414 The Dog Book 



of " The Master of Game " for evidence of a very early use of the name 

 "terrier." Gace de la Buigne, a sport-loving priest w^ho was in the retinue 

 of King John of France, when taken prisoner to England wrote after 

 his return to France a book on sports for the use of Philip, the King's 

 fourth son. This was finished after 1373, exact date unknown. The brief 

 instructions for taking the fox may be English so far as the use of the 

 first word " terriers" is concerned. The Messrs. Baillie-Grohman italicise 

 this word, but neither give reason for doing so nor say whether it is so in 

 the text copied from. 



" On le va querir de dans terre 

 Avec ses bons chiens terriers 

 Que oVi meet dans les terriers." 



"They are brought from the holes in the earth with good terrier dogs 

 that are sent into the burrows." 



Some discussion has recently taken place over the decision of the 

 American Kennel Club to put all terriers in a division by themselves. In 

 England some terriers are classed as sporting and others as non-sporting, 

 the dividing line being absurd and erratic. The question of sporting versus 

 non-sporting was taken up by the American Kennel Club and referred to the 

 stud-book committee, presumably because a good many years ago there had 

 been some such division in the stud book. It is easy enough to divide all the 

 breeds till you come to terriers, and then we are brought face to face with 

 such questions as whether a dog that was once used for going to earth for 

 foxes in England but is never so used here is a sporting dog, whether a dog 

 originally used for rats and foxes in the Highlands but now kept in seclusior 

 in order to grow an extremely long coat is still a sporting dog, if he ever 

 was such a thing. We took the opportunity of suggesting to Mr. Viti, the 

 chairman of the committee, that in place of endeavouring to divide terriers 

 in such an anomalous manner that they simply be put in a class or division 

 by themselves, and that sporting dogs should consist of what we call bird 

 dogs, dogs used with the gun, and dogs used in the chase. The committee 

 drew up two schedules, one on the English plan and the other based upon 

 our suggestion, and we are glad to say the latter was unanimously adopted 

 with but little discussion. Since then it has received the cordial indorse- 

 ment of such a paper as the London Field, which recommended its adoption 

 by the English Kennel Club. 



