296 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



in an article of this kind space is wanting 

 to deal with it as fully as it deserves, and 

 any reader who desires to enter more deeply 

 into it must either delve for himself among 

 old stud books and pedigrees, or consult 

 a monograph. 



It was in 1880 that the most famous 

 of all the " pillars " of the Cocker stud, 

 Mr. James Farrow's Obo, made his first 

 bow to the public, he and his litter sister 

 Sally having been born the year before. 

 He won the highest honours that the show 

 bench can give, and the importance of 

 his service to the breed both in his owner's 



MR. FARROW'S COLOURED COCKER 



CH. SANDY OBO 



BY ODDFELLOW SANDY. 



kennel and outside it, can scarcely be over- 

 estimated. Nearly all of the best blacks, 

 and many of the best coloured Cockers, 

 are descended from him. At this period 

 the type mostly favoured was that of a 

 dog rather longer in the body and lower 

 on the leg than it is at present, but the 

 Obo family marked a progressive step, 

 and very rightly kept on winning under 

 all the best judges for many years, their 

 owner being far too good a judge himself 

 ever to exhibit anything but first-class 

 specimens. The best of this notable family 

 were Obo himself, Sally Obo, Miss Obo, 



Lily Obo, Tim Obo, Mollie Obo, Betty 

 Obo, Frank Obo, and Ted Obo. Sandy 

 Obo, a very beautiful coloured bitch, can 

 hardly be considered as belonging to the 

 family, though bearing the same surname, 

 as she was by Oddfellow, out of Sandy, 

 both unregistered. The Obo blood has 

 found its way to America, where it is very 

 highly prized. 



Meanwhile, although the blacks were 

 far the most fashionable and it was said 

 that it was hopeless to try to get the same 

 quality in coloured specimens several en- 

 thusiastic breeders for colour were quietly 

 at work, quite undismayed by the pre- 

 dilection shown by most exhibitors and 

 judges for the former colour. Among them 

 was Mr. C. A. Phillips, who, having bought 

 two bitches from Mr. James Freme, of 

 Wepre Hall, Flintshire, succeeded in breed- 

 ing from one of them, whom he named 

 Rivington Sloe, the celebrated dog Rivington 

 Signal, who, .mated with Rivington Blossom, 

 produced Rivington Bloom, who was in 

 turn the dam of Rivington Redcoat. These 

 dogs proved almost, if not quite, as valuable 

 to the coloured variety as Obo did to the 

 blacks, and formed the foundation of the 

 celebrated Braeside strain which afterwards 

 became so famous, Braeside Beauty, the 

 first registered by Mr. Porter under that 

 prefix, being by Rivington Signal out of 

 Grove Rose. The latter bitch, a liver and 

 white, whose pedigree is given in the stud 

 book as unknown, had a very successful 

 career, winning first and cup at Manchester 

 on her first appearance, and eventually 

 attaining championship honours. Riving- 

 ton Redcoat, after doing good service at 

 home, was sold to go to France, where he 

 gained a great reputation as a sire, and 

 was subsequently brought back to England 

 by Mr. Lloyd, of Ware, and only died com- 

 paratively recently. Mr. Phillips considered 

 that his son Rivington Bluegown was the 

 best-coloured Cocker he ever bred, and has 

 never ceased to regret that he sold him to 

 go to Canada. However, he exacted a 

 certain measure of compensation from the 

 Dominion, when he imported Toronto, a 

 black dog, whose services at the stud have 



