The Irish Terrier 483 



he was anything remarkable, and to take him as a type of the days when 

 the standard was framed is certainly erroneous. We cover the old times 

 more fully than has ever been done with the many photographs we reproduce 

 of old dogs, celebrities in their days. For most of which we have to express 

 our indebtedness to Mr. George Jamison. The picture of Erin which 

 is from a drawing made when she was at her best is given not as actualy 

 representing her so much as representing what was to the eyes of Irish 

 terrier men of that time the type of dog they wanted — in other words their 

 ideal. Compare this with the tampered photo of Full o' Fight and some 

 others, "improved" to suit the modern ideas of what an Irish terrier should 

 be in head. Perhaps we ought hardly to say modern as applying to to-day, 

 for we believe there is a disposition to let the "coffin" foreface follow the 

 whiskers and Taneous head into oblivion. 



With regard to Mr. Ramsay's remarks as to too much inbreeding to 

 Breda Mixer, through Muddler and Bolton Woods Mixer, where is he going 

 to get the out-cross ? What dog is there that has not Bolton Woods Mixer 

 blood in his veins, or Breda Muddler's ? But that is nothing to worry about, 

 for we are getting away from them and are already finding them as far back 

 as the third and fourth remove in the pedigrees of the youngsters of to-day. 

 It has been good blood and physically there has been no deterioration, 

 otherwise we would not now be complaining of our dogs getting too large. 



In another portion of the same article Mr. Ramsay says: 



"Is it true that we have lost the old Irish terrier and replaced him 

 with something different ? Well, in a sense it is so. Undoubtedly, we 

 have a different terrier to-day. It would speak badly for the success of our 

 attempts at breeding up to an ideal standard if we remained where we were 

 — all improvement must entail differences between the dog of to-day and 

 his forebear. But I don't for a moment think that the difference is retro- 

 gressive; on the contrary, it is progressive; we are much nearer our Club 

 standard than ever we were." 



Mr. Ramsay is best answered by the photographs. If the drawing of 

 Erin, and we have several others of that period drawn on similar 

 lines, and the other photographs represent the type of dog that the 

 framers knew and described in the club standard, how can the head of dogs 

 fashioned on the Full o' Fight model be nearer the standard. Such 

 an alteration as that is not getting nearer the standard, for the standard 

 was never made for such a dog and if one of that kind had been led into the 



