Joly 1, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



483 



MASTIFF DOG "BOSS" The property of Mr. J. L. Winchell, Fair Haven, Vt. 



and under the immediate eye of a skilled veterinary surgeon. 

 If the bowels do not move within three hours after the ad- 

 ministration of any anthelmintic, a full dose of castor oil should 

 be given. 



The after treatment consists in the giving of only broths 

 and milk as food for a day or two; often tonic treatment 

 and careful attention to exercising anrl general health will be 

 required after the expulsion of tapeworms to bring the dog up 

 to perfect health. 



Tapeworm infection is a disease of adult life, puppies but 

 seldom having access to butchers' offal or the like. They may, 

 however, suffer extensively from the cucumerine species, and 

 the importance of having breeding bitches free from lice at 

 once suggests itself. 



The prevention of taenia infection has been treated of at 

 length when speaking of the different species. R. W. S. 



MASTIFF JUDGING. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I gladly exchange ''logic" for a more congenial subject and 

 return to a sober discussion of what mastiffs really are. In 

 the way of reply to your comments I have only this to say: I 

 never saw Prussian Princess move, but I once saw her stand- 

 ing up in her stall and I am certain that in the matter of 

 hindquarters, hocks, etc., the only question between ner and 

 Rosalind is, which One is the worst. When Mr. Dalziel judged 

 them at New York Rosalind was lame, and I don't see how 

 Prussian Princess could have moved worse. What I started 

 out to prove was, that it is a mistake that the real authorities 

 in England are such devotees of head as to pass over as trifl- 

 ing, such defects as weak loins, straight hocks, small size, or 

 general worthlessaess. 1 think I fairly proved this in the case 

 of Mr. Hanbury in his placing of Crown Prince aud Prince 

 Regent, aud in this connection I would suggest that Mr. Han- 

 bury shares with Mr. Wynn in the distinction of being the 

 most pronounced advocate of head, and his Rajih was the 

 great fount from which came the present cver-development in 

 this direction, and what are called the Hanbury mastiffs are 

 the extreme of head qualities, but mark you. Mr. Hanbury, 

 by hi=; official acts as judge, put the seal of condemnation on 

 general defects. 



Then take Mr. Wynn: Nearly (if not quite) ten years since 

 he raised the same howl at Bristol, England, that Dr. Perrv 

 did at New York, by putting Beau over The Shah. Mastiff 

 men had gotten into tbe fashion of falling down at the feet of 

 Th a Shah, as though he were unbeatable, but Mr. Wynn 

 was sufficiently convinced of his standing as an authority, to 

 judge them as he saw fit, and although there was a howl over 

 it, fanciers such as Hanbury, Nichols, etc., gradually came 

 round to Mr. Wynn's way of thinking, and the public saw 

 that The Shah could be, and was, fairly beaten, and that by 

 the exemplar of a good "all round" doe; and The Shah stock 

 had a heavy fall in consequence. Then there was that 

 wondrous headed puppy, King Cole, that Mr. Wynn said ex- 

 ceeded any matured dog he had ever seen, yet he was bad 

 enough to go back to second under Mr. Wynn, and I have grave 

 doubts if he was as bad as some of the winners we have had. 

 Again and again I would ask, if a receding muzzle can be a 

 square one? and if we do not stick to the plain intent of a 

 standard, what is the use of one? The cry is raised every now 

 and then "Give us a new standard that our judges may know 

 what to judge by. " What in the world is the use of that, when 

 they will not stick to the obvious meaning of the standards 

 we have? One distinguished English breeder, who has bred 

 dogs that sold at $750 when not a year old, admitted to me 

 "We need fresh blood, and a fresh departure, but what can 

 we do? we must breed the dogs that our judges will put first;" 

 and the judge says_"We must give prizes to the type our lead- 

 ing breeders want." The whole thing looked very much like 

 "My partner, Mr. Jorkins," in "David Copperfield." I. for one, 

 vote to secure some compliance with the standard we have 

 before we try our hands at another. 



It is a suicidal mistake in judging to confound a dog's breed- 

 ing capacities with his show qualities, and I cannot but think 

 that much of the confusion arises from judges going beyond 

 their sphere in this matter. There was Griffin, the sire of Ra- 

 jah, who was so palsied that he could not be photographed ; 

 would it be held that such a specimen should win because he 

 had proved his capacities as a stud dog? 



Take what "Zoilus" said in Land and Water, which you re- 

 produced July 9, 1885, and let every judge and breeder weigh 

 it. The whole article is the most exhaustive on breeding (and 

 incidentally on judging) that I kpow of, and every breeder and 



judge should commit its teaching to memory: "But all the 

 contrarieties and difficulties of breeding weigh nothing (or at 

 least, should not) with the judge who awards prizes at a show, 

 for if he acts as a man of honor, he is bound to award the 

 prizes (to the best of his ability) to the specimen approaching 

 nearest all round to the standard, and any consideration as to 

 what dogs are likely to be the most useful for improving or 

 preserving the breed, etc., is quite foreign to his commission 

 and simply opening a way for the judge to please his own 

 fancies, and virtually amounts to morally swindling the pub- 

 lic." 



Listen to what Mr. Wynn says on page 218 of his "History 

 of the Mastiff": "The scale of points may give the reader a 

 more general idea of the correct figure of a well reared, typical 

 mastiff, but such essentials as activity and symmetry, com- 

 bined with a typical head, a well formed, long, low body 

 and generally heavy animal, should never be lost sight of, 

 either to obtain color, vast height, or grand Jaead with de- 

 formed body and weak limbs, or a. well grown body with de- 

 fective head, plainly departing from the true type, which, if 

 the reader has not thoroughly learned from the historical 

 facts which 1 have, laid before bis or her notice, I feel it will 

 be a hopeless task to enlighten them." 



Then read the standard as amended, that Mr. Wynn appends 

 to this history, and note that every change he has made from 

 tlio old one is in the direction of adding goodness all over, and 

 remembering that Mr, Wynn is par excellence the enthusiast 

 on head among English fancier's, ask yourself if our judges 

 have been right in giving wretched snub-nosed cripples, or 

 contemptible little dwarfs the premier positions? Of course, 

 this presupposes that you have a copy of Mr. Wynn's book, if 

 you have not, send to Forest and Stream for one at once, or 

 resign any consideration or right to have any opinion as to 

 mastiffs. A mastiff man who has not read the book, hasn't 

 got out of his primer, and until he grounds himself in the first 

 principles of mastiff lore, ought not to speak out in meeting. 

 I hope that I may be permitted to add that I have received 

 fully a dozen letters from mastiff men, all supporting the 

 position I have taken on this matter. 



Mr. Haldeman's list of mastiff judges has two very import- 

 ant omissions. One is that of Mr. W. H. Lee, of Boston, Mass. , 

 long the owner of Old Turk (Turk II., A. K.R. 2222) and the 

 importer of Ilford Cromwell, It was Mr. Lee's concurrence 

 that Ilford Caution was the best mastiff in the country, that 

 encouraged me to stick to my view of it in the face of much 

 ridicule. The other is Mr. Chas. E. Wallack. Mr. Lee, I am 

 afraid, is too busy a man to judge, but a Boston man who 

 wants an opinion on a mastiff has not far to go, and it will be 

 a disappointment if Mr. Wallack does not officiate next year. 



W. Wade. 



Hulton, Pa., Ju ne 18, 1886. 



A ST. BERNARD CLUB. 



A MEETING will soon be called for the purpose of forming 

 a St. Bernard Club. All who are interested in the breed 

 should at once communicate with Mr. W. W. Tucker, 84 

 Broad street, New York, who has consented to take charge of 

 the preliminary arrangements. We have no doubt that with 

 the material at hand, an association of the fanciers of the 

 breed will accomplish much of good, and it is to be hoped that 

 every lover of the magnificent animal will lend their influence 

 to make the proposed movement a complete success. 



THE ENGLISH FIELD TRIALS.— In our issue of May 20 

 we published a summary of the English Field Trials which 

 was compiled from an English paper. The report was incom- 

 plete as to the Acton Regnald Stakes. According to the Ken- 

 nel Gazette the winners were: D. R. Scratton's liver aud white 

 bitch Hero, oyrs. (Bang — Hebe), won first in pointers and prize 

 for best of either breed ; J. L. Anthony's liver and white bitch 

 Lass of Bow (Graphic— Clitnax) won second in pointers, and 

 A. P. Heywood-Lonsdale's black and white dog Jovial, 2yrs. 

 (Baron— Joan), won first in setters, and M. A. Richards' black, 

 white and tan bitch Rose, 8yrs. (Diamond— Minnie), won 

 second. 



THE AMERICAN MASTIFF CLUB was organized at a 

 ra meting held in this city June 23. The officers are: R. L. 

 Belcuap, President; H. Mead, E. Dudley and E. H. Moore, 

 Vic3-Presidents; E. N. Belknap, H. Mead, E. Dudley, E. H. 

 Moore, R. H. Derby, C. R. Colwell, W. P. Stephenson, F. T. 

 Winchester, E. F. Bowditch, C. E. Shaw, Executive Commit- 

 tee. The secretary is R. H. Derby, 9 West Thirty-fifth street, 

 New York. 



BOSS. 



THE mastiff dog Boss, owned by Mr. J. L. Winchell, Fair 

 Haven, Vt., was whelped July 20, 1884. His sire, im - 

 ported Zulu, was by champion Colonel out of champion Diana 

 His dam, Monmouth Meg, was by champion Salisbury and out 

 of Tigress II. (champion Colonel— Lufra). His winnings are 

 very high com., puppy class, New York, 1885; second, Boston 

 and New York, 1886. 



"HISTORY OF THE MASTIFF."* 



THE "History of the Mastiff," by Mr. M. B. Wynn, will be 

 gladly welcomed by all lovers of the breed. The author 

 has made careful research among the records of the distant past 

 and culled therefrom a mass of dog lore that is astonishing. 

 The book is replete with quotations from the writings of the 

 ancient*, both inspired and profane, as well as from those of 

 authors of modern times. Mr. Wynn has extended his re- 

 searches far back in the antediluvian ages, and although he 

 does not tell us in so many words that the mastiff was coeval 

 with the megatherium or with the ichthyosaurus, he gives 

 him or his prototypes a place so far back in the remote ages 

 of antiquity that one can almost imagine a primitive Crown 

 Prince m pre-historic time waging indiscriminate and bloody 

 warfare upon the formidable edentate and more dreadful 

 saurian. The chapters devoted to the mastiff of modern 

 times will be found very interesting and well worth the care- 

 ful study of the breeder. 



In writing of mastiff type Mr. Wynn says: "In all animals, 

 and even in the races of man, the most distinctive feature 

 determining species and variety is the skull, from which the 

 skilled anatomist can readily determine the habits, and con- 

 sequent^ general form of the animal to which it belongs. 

 For the conformation of the skull containing the brain, is 

 formed either primarily or most gradually from the continued 

 habits the animal is adapted and subjected to, and is modified 

 but gradually through forced change or suspension of habit. 

 The form of the body is concomitant with that of the cra- 

 nium; therefore, on examining the skull of an animal, it is 

 not difficult in mo^t cases to pronounce what will be the form 

 of the carcass and limbs; nay, ex pede Herculem, insomuch if 

 a fairlv skilled anatomist has but a portion of the skull to 

 guide him he can form a fairly correct idea what the re- 

 mainder must have been like, and concomitantly that of the 

 body also. To the mastiff, or as it is sometimes incorrectly 

 and' pedantically termed, the mollossian group, belong the 

 mastiff, its stunted and exaggerated confrere the bulldog, and 

 the dwarfed and still more artificially exaggerated pug dog. 

 All these groups contain conformity of type, diametrically op- 

 posite to breeds like the hound, greyhound, or spaniel ; al- 

 though infusion of the blood of other species and circum- 

 stances, especially the ignorance and caprice of man, may 

 more or less modify or intensify the characteristics. 



"In the mastiff group the muzzle is markedly short, the 

 cranium elevated, the superior maxillary is wide and pondex-- 

 ous, the zygomatic arch is strongly developed and widely 

 divergent, the frontal bone is very thick and wide, the tem- 

 poral bones are strongly developed, the lower maxillary is 

 thick and massive, widely divergent and coovex, turning up 

 and naturally mclined to over-shutting the upper jaw. This 

 is a point that dog fanciers have contended and quarreled 

 about with as much fury and little more reason tnan their 

 dogs themselves will over a bone; and it is labor thrown away 

 to trv and teach the obstinate and wilfully ignorant that 

 nature intended the teeth of some animals to overshut, while 

 those of others to be level or undershut, so as to fit them best 

 for their respective habit. All dogs of the mastiff or baiting 

 kind should certainly be what is termed undershot, and if, 

 setting prejudice and ignorance aside, any one will only take 

 the trouble to investigate the matter in a naturalist's point of 

 view, for example, by examining the mouth of the ordinary 

 fresh- water pike, they will see that fluvial bulldog is consid- 

 erably undershot, in order to enable it to seize and hold more 

 securely its prey. 



"Here we see na' ure left to itself instructing us, if we have 

 but the sense to learn. The foregoing characteristics of the 

 mastiff group show that their natural habit is that of broad, 



*The "History of the Mastiff," gathered from sculpture, pottery, 

 carviDgs, paintings and engraviogs, also from various authors with 

 remarks on the same. By JVI. B. Wynn, honorary secretary and treas 7 

 urer of the late Mastiff Olub, and breeder and exhibitor of many prize 

 mastiffs. For sale by the Forest and Stream Publishing Oo. Price 

 $2.50. - ' ' 



