THE BULL TERRIER. 



331 



The fight took place at Tapper's in Long 

 Acre, and in half an hour Puss had killed her 

 opponent, her own injuries being so slight 

 that she was able to appear the next morn- 

 ing at a dog show and take a prize for her 

 good looks and condition. 



Madman was another of Hinks's terriers, 

 and the names of this pair were so persist- 

 ently adopted by other owners for other 

 dogs that it is impossible now to trace a 

 pedigree back to the genuine originals. 

 In the Kennel Club Stud Book for 1874 

 there are a dozen Bull-terriers all named 

 Madman. 



With the advent of the Hinks strain in 

 1862 the short-faced dog fell into disrepute, 

 and pure white became the accepted colour. 

 There was a wide latitude in the matter 

 of weight. If all other points were good, 

 a dog might weigh anything between 10 

 and 38 lb., but classes were usually divided 

 for those above and those below 16 lb. 

 The type became fixed, and it was ruled 

 that the perfect Bull-terrier " must have 

 a long head, wide between the ears, level 

 jaws, a small black eye, a large black nose, 

 a long neck, straight forelegs, a small hare 

 foot, a narrow chest, deep brisket, powerful 

 loin, long body, a tail set and carried low, 

 a fine coat, and small ears well hung and 

 dropping forward." 



Idstone, who wrote this description in 

 1872, earnestly insisted that the ears of all 

 dogs should be left uncut and as Nature 

 made them ; but for twenty years there- 

 after the ears of the Bull-terrier continued 

 to be cropped to a thin, erect point. The 

 practice of cropping, it is true, was even 

 then illegal and punishable by law, but, 

 although there were occasional convictions 

 under the Cruelty to Animals Act, the dog 

 owners who admired the alertness and 

 perkiness of the cut ear ignored the risk 

 they ran, and it was not until the Kennel 

 Club took resolute action against the prac- 

 tice that cropping was entirely abandoned. 



The prompting cause of this decision was 

 a prosecution at Worship Street police 

 court early in 1895 against three offenders 

 " for causing to be tortured and for actually 

 torturing and ill-treating, by cutting its 



ears, a certain dog." The dog in question 

 is believed to have been an Irish terrier, 

 but whatever its breed the three defendants 

 were each fined 5 and 2 2s. costs. The 

 case was discussed at a meeting of the Kennel 

 Club, and, although the members were not 

 at first in full agreement, yet it was ulti- 

 mately decided and a rule was formulated 

 that " no dog born after the 3ist of March, 

 1895, should, if cropped, win a prize at any 

 show held under Kennel Club rules." 



The president of the Kennel Club, Mr. S. E. 

 Shirley, M.P., had himself been a prominent 

 owner and breeder of the Bull-terrier. His 

 Nelson, bred by Joe Willock, was celebrated 

 as an excellent example of the small-sized 

 terrier, at a time, however, when there were 

 not a great many competitors of the high- 

 est quality. His Dick, also, was a remark- 

 ably good dog. Earlier specimens which 

 have left their names in the history of the 

 breed were Hinks's Old Dutch, who was, per- 

 haps, even a more perfect terrier than the 

 same breeder's Madman and Puss ; Alfred 

 George's Spring, G. Smith's Young Puss, 

 Tredennick's Bertie, and R. J. Hartley's 

 Magnet and Violet, who are said to have 

 been a magnificent pair. Godfree's Young 

 Victor, although disfigured by a patch over 

 his eye, was famous for his perfection of 

 shape and his success as a sire, and many 

 of our recent champions have his name in 

 their pedigrees. Sir W. E. H. Verney's 

 Ch. Tarquin, a son of Young Victor, was 

 the most distinguished Bull-terrier during 

 the four years prior to 1878. He was 

 a pure white dog, weighing 45 lb. His 

 recorded measurements may be useful for 

 the purpose of comparison with those 

 of the terriers of the present day. They 

 are : Nose to stop, 3! inches ; stop to occi- 

 put, 5^- inches ; length from occiput to 

 root of tail, 30! inches ; girth of skull, 18 

 inches ; girth of muzzle, 12^- inches ; girth 

 of chest, 26^ inches ; girth of loins, 22 

 inches ; girth of forearm, 6| inches ; girth 

 of pastern, 4 inches ; hock to ground, 5 

 inches ; height at shoulder, i8i inches. 



Lancashire and Yorkshire have always been 

 noted for good Bull-terriers, and the best 

 of the breed have usually been produced 



