374 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Juke 4, 1885. 



ENGLISH KENNEL NOTES, 

 xxx. 



AT the Warwick dog show, of which more anon, I tumbled 

 across an old setter chum. We had a long conversation 

 about sporting dogs. He complained with all a sportsman's 

 ozone-fed spirit that so many of our beautiful spaniels now 

 distinguishing themselves on the bench have never been 

 broken. If instinct be hereditary knowledge, and 1 have over 

 and over again when breaking pointers proved to my own sat- 

 isfaction that it is. then it can be only a matter of time when 

 these spaniels shall lose their claim to the description "field" 

 and go over to the "fancy" classes. We have already one 

 notable instance of this in the Blenheim spaniels, whose good 

 looks have been their misfortune, since they have given them 

 the society of wheezy women and female men in the place of 

 the sportsman's affections. 



I could name one large and distinguished field spanniel ken- 

 nel in which the only occupants that have ever put up fur or 

 feather are some that may have been purchased broken. 

 None of the home-bred ones is ever allowed to soil his hand- 

 some coat by doing anything to sustain his position in the 

 canine t ibe. 



I am not unreasonable. I give full credit to the marked and 

 most laudable improvement that dog shows have affected in 

 the appearance of dogs used with the gun, and I do not sug- 

 gest that our prize-smothered cracks should absent themselves 

 from the show bench in the shooting season to attend to their 

 natural work; but do very seriously advise exhibitors to open 

 their eves to the neglect that will soon leave us no sporting 

 dogs that are fit for sport. The last stage of such a course 

 will quite invalidate the intentions of dog-show promoters. 

 Those who only require dogs for work, but are willing to pay 

 high prices for the pleasure of seeing symmetrical animals in 

 front of them, will speedily find out, if successful kennels breed 

 only for prize-winning, sportsmen will cease to give their ten 

 guineas each for pups that are wanting in their appropriat in- 

 stinct because they had none to inherit. They will return to 

 the higgledy-piggledy period before dog showing commenced 

 and again get their dogs from unattached gamekeepers. Thus 

 modem breeders will lose their market, and the improvement 

 of the dog will be arrested and quickly retrograde. 



As an ardent admirer of our sincerest friend, the dog, I sor- 

 rowfully express my fears on this subject. Without good-look- 

 ing and intelligent dogs to help me, the sport is no sport to 

 me. 1 am a placid sportsman, one who loves to loiter through 

 the lovely scenes of nature and to allow myself time for medi- 

 tative admiration of the four-legged beauties as they move 

 along, showing what man's tuition has added to innate ability. 

 It would distress me to see a return from the noble Clumbers, 

 the flat-coated Sussex and the sheeny black-coats to those 

 ragged, curly liver and whites that went rabbiting with me 

 in my school days. 



I should suggest that all sporting puppies be broken, and 

 when this has been done let those whose points deserve it be 

 prapared for prize-winning and the others sold for work. As 

 so many valuable animals contract fatal diseases in puppy 

 classes it will be no loss to exhibitors to foreswear a prize or 

 two, and only commence the grooming and attention on the 

 second growth of the coat. When once a dog has been choseu 

 for public display his toilet and appetite become the sole con- 

 sideration, but not all the pups in the fitter are Boss II. s, New- 

 town Abbot Blossoms, or Coy*. 



My friend told me that Graphic the pointer was at last 

 booked for America. His emigration has long neen rumored. 

 We then got on to setters. Mr. Chum asked me if I ever saw 

 any of the American papers. "Sometimes," 1 answered, 

 "Which?" he asked. "Oh, Forest and Stream, now and 

 then. "Ah," says Chum, "that's the paper that chap 'Lillibu- 

 lero' writes in."' "Ye-e-es," I guiltily assented. 'He is not a 

 bit particular in saying what he knows about us over here; he 

 lets us all have it. * I call him 'capital L.' Seethe joke? If 

 he has a friend I should call him Tommy. See— 'L. and Tom- 

 my'?" But I don't see much joke and still less compliment, 

 so 1 testily remind him we were talking of setters. "Cer- 

 tainlv," admits Chum, "so we were, and I was going to tell 

 you that Rockingham has done very well out in America. Of 

 course you remember him winning at Doncaster? Talking of 

 setters, young Bevan, son of Setter Bevan, has gone over to 

 New York with Dalziel. Did you ever meet the youngster? 

 No. Oh, well, he's quite a chip of the old block. Of course 

 you know his father? Yes, naturally. I never knew a man 

 so thoroughly wrapped up in his dogs as he was." I remark 

 that I knew he has been very successful in field Mais. "I 

 should think he had," says Chum, "and he broke them all him - 

 self. Bogs are more than a hobby, they are a passion with 

 him. He gave up everything to hi-* dogs, and even allowed a 

 splendid business to go to them. He said he could never find 

 time for his business. He wouldn't leave the dogs to his ser- 

 vants. In winter he had to be about looking after the tight- 

 ness of the kennel, keeping it weather-proof; then in the 

 spring puppies required his attention, the walking and break- 

 ing followed that; and so really he used to say "I haven't time 

 for business." He brought out a handy little treatise called 

 "Hints on Dog-breaking"; it is worth reading. The son grew 

 up imbued with his father's tastes, and like him commiserates 

 those wretched beings who can exist without canine company, 

 and whom they compassionately term undogly. The lad 

 tried city life, but the streets and the office wither 3d bis 

 vitality, so at last, like many a young Englishman before him, 

 he has made up his mind "to earn his living out in the open 

 air, He hoped to find employment in America in some large 

 sporting kennel as manager, breaker or trainer. His college 

 education has in no way unfitted him for such a position, and 

 the practical schooling he has received from his father when 

 together breaking their own field-trial winners will enable 

 him to command success with setters, pointers, spaniels or 

 retrievers. He has head and heart in the work. If you know 

 anybody in America, put in a good word for the youngster, 

 will you? Thanks. Good-bye, old chap, I must be off." 



Very cordially do I wish the son of so good a sportsman may 



Erosper in the new country. The best I canprobably hope for 

 im is that I may one day meet him at our English field trials 

 in charge of an American bred team that he has broken him- 

 Belf. 



1 hear that Captain Mackie decided not to send his dogs to 

 your shows because the prizes were too small. You must give 

 the bawbees prominence to catch the canny Scotch exhibitor. 

 I dare say some of my American doggy readers who have 

 visited this country have came acoss "Jim" Goode, the rather 

 too well known ' purveyor" of dogs in Leadenhall Market. I 

 have a long letter before me about his case. The strong grip 

 of the law has got him by the collar. He has long been looked 

 up to as the oracle of stolen dogs and has now to pay the 

 penalty of greatness. The police have made a raid upon his 

 place of business where they found in round numbers forty 

 dogs, which, the report says, "Goode could give no satisfactory 

 account ot," but Jim says they had called "to have then- fiair 

 cut." It is veiy awkward and veiy likely that the same oper- 

 ation may be performed upon himself as some of the dogs have 

 been identified by their owners who had been getting anxious 

 at the long time their pets were taking in gettmg shaved and 

 clipped. Goode is considerably annoyed with the action the 

 police have taken and told them he was poodle clipper to the 

 Prince of Wales. He makes the third claimant 1 have heard 

 of for that distinction, the others are Mr. Rotherham and Mr. 

 Felix. 



My informant tells me that Jim has undoubtedly added to 

 his income by the trade that has its headquarteis in Leaden- 

 hall Market, but he says he must give the "barber" his due 

 in admitting that in several export deals Jim has so far for- 

 gotten himself as to behave straight and that he was never in 

 his most natural moods so bad as Mr. Win. Page, of the same 

 address, for whom Mr. Gresham, inspired by the feelings that 



guided his conscience in the days when he kept pointers, was 

 allowed to express his friendship in the pages of the Live 

 Stock Journal. One of Goode's sons is well-known in athletic 

 circles as a game and skillful boxer. A few months ago the 

 editor of the Referee devoted several paragraphs to a very 

 favorable notice of young Goode's gentlemanly appearance 

 and conversation, which ho compared to the disadvantage of 

 racecourse cads, whose birth may be better, but whose man- 

 ners were stones behind. Somehow this little touch of sport 

 makes me, perhaps I should not confess it, hope that the old 

 fellow may be dealt with lightly. 



It was told me at Warwick that the Fox-Terrier Club gave 

 Mr. A. B. C. D. Astley £100 for the Fox-Terrier Chronicle. If 

 this is a fact 1 think Mr. Astley sfiould present the money to a 

 charity, for if ever a man of business should join the club he 

 would promptly iuform the members that a good price was 

 paid for nothing. They can't make four per cent, out of the 

 property and it has no saleable value at all. 



Mr. Vero Shaw has poured the vials of his most virtuous 

 indignation upon the astonished retriever exhibitors at Perth. 

 These persons had, according to custom, damped the coats of 

 then- dogs to add luster and deepen the color. Mr. Shaw told 

 them it was faking, and ordered them out to dry, I agree 

 with the judge and object to such artificial assistance; but I 

 consider it a very small gnat to choke rt when so many camels 

 afe daily swallowed without effort or remark. 



I suppose Mr. Dalziel has landed safely among you. He 

 wrote a note from aboard ship to the Stock Keeper correcting 

 a generally accepted mistake that he was going to the States 

 to judge dogs. He rather indiscreetly divulges that his real 

 and secret mission is to discover "the mysterious Lillibulero," 

 and he. promises to return with him alive or to bring home 

 "his scalp." I am quite sure he won't have my scalp, for that 

 has lately been removed by a discerning nature overthougbt- 

 ful for the entertainment of the frivolous flies who affect rink- 

 ualism. 



Mr. Dalziel's last contribution to doggy controversy before 

 he left home was anent topknots on Dandies. Though Corsin- 

 con does not appear to attach much value to this point, I con- 

 sider it very characteristic. I hold with him that most rough- 

 haired terriers have long hair on the face. I have invariably 

 noticed that if there is much of it the coat is soft; where there 

 is not much, not too much, the coat is pily, that is, a mixture 

 of hard and soft hairs, like a Bedlington's ; but when you get 

 the forehead nearly smooth and a coat on the back, that coat 

 is as hard as nails, but there won't be much of it on the legs 

 and sides, and none where it is most wanted — chest and belly. 



There is no mistake about the "go" in the Great Dane Club, 

 it is one of the youngest and already advertises its own show. 

 It is a lucky accident that one of their members is the pro- 

 prietor of the Ranelagh Club. Mr. Herbert has grarted the 

 use of the beautiful grounds of Barn Elms (where the old Kit- 

 Kat Clnb had its quarters) for the show. The enthusiastic 

 honorary secretary, the Rev. Gambier Bolton, will judge. I 

 have no doubt he will get a large entry as the breed has inade 

 rapid strides and puppies sell as fast as you can breed them. 

 Several people have written lately to the daily press, com- 

 plaining of Great Danes in the streets. They are rather too 

 large for town dogs and although I can't agree with the timid 

 division who describe them as fierce and untractable I am 

 compelled to own that they have an excitable temperament 

 which, when aroused, is beyond all control. They are not 

 ladies' nor children's dogs. 



Warwick continues to beat the record. In numbers and 

 presence of canine notability they have equalled the Kennel 

 Club shows. For the perfect manners and perfect manage- 

 ment no praise can be extravasant. The weather was glorious 

 and it was refreshing to have the judging al fresco. All the 

 familiar faces were present and some of the exhibitors had 

 kindly brought their wives, thus lending additional grace and 

 brightness to the scene. It was quite a feat of management 

 that the jud ing was all over by 5 P. M. on the first day. Mr. 

 Salter, who should be equal to such work, seems to me to have 

 made a great mistake in passing over that charming blue 

 belton, Birket Foster, in the setter class. He was many points 

 better than the winners. Mr. Shirley carried everything 

 before him with his matchless team of wavy-coated retrievers. 

 It will take a rare kennel to shake their position. There was 

 the usual brilliant show of collies and the usual unsatisfactory 

 results arising from double entries. A collie puppy is almost 

 a certain win in the open class. The bulldog awards have not 

 been received with unanimous satisfaction. 



Some unpleasantness is likely to follow a letter in this 

 week's Stock Keeper. The writer is Mr. James Stark, who, 

 though treating a private and personal subject, attaches to his 

 signature "Secretary, Dundee Dog Show," I don't see what the 

 Dundee dog show has to do with the bulldog judging at War- 

 wick. Mr. Stark gains no weight for his remarks thereby, 

 and renders himself liable to be called to book for making 

 such use of an official position. His grievance is that a dog 

 he showed ior a friend did not win the fii st prize. I have 

 heard of such a case before, I think, the ouly difference being 

 that on a former occasion the dog was the property of the 

 "disappointed exhibitor;" this time the injured party is the 

 secretai y of the Dundee show. Mr. Stai k says that the press 

 (here they are — Lee. Langdale, Portier, Astley and Gresham!) 

 "with one loud (devilish loud some of them are, too,) unani- 

 mous voice proclaim that the honors denied him (the dog) 

 should have been his," and further, "the dog was the talk of 

 all men," but cm bono if among all these men one man was 

 not, and that man the judge! Mr. Stark and his friend now 

 derisively want to know "Who is Mr. Best (the judge)?" but 

 surely they should have satisfied themselves on that point 

 before making the entry. I am not finding fault with Mr, 

 Stark for raising a row because his tyke of "transcendent 

 merits" didn't win. I have gone through it all myself. I have 

 growled and howled like the rest of them. I know that only 

 pen and ink can relieve their feelings, and I know that when 

 I got up next morning I felt I had made a fool of myself; and 

 I know I hid myself in corners and by-ways for fear of seeing 

 the letter in print. 



Upon my soul I begin to like this wiry little fire-eating 

 Scotchman for his "go," but he went a little too far when he 

 wound up by asking, "Will any one assure us, so far away, 

 that at the bulldog show in May Sir Walter will receive fair 

 play?" That is not good form, and Mr. Stark, in making this 

 slip, must have forgotten for a moment the position he has to 

 maintain— the dignity of the secretary of the Dundee dog 

 show ! 



The answer to Mr. Stark is the name of the gentleman who 

 has been entrusted with the confidence of the club by bis elec- 

 tion as judge— Mr. Alfred Benjamin. 



The collie classes at Warwick were, agreeably with Mr. 

 Ashwin's desire, divided by colors. The result was candidly 

 admitted to be a great failure. Mr. Ashwin has issued another 

 circular on this haunting subject. I may refer to it another 

 time. I hear that Mr. Ashwin felt much piqued with the re- 

 ception his proposals have met, and even spoke of giving up 

 the breed. He is, though, too old, too good a fancier for the 

 collie fancy to spare, and the club will be wise in treading 

 more lightly on his fads. We have all got our fads, and as 

 soon as we expose them somebody mercilessly puts his foot on 

 them, 



The Irish Terrier Club stiried up the Dublin water for Mr. 

 Gresham, and by the time he arrived it was boiling. He came 

 fairly well out of the judging ordeal. In future, I suppose, 

 snow committees wishing to avoid such "Irish rows" will con- 

 sult the club beforehand. The show paid well, though the 

 Prince of Wales did not take the trouble to visit it, thereby 

 giving a back-hander to the snobbery that led Mr. Snow to 

 open the show a few days earlier than advertised in order to 

 catch royalty. Mr. Snow was all that a secretary should not 

 be. I was one of many who feared to intrude upon his un- 

 couth presence, and who, when obliged to put a polite ques- 



tion about the removal of the dogs, got a boorish reply. The 

 natives gave him a Celtic appellation, which, as it is hot pos- 

 sible to adequately render into English, I must give in the 

 original— "soorly bhrewt." 



I am getting weary of referring to Mr. Gresham's doings. 

 His nam« has been forced upon me to show vou theincomplete 

 character of our kennel press. I am stiil struck with the 

 shortsightedness of the Live Stock Journal in employing a man 

 so devoid of ability and character. The post he holdson that 

 journal may be neither a proud nor important one, but some 

 sort of qualities must be necessary, though heaven knows of 

 what description these can be that exist in Mr. Gresham. How- 

 ever, this unfortunate relic of an unhealthy kennel past has 

 been taken in hand over here, so I hope to be able to keep his 

 name from the end of my pen for the future. 



His last act of gross remissness occurred in connection with 

 the Warwick show, full reports of which appeared in all the 

 papers save th* Live Stock Journal. Not till the following 

 week did a milk and watery abbreviated skim-over of the 

 classes find its way in. A month's wages and the door were 

 the treatment he deserved, and what he" would have mobably 

 received were it not that the L. S J. finds him on the whole 

 a useful man. God forbid that I should ever sink so low in 

 the estimation of my friends as to be considered - 'a useful 

 man !" 



Mr. Gresham related the following week the festive evening 

 he spent in the company of the huntsmen belonging to the 

 harrier packs at the show. Was this why he couldn't write 

 the report next morning, or was there perhaps a less pardona- 

 ble reason ? Would the enterprising proprietors of the Live 

 Stock Journal be surprised to hear that he wrote the report 

 which appeared the same week in the Warwick Advertiser 

 and Leamington Gazette! 



I will conclude these notes with a quotation bearing upon 

 the above subject from the Scottish Fancier, which asks in an 

 article last month "Why is it that in so many cases the dog is 

 better than his master?" The answer to this question is not 

 difficult to find. How many can "look the whole w T orld in the 

 face" and say that they have been fair and honorable in mat- 

 ters canine; that trickery and deceprion and roguery have not 

 played a part in their transactions? There are good men and 

 true among us whom it is a pleasure to know and to have 

 intercourse with. Long life to tbem. May they by their ex- 

 ample long assist to clean from all pollution, all' vice, the 

 moral atmosphere of our doggy world. 



Hear! hear!! hear!!! Lillibulebo. 



May 7, 1885. 



THE MASTIFF TYPE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



As I understand that there is a movement on foot to form 

 an American mastiff club, I beg to offer the following remarks 

 which I think deserve considerable thought by our mastiff 

 breeders: I want to protest against the great mistake that 

 our cousins are making in England — the craze for snort heads 

 to the sacrifice of body and size. From what little experience 

 I have had, I have always understood that the mastiff should 

 combine great size and power with a gentle dispositiou until 

 aroused, in fact, the personification of what a dog should be 

 as a guard to our houses. Can any oue in justice call the pres- 

 ent type of winners representatives of the above? To show 

 that I am not alone, in my opinion, f will quote the following 

 remarks of Lieutenant-Colonel Gamier from the Kennel 

 Gazette, on mastiffs at the last Crystal Palace show, held 

 Jan. IS, 14, 15 and 16, 18a5: 



"After some years' absence from England, I was disap- 

 pointed on observing at the late show the deterioration of 

 type in the present mastiff. Not only has the grave dignity of 

 the old dog 1been replaced by a pug-dog impudence of expres- 

 sion, but the long, lithe and muscular body is well nigh lost, 

 and a short, squat body with weak quarters and hiudlegs. 

 hardly able to support their own weight, has been substituted 

 for it. Many of the old dogs could leap a fence or railing five 

 leet and more in height, and for a short distance could gallop 

 like a greyhouud, but some of the poor auimals at the late 

 show could hardly waddle, and took every opportunity of re- 

 lieving their hindquarters by squatting on their hams. The 

 present dog seems also to be wanting in quality of muscle, and 

 his general appearance is flabby and misshapen, giving an im- 

 pression of weakness which is hardly characteristic of this 

 breed. I believe these faults have been due to certain errors 

 on the part of breeders and judges. Twenty years ago there 

 were plenty of good mastiffs, but certain inferior animals with 

 narrow heads and pointed noses ani with slight bodies and 

 small bone, were by judges who were ignorant of the true mas- 

 tiff type, gradually raised to a pre-eminent position, and for no 

 other reason than the possession of a blacker nose or toenails, 

 or finer bone, or a few hairs more or less on their tail or body. 

 Two centuries ago our ancestors knew little about the present 

 ait of judging, and would have been surprised to see a good 

 dog neglected because his ears were not of the proper thick- 

 ness or his tail curled the wrong way ; but they knew the sort 

 of dog they requii ed for use, and by this law of necessity kept 

 us to its pristine size, strength, character and coinage a breed 

 which modern dog shows seem almost to have destroyed. 

 During the last ten years there has been a reaction against 

 the attenuated heads and delicate extremities which round 

 favor previously, but in endeavoring to improve the type of 

 head breeders seem to have forgotten that a dog requires a 

 body as well as a head, and to have thought, also, that because 

 a narrow head and muzzle ought to be condemned they could 

 not be too broad or too shoi t. But the old mastiff head was 

 not a short head, but long, like his body, and yet broad and 

 blunt and consequently a much bigger head for his size than 

 the present dog's head! The result of this error in the opposite 

 extreme is that breeders by carefully pairing such animals 

 and keeping such whelps as answered this false type, have 

 produced a dog from which the most important mastiff 

 characteristics have been eliminated. I believe the bulldog 

 cross which has been used to be most useful for improving the 

 breed, on the same principle as it has improved the grey- 

 hound, but the cross should have been sufficiently bred out so 

 as to leave all mastiff characteristics unimpaired, whereas the 

 exact contrary has been done. I noticed in the late show that 

 whenever a dog had anything approaching the characteristic 

 mastiff head there was something of the right soi t of body 

 behind it, and that short and stunted bodies invariably accom- 

 panied the short heads to which 1 have objected, and so 1 con- 

 sider that too short a muzzle or the development of stop or 

 wrinkle below the eyes, which are bulldog points and are 

 always accompanied by defects fatal to the true type, should 

 count against, and not for their possessor." 



Surely the above remarks coming from such an acknowl- 

 edged authority are worthy of consideration, and certainly, 

 can be applied to our late New York show. Mr. Dalziel 

 acknowledging that he judged according to the new type as 

 defined and accepted in England at the present time. One 

 thing is very certain, short heads mean short bodies and 

 generally a want of size, power and loss of activity. Hoping 

 that our mastiff breeders in America will think a little more 

 of the body and less of the bulldog head of this noble breed, I 

 sign myself Mastiff. 



New York City. 



COCKER CONSOLIDATION.— The Ancient City Cocker 

 Spaniel Kennel, established in 1870 by Mr. C. E. Scott, at 

 Schenectady, N, Y., has been purchased by Mr. I. M. Dewey, 

 proprietor of the Ideal Kennel, New Haven, Conn. The price 

 paid was five hundred dollars. Mr. Scott was at one time one 

 of the largest and most successful breeders of cockers in the 

 United States, and his entire stock and good will have been 

 transferred to Mr. Dewey. 



Kennel Notes are unavoidably deferred. 



