BREEDING AND WHELPING. 



579 



dog, a Redgrave Dane, an Arkwright 

 Pointer, a Chatley Bloodhound, a Red- 

 mond Fox Terrier, a Goodwood Pekinese, 

 or a Copthorne Griffon. 



Throughout the whole series of sporting 

 and non-sporting dogs there is hardly a 

 breed which has not been stamped with 

 the character appertaining to particular 

 kennels. Fashion and nattering imitation 

 have been influential in the breeding of 

 dogs as in the breeding of horses and cattle. 

 As a rule, the influence has been for good; 

 but by no means invariably so, since the 

 desire for dogs possessing certain pre- 

 scribed peculiarities has too often led to the 

 exaggeration of fancy points and to the 

 deterioration of natural type and character. 

 Perhaps the judges who appraise a dog 

 by his head alone, overlooking his qualities 

 of body and limb, or by his colour and 

 coat, and not by the frame that is beneath 

 them, are no less to blame than the breeders 

 who yield to the dictates of temporary 

 fashion and strive for the extreme develop- 

 ment of accredited points rather than for 

 the production of an all-round perfect dog 

 who is capable of discharging the duties 

 that ought to be expected of him. Admit- 

 ting that the dogs seen at our best contem- 

 porary shows are superlative examples of 

 scientific selection, one has yet to acknow- 

 ledge that the process of breeding for show 

 points has its disadvantages, and that, in 

 the sporting and pastoral varieties more 

 especially, utility is apt to be sacrificed to 

 ornament and type, and stamina to fancy 

 qualities not always relative to the animal's 

 capacities as a worker. The standards of 

 perfection and scales of points laid t'own 

 by the specialist clubs are usually admir- 

 able guides to the uninitiated, but they are 

 often unreasonably arbitrary in their in- 

 sistence upon certain details of form 

 generally in the neighbourhood of the 

 head while they leave the qualities of 

 type and character to look after themselves 

 or to be totally ignored. In the estimation 

 of many judges and reporters in the canine 

 press it seems to be necessary, in order to 

 gain a high place in the show ring, that a 

 dog should, above all things, possess a 

 magnificently shaped head a " grand 

 head " is the stereotyped phrase and 

 breeders, conscious of this predilection, 



concentrate their efforts upon head quali- 

 ties. To be successful, a Bulldog, for 

 example, must have a good turn-up of 

 under jaw, whatever his body failings may 

 be, and a specimen which has straight legs, 

 short back, massive bone, and the charac- 

 teristic barrel and hindquarters is passed 

 over if he does not happen to have the jaw 

 that is looked for. The Bulldog has suf- 

 fered more than almost any other breed 

 from the desire for a "grand head " and 

 front. His body behind the arms and back 

 parts generally have been so neglected that 

 one is repeatedly hearing of prize dogs that 

 are useless at the stud and of bitches that 

 are incapable of producing a healthy litter, 

 or a litter of any kind. It is the same with 

 many of the short-faced Toy varieties, in 

 which the head is considered of paramount 

 importance, with the consequence that it 

 is rare to see a King Charles Spaniel with 

 good body action. With the Fox Terriers 

 straightness of forelegs is the one thing 

 aimed at; in the Scottish Terrier it is a 

 "punishing jaw " that is desired, and many 

 an otherwise excellent dog has been thrown 

 out because his teeth did not meet with the 

 precision of cogwheels. A " level mouth 

 is a desideratum in most breeds, and the 

 Collie may as well be an inveterate sheep- 

 worrier as appear in the ring with an over- 

 shot jaw. The eye is another point upon 

 which many judges hang their faith, and a 

 dog with a light eye is condemned as a 

 criminal. Dark eyes are indeed more 

 beautiful than light, but oculists are of 

 opinion that the light eye is the stronger 

 and more permanently useful instrument. 



These are a few of the anomalies which 

 come of the custom of breeding to points, 

 and it is necessary to assure the beginner 

 in breeding that points are essentially of 

 far less moment than type and a good 

 constitution. The one thing necessary in 

 the cultivation of the dog is to bear in 

 mind the purpose for which he is supposed 

 to be employed, and to aim at adapting or 

 conserving his physique to the best fulfil- 

 ment of that purpose, remembering that 

 the Greyhound has tucked-up loins to give 

 elasticity and bend to the body in running, 

 that a Terrier is kept small to enable him 

 the better to enter an earth, that a Bulldog 

 is massive and undershot for encounters in 



