350 
who does not in reality object at all. If, 
however, new or fast coat is pulled out it 
not only hurts the dog but it is also a very 
foolish thing to do, and the person guilty 
of such a thing fully merits disqualification. 
There are black sheep in every walk of 
life. There are some terriers of all varieties 
of the wire-hair or rough-coated ones, whose 
coats are so bad naturally that the grooming 
and pulling would be quite useless, simply 
because the dog’s coat is practically never 
anything else but a new and fast coat, 
there never being any undercoat on him to 
force out and cause him to shed his old coat. 
These dogs, as terriers, either for work or 
exhibition, ought to be put out of the way 
at once. 
Unfortunately, however, this is not always 
done, and, perhaps in other respects good- 
looking terriers, they get into the hands of 
unscrupulous owners, who by clever clipping 
and manipulation barber them up and show 
them, sad though it be, with a certain 
amount of success under some judges. To 
anyone who knows anything about it, any 
such are easily detected as wrong-coated 
ones, and treated accordingly, but inasmuch 
as at times these artificial terriers attain— 
under judges who know nothing about it, 
or who knowing yet dare not act—to 
high places, and consequently are probably 
used as sires or dams, it will readily be 
understood what a drawback they are, and 
how much better we should be without 
them. 
Most of the nonsense that is heard about 
trimming emanates, of course, from the 
ignoramus ; the knife, he says, is used on 
them all, a sharp razor is run over their 
coats, they are singed, they are cut, they 
are rasped (the latter is the favourite term). 
Anything like such a sweeping condemnation 
is quite inaccurate and most unfair. It is 
impossible to cut a hair without being 
detected by a good judge, and very few 
people ever do any such thing, at any rate 
for some months before the terrier is ex- 
hibited, for if they do, they know they are 
bound to be discovered, and, as a fact, are. 
When the soft-coated dogs are clipped 
they are operated on, say, two or three 
THE NEW BOOK “OF THE POG, 
months before they are wanted, and the 
hair gets a chance to grow, but even then it 
is easily discernible, and anyone who, lke 
the writer, has any experience of clipping 
dogs in order to cure them of that awful 
disease, follicular mange, knows what a 
sight the animal is when he grows his 
coat, and how terribly unnatural he looks. 
The people who, perhaps, know how to 
keep their terriers in good form better than 
anybody are the inhabitants of those two 
great counties Lancashire and Yorkshire. 
They know the art of grooming to perfection, 
and their terriers, therefore, nearly always 
look healthy, well, and happy. They are 
naturally very fond of a dog, and though 
at times the master no doubt is a bit rough, 
the dog invariably exhibits a great affection 
for him. The writer, when up Northa short 
time ago, had a conversation with a Lancas- 
trian who is a very old fancier, and in years 
gone by a very successful one. Times, 
however, have changed with him, but his 
interest in “‘tarriers”’ is as keen as ever. 
It was just about the time when there was 
an extra amount of talk about “ faking,” 
in consequence of some attempt by some- 
body or other to introduce further legislation 
on the subject, and this had apparently 
attracted our friend, for he said: “’A 
can’t understand, Mr. Glynn, why they 
keep bothering about the trimming of 
tarriers ; why don’t they leave it alone? 
°A suppose it’s only those who know nowt 
about it that are talking; they can’t 
understand what it is to keep a tarrier ; 
lor bless you, they’ll never stop the loikes 
of you and me trimming our toikes ; ’a don’t 
know what it is, but if ’a have a tarrier I 
mun be doin’ soom’ut with him, ’a can’t 
leave him alone, ’a mun either be fettlin’ ’un 
or’a mun be giving ’un a d—d good latherin’.”’ 
This, although somewhat crudely put, will 
show, to those who understand it, exactly 
how to keep a “‘tarrier ”’ fit, gives the secret, 
in fact, in a nutshell, and they can take the 
assurance of the writer that the terriers 
shown by this man were always shown 
fairly, and in the best of form, condition, 
and health, bright, happy, and full of life. 
My friend was, of course, exaggerating, 
