THE DACHSHUND: 
dream they are engaged in mortal combat 
with the badger. I am sure there is nothing 
like keeping puppies amused in some such 
way—keep them on their feet as much as 
you can, but at the same time let them have 
a warm bed to retire to directly they feel 
tired. 
Also, if you intend to show your puppies, 
you should begin some time in advance to 
school them to walk on the lead and to 
stand quiet when ordered to. Much de- 
pends on this in the judging ring, where a 
dog who is unused to being on a lead often 
spoils his chances of appearing at his best 
under the (to him) strange experiences of 
restraint which the lead entails. 
During the past five-and-twenty years 
the names of two particular Dachshunds 
stand out head and shoulders above those 
of their competitors. I refer to Champions 
Jackdaw and Pterodactyl. Jackdaw had 
a wonderful record, having, during a long 
show career, never been beaten in_ his 
class from start to finish, and having 
won many valuable prizes. He was credited 
with being the most perfect Dachshund 
that had ever been seen in England, and 
probably as good as anything in Germany. 
Ch. Jackdaw was a black and tan dog, bred 
and owned by Mr. Harry Jones, of Ipswich. 
He was sired by Ch. Charkow, out of Wagtail, 
and born 20th July, 1886. Through his 
dam he was descended from a famous 
bitch, Thusnelda, who was imported by Mr. 
Mudie in the early ’eighties. She was a 
winner of high honours in Hanover. The 
name of Jackdaw figures in all the best 
pedigrees of to-day. 
Ch. Pterodactyl was born in 1888, and 
bred by Mr. Willink. He was in a measure 
an outcross from the standard type of the 
day, and his dam, whose pedigree is in 
dispute, was thought to have been im- 
ported. After passing through one or two 
hands he was purchased by Mr. Harry 
Jones, and in his kennel speedily made a 
great name in the show ring and at the 
stud, and was eventually sold for a high 
price to Mr. Sidney Woodiwiss, who at that 
period had the largest kennel of Dachshunds 
in England. 
309 
“Ptero,” as he was called, was a big, 
light red dog, with wonderful forequarters 
and great muscular development. He also 
possessed what is called a “ punishing jaw ” 
and rather short ears, and looked a thorough 
“business” dog. He had an almost un- 
broken series of successes at shows in Eng- 
land, and, being taken to Germany (in the 
days before the quarantine regulations), he 
took the highest honours in the heavy- 
weight class, and, I think, a special prize for 
the best Dachshund of all classes. This dog 
became the favourite sire of his day and the 
fashionable colour. 
The black and tan thereupon went quite 
out of favour, and this fact, coupled with 
the reckless amount of inbreeding of red to 
red that has been going on since Ptero’s 
day, accounts largely for the prevalence of 
light eyes, pink noses, and_ bad-coloured 
coats of the Dachshunds, as a class, to- 
day. 
Efforts have been made by a few en- 
thusiasts, from time to time, to stem the 
tide of degeneracy by importing stud dogs 
from Germany, and during the last few 
years considerable good has been done. 
Notable among these outcrosses was Captain 
Barry’s Boch Bier, a middle-weight black 
and tan. The difference in type between 
this dog and our English-bred ones was 
most pronounced, but the reign of a more 
enlightened understanding was setting in, 
and Boch Bier’s good qualities took him 
right to the front, and gained him the proud 
title of champion. He was not nearly as 
much used by breeders as he should have 
been, on account of his colour—black and 
tan—whereas it is to this colour that fanciers 
must turn to improve their washed-out 
“patchy ”’ yellows, light eyes, flesh noses, 
and Basset-hound white markings. 
Other notable importations during recent 
years have been Mrs. Nugent’s Florian, a 
small red dog; Mrs. Blackwell’s Rother 
Beelzebub, a heavy-weight dark red, with a 
long record of successes both in Germany 
and England, and probably the best dog 
ever imported; and my own dog Racker 
von der Ecke, a black and tan. 
The dapple Dachshunds imported by the 
