164 THE DOGS OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 



his teeth, or the soft and yielding substance of the lip of the bull would suffocate 

 the dog, and hence the breeders hare always insisted on the necessity of a shortness 

 of the face to an extent such as is never seen in any other variety of the species, 

 and also on wide and open nostrils. The large head is indispensable to give courage ; 

 and though no great amount of intelligence was necessary for bull-baiting, some 

 cleverness was required to avoid the horns of the bull. There is no doubt that 

 this dog is capable of great attachment to his master, and even of learning tricks, 

 as might be expected from the size of his brain ; but he has always been troublesome 

 as a companion on account of his losing all control over his actions when excited, 

 so as to be beyond the management even of the most determined master, whom, 

 when calm, he would fondle like a spaniel. Mr. Adcock, who is an enthusiastic 

 lover of the breed, in a letter to me lately announcing the death of his celebrated 

 dog Ajax, writes that until the dog came into his possession " he exhibited the 

 greatest ferocity, going straight at man, beast, or vehicle, if in motion, and, in the 

 case of animals, invariably selecting the head for attack, and becoming the more 

 determined if beaten with whip or stick." It was not, he writes, until he engaged 

 in a naked-handed contest, in which, by continually throwing him, he showed the 

 dog that he was his master, that he could do anything with him in safety. " From 

 that time," he goes on to say, " the dog's temper gradually improved, the chain 

 was no longer used, and he readily learnt to fetch and carry, and other tricks, such 

 as jumping a hurdle, &c." This anecdote certainly would lead one to believe that 

 in breeding for size one of the peculiar attributes of the bulldog has been lost or 

 greatly reduced ; for, according to the statements of all experienced owners of the 

 bulldog in his purity, with whom I have conversed on his temperament both in 

 past and present times, such a feat would be impossible with a well-bred animal 

 even of 501b. weight or less, whereas Ajax weighed 651b. The notorious account 

 published in the Daily Telegraph some years ago of the fight between the man with 

 his fist alone, and the dog chained in a room, was asserted to be apocryphal as 

 being incredible, although according to my experience perfectly feasible, for in it 

 the dog was described as chained, whereas in the above-mentioned contest Mr. 

 Adcock with his naked hands must have been fully within reach of Ajax, or he could 

 not have thrown him as he states he repeatedly did. Either, therefore, Mr. Adcock 

 performed a feat of a superhuman character, or Ajax did not display the average 

 courage and tenacity of the pure bulldog ; and if so, his case goes to show that the 

 specialty of the breed has been sacrificed to some extent in order to procure the 

 increase of size, which made him the champion of his day in the various dog shows. 

 This accords with my own opinion of him, as I considered him deficient in length 

 of skull, though no doubt for his size I thought him a grand specimen of the breed, 

 knowing as I do how difficult it is to procure ' increased bulk in all parts of the 

 body of any animal. Giants are almost invariably out of proportion in some part 

 or parts, and to this rule I fear I must contend that Ajax was no exception, malgre 

 his owner's opinion that he was the " finest example of the breed ever exhibited." 

 In comparison with the head of Lamphier's King Dick or Eomanie, or with that 

 of Henshall's Duke, the skull of Ajax would, I think, be found greatly reduced in 



