46 



CHAPTER III. 



TERRIERS AT WORK. 



As a companion In the house and a comrade in 

 the field, the fox-terrier holds a high, if not indeed 

 the highest, place among his peers. Though not 

 without faults of disposition, he is charming by- 

 reason of the versatility that enables him to adapt 

 himself to our moods and our occupations, with 

 instant comprehension of our wishes. There is no 

 sport he cannot be taught to help in, and it is 

 scarcely too much to say that there is nothing 

 a dog can do that the fox-terrier is not capable of. 

 It is unfortunately true that we have tried 

 hard to spoil him. On the one hand he has been 

 treated as a mere household pet, and thus become 

 so soft that he has lost all taste for sport ; and 

 on the other hand he has been made an instru- 

 ment of show - bench extravagance. There are 

 fox-terriers with heads so long and narrow as to 

 leave no room for brains ; so high on the leg they 

 cannot go into a fox or badger earth without 

 being crippled with cramp ; or again so flat-sided 

 as to have no stamina. 



