168 CROSSED BEEEDS. 



missible to the house, and being constant companions are more 

 easily kept under command ; besides which, they live on the scraps 

 of the house, while the large retriever must be kept tied up at the 

 keeper's, and costs a considerable sum to pay for his food. 



THE BULL-TERRIER. 



Many of our smooth terriers are slightly crossed with the bull- 

 dog, in order to give courage to bear the bites of the vermin which 

 they are meant to attack. When thus bred, the terrier shows no 

 evidence of pain, even though half a dozen rats are hanging on to 

 his lips, which are extremely tender parts of the body, and where 

 the bite of a mouse even will make a badly bred dog yell with 

 pain. In fact, for all the purposes to which a terrier can be ap- 

 plied, the half or quarter cross with the bull, commonly known 

 as the "bull-terrier" or "half-breed dog," is of more value than 

 either of the purely bred progenitors. Such a dog, however, to 

 be useful, must be more than half terrier, or he will be too heavy 

 and slow, too much under-jawed to hold well with his teeth, and 

 too little under command to obey the orders of his master. Some- 

 times the result of the second cross, which is only one quarter 

 bull, shows a great deal of the shape peculiar to that side ; and it 

 is not until the third or fourth cross that the terrier shape comes out 

 predominant. This is all a matter of chance, and the exact reverse 

 may just as probably happen, although the terrier was quite free 

 from the stain of the bull, which is seldom the case. This may account 

 for the great predominance of that side in most cases, as we shall 

 see in investigating the subject of breeding for the kennel in the 

 next Book. The field fox-terrier, used for bolting the fox when 

 gone to ground, was of this breed. So also is the fighting-dog par 

 excellence, and, indeed, there is scarcely any task to which a dog of 

 his size may be set that he will not execute as well as, or better 

 than, most others. He will learn tricks with the poodle, fetch and 

 carry with the Newfoundland take water with that dog, though 



