378 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



popular clamour had its way years ago, 

 goodness only knows what monstrosities 

 would now be being bred. 



In the early days, two dogs named General 

 Contour and Ch. Mawddy Nonsuch did a 

 lot of winning. They were both English 

 dogs, quite devoid of Welsh Terrier type, 

 and even as terriers possessed of serious 

 faults. The former was a truly awful 

 looking specimen, probably the product of 

 a Manchester, Yorkshire, Fox-terrier cross ; 

 he had a fairly long head, and was a showy 

 sort, and was therefore nearly always put 

 above the bond fide article with his short 

 wedgy head. He apparently, however, did 

 not deceive breeders, for one hardly ever, if 

 at all, sees his name in any pedigree. Almost 

 the same remarks apply to Mawddy Non- 

 such, reported to have been bought for 

 200 by Mr. Edmund Buckley from Mr. 

 A. Maxwell. This dog was not a bad- 

 looking terrier, but he was what is called 

 a " flatcatcher " ; he was blue in colour, 

 having the inevitable accompaniment of 

 a soft silky coat, and he was short of sub- 

 stance throughout. Fortunately his name 

 only appears in about one place in the 

 pedigrees of the present day. These two 

 terriers used to be shown a great deal in 

 Wales, especially when Englishmen were 

 judging. The danger of their being used 

 much at stud must have been serious ; 

 it is, indeed, a great mercy that they were 

 either not used, or that, if they were, re- 

 sults were so appalling that no one but 

 owners and their immediate friends ever 

 had an opportunity of inspecting them. 

 Undoubtedly the best terrier shown at 

 first was Mr. Dew's Champion Topsy ; 

 she was a sound-coated, well-made animal ; 

 her colour was very good, and for a pure 

 breed she had quite a long, good quality 

 head. Her name is to be seen constantly 

 in the pedigrees of our best terriers of to-day, 

 and there is no doubt she did the breed an 

 immensity of good. Another beautiful little 

 terrier living in those days was Ch. Bob 

 Bethesda ; he again was possessed of per- 

 fect colour, and his body, legs and feet, 

 coat, and general make and shape, could 

 not be improved upon. His head, however, 



was very short, in consequence of which 

 Mawddy Nonsuch was, as a rule, placed 

 over him, though it is almost certain Bob 

 was the better terrier of the two in every 

 other point. Bob Bethesda belonged to 

 Mr. Edmund Buckley, master of the Buckley 

 Otterhounds, with which pack he was 

 regularly worked until the day of his 

 death, he being unfortunately pulled to 

 pieces by them. 



The colour of the Welsh Terrier is, of 

 course, against him for working with a 

 pack of hounds, especially in water. Deaths 

 in this way are of somewhat frequent 

 occurrence ; they are in many cases un- 

 avoidable, though may be in otter-hunting 

 terriers, ever anxious to show that the work 

 of a hound comes just as easy to them as 

 that of their own particular vocation, are 

 allowed at times too much license. It is 

 only fair, however, to the breed to say that, 

 barring this colour drawback, there is no 

 better terrier to hounds living. They are 

 not quarrelsome, show very little jealousy 

 one of another in working, can therefore 

 easily be used, exercised, and kennelled to- 

 gether, being much better in this respect 

 than any of the other breeds of terriers. 

 They also, as a general rule, are dead game ; 

 they want a bit of rousing, and are not so 

 flashily, showily game as, say, the Fox- 

 terrier ; but, just as with humans, when it 

 comes to real business, when the talking 

 game is played out and there is nothing 

 left but the doing part of the business, then 

 one's experience invariably is that the quiet 

 man, the quiet terrier, is the animal wanted. 



The man who justly may be named the 

 father of the Welsh Terrier in its present 

 generation is Cledwyn Owen, of Pwllheli. 

 Mr. Owen, unfortunately, does not now 

 judge the breed often, but there is in all 

 probability no better judge, and the good 

 he did in connection with the breed when 

 it first came into prominence as a show 

 terrier is well known to all those who re- 

 member the time referred to. Mr. Owen 

 judged the breed at the 1887 Jubilee show 

 at Barn Elms, and in upsetting all previous 

 awards on the merits of the two terriers 

 Bob Bethesda and Mawddy Nonsuch by 



