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A LITTER OF AIREDALES BY HUCKLEBERRY FINN. 
Photograph by H. W. Nicholls. 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
THE AIREDALE TERRIER. 
BY WALTER S. GLYNN. 
“ The rustic dames 
Shall at thy kennel wait, and in theiy laps 
Receive thy growing hopes; with many a kiss 
Caress, and dignify their little charge 
With some great title, and resounding name 
Of high import.” 
HERE is perhaps no breed of dog that 
in so short a time has been improved 
so much as the Airedale. He is now 
a very beautiful animal, whereas but a few 
years back, although maybe there were a 
few fairly nice specimens, by far the greater 
number were certainly the reverse of this. 
In place of the shaggy, soft-coated, ugly- 
coloured brute with large hound ears and 
big full eyes, we have now a very handsome 
creature, possessing all the points that go 
to make a really first-class terrier of taking 
colour, symmetrical build, full of character 
and “go,” amply justifying—in looks, at 
any rate—its existence as a terrier. 
Whether it is common sense to call a dog 
weighing 40 Ib. to 50 lb. a terrier is a ques- 
tion that one often hears discussed. The 
fact remains the dog is a terrier—a sort of 
glorified edition of what we understand by 
the word, it is true, but in points, looks, 
—SOMERVILLE. 
and character, a terrier nevertheless, and 
it is impossible otherwise to classify him. 
People will ask: “How can he be a 
terrier ? Why, he is an outrage on the 
very word, which can only mean a dog to 
go to ground; and to what animal in the 
country of his birth can an Airedale go to 
ground?” Above ground and in water, 
however, an Airedale can, and does, per- 
form in a very excellent manner everything 
that any other terrier can do. As a water 
dog he is, of course, in his element ; for work 
on land requiring a hard, strong, fast and 
resolute terrier he is, needless to say, of 
great value; and he is said to be also, when 
trained—as can easily be imagined when 
one considers his power of scent, his strength, 
sagacity, and speed—a most excellent gun- 
dog. He is, in fact, a general utility dog, 
for add to the above-mentioned qualities 
those of probably an incomparable guard 
