

THE DOG 73 



tion and temperament of the various animals. Look 

 at that bold young scamp, full of life, racing round at 

 the head of the others, chasing every butterfly, leaf, 

 or moving thing, and contrast him with this other timid, 

 nervous creature, afraid of his own shadow. It doesn't 

 require an expert to tell you which will give you most 

 trouble and develop into the better animal. If you find 

 several of the former kind, then so much the better. 

 You can now look over them at close quarters. Let 

 us hope your fancy has a bright, full, intelligent, dark 

 eye. As in the higher animals, including human beings, 

 the eye is a real index of the character. Most judges 

 object to a light yellow eye or a small sunken eye ; and 

 rightly so, because as a general rule you will find the 

 former wild, erratic animals, and the latter dour and 

 stubborn. The head should be big, with plenty of room 

 for brains, and if nicely rounded over the skull proper, 

 preferable to an angular one. The tendency at the 

 present time is to have a long head in all our breeds, 

 but the fallacious and evil part of it is this elongation 

 at the expense of the skull proper. It began with 

 collies, then fox-terriers and Scotch terriers, and has 

 even invaded our sporting breeds. The moment a 

 dog shows some width between the ears, and he natur- 

 ally gets thicker somewhat as he gets older, then he is 

 supposed by certain breeders to be "past." In the 

 same manner, when he develops some muscle at the 

 sides of his head to use those long jaws, he has become 

 " coarse " and unfit for exhibition. Could anything be 



