to blame the breeders of 

 Yorkshire Terriers for this departure from the original type as it 

 appeared, say, about 1870. It is necessary to take into 

 consideration the probability that what is now called the old- 

 fashioned working variety was never regarded by the Yorkshire- 

 men who made him as a complete and finished achievement. 

 It was possibly their idea at the very beginning to produce 

 just such a diminutive dog as is now to be seen in its perfec- 

 tion at exhibitions, glorying in its flowing tresses of steel 

 blue silk and ruddy gold ; and one must give them full credit 

 for the patience and care with which during the past forty 

 years they have been steadily working to the fixed design of 

 producing a dwarfed breed which should excel all other breeds 

 in the length and silkiness of its robe. The extreme of culti- 

 vation in this particular quality was reached some years 

 ago by Mrs. Troughear, whose little dog Conqueror, weighing 

 5 1 lb., had a beautiful enveloping mantle of the uniform length 

 of four-and-twenty inches. 



Doubtless all successful breeders and exhibitors of the 

 Yorkshire Terrier have their little secrets and their peculiar 

 methods of inducing the growth of hair. They regulate the 

 diet with extreme particularity, keeping the dog lean rather 

 than fat, and giving him nothing that they would not them- 

 selves eat. Bread, mixed with green vegetables, a little meat 

 and gravy, or fresh fish, varied with milk puddings and 

 Spratt's " Toy Pet " biscuits, should be the staple food. 



