190 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



(Sen?. 26, 1889- 



GERMAN DOGDOM. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I was once rash euough to venture within the precincts of 

 a. German dog show held by the Gifno Munnybrize Club at 

 Veel-under-Diin. The show was inaugurated under the 

 special patronage of H S. H. the Emperor of all the Ger- 

 mans, and was supported by 300 real live princes, 400 ditto 

 dukes, and a list of counts that filled twenty pages of the 

 catalogue. Resolved to luxuriate in the realms of royalty 

 for once in my life, and to allow my dogs the privilege of re- 

 ceiving a princely pat, I entered them at the show, and my 

 experiences I detail for the benefit of your readers. 



My reason for recounting the thrilling incidents which 

 happened to me is, that several people on this side are advo- 

 cating at the present moment the imperative necessity of 

 tempting one of the Kaiser's "faithful children" from his 

 fatherland, in order to enlighten the children of liberty and 

 freedom, with respect to the graceful proportions of the 

 breed of dogs known as the "Deutsche Doggeu, "or in vulgar 

 parlance, the great Dane. It is not my intention to inflict 

 on my readers the pros and cons of that vital question, 

 "Whether the English for the breed should lie great Dane, 

 boarhound, sooner, or any other title," but it will be my 

 best endeavor to prove, by stating facts, the thorough com- 

 petency of any one of the "Kaiser's children," to undertake 

 the duties of enlightening a nation with respect to. this grand 

 and noble breed. 



In May last year a friend and myself conceived the idea of 

 taking a string of dogs to a show held in Germany, at Veel- 

 uuder-Diin. On the list of judges were Princes, Counts, 

 Dukes, a scattering of Herr Von's, and a meagre display of 

 plain Herrs. To have our dogs handled by such dis- 

 tinguished officials made our plebian veins swell again and 

 agaiu in anticipation of future honors. 



Our entries came to twenty-seven all told. They included 

 a champion deerhound, a champion otterhound, a ditto 

 mastiff, two bloodhounds, a champion great Dane, ditto 

 smooth and wire fox-terrier, etc., etc., some of which we 

 borrowed of friends, but of course we entered them in the 

 proper owners' names. 



Oar route was from London, via Harwich and Antwerp, a 

 Monday morning smiling on the commencement of our 

 undertaking. Everything went well uutil half way across 

 the German ocean, when a dense fog persistently enveloped 

 us for several hours; this made our arrival at Antwerp 

 late, and consequently the fat-headed driver of the van that 

 was to convey our dogs across the city to the station, which 

 is naturally a long way from the quay, had, with that per- 

 spicuity which so distinguishes many of his class, driven 

 away just before our arrival, therefore we had to wait two 

 hours at the sweet will of this sublimely uncultured and 

 unwashed child of the soil. After nearly' breaking a blood 

 vessel in his heart-rending endeavor to prove how pros- 

 trated he was with grief at his negligence, and after giving 

 apoplexy a chance of utterly extinguishing what was un- 

 doubtedly a noble nature, and having proved beyond a 

 doubt that we were the two greatest men on the face' of the 

 earth, this intelligent creature rallied sufficiently to under- 

 take the task of serving us, the delights of which had en- 

 thralled him all his life; so eventually we had the satisfac- 

 tion of seeing our dogs duly enscoused. in a special wagon, 

 at a special charge, to be delivered at Veel-under-Diin at a 

 special rate of speed. The hour of departure from this in- 

 teresting seaport was 5 P. M. Tuesday. The understa nding 

 between Smith and myself was, as long as we were in a 

 French-speaking country I was to enlighten its subjects as 

 to the proper pronunciation of their language, but when we 

 arrived on German territory he would distinguish himself 

 by his fluency in that tongue, and as I could not speak a 

 word of the latter this arrangement seemed feasible. 



"We had not got far out of Brussels before I began to have 

 misgivings as to the genuineness of the solemn assurances 

 given us at Antwerp that the dogs would travel by the same 

 train we were in. and at every stop with great volubility I 

 demonstrated my knowledge of French and the purity of 

 my pronunciation. However, all things come to an end; at 

 10 that night my career as a linguist had terminated, and it 

 was Smith's turn to pour forth his rich mine of knowledge, 

 for at Aix la Chapelle we had arrived on German territory, 

 and here it was where he could utterly eclipse all my pre- 

 vious efforts. 



Out he jumped, his breast swelling with self-conscious 

 superiority, raised his hat to the station master, and ad- 

 dressed him in these words, the meaning of which I have 

 never yet been able to have interpreted, ' 'Das Hunde u- Wagon ; 

 das Hunden." The station master smiled pleasantly and in 

 a confident tone replied, "Yah, yah; yah, yah." "All right, 

 old man," says Smith, "the dogs are on the same tram. " 

 But as "yah" repeated four times didn't seem to me to have 

 sufficient variety to mean that the dogs were all right, etc., 

 I went to look for myself; but there they were. So I came 

 to the conclusion that I at least knew one sentence in Ger- 

 man, and that was that "yah" repeated four times had ref- 

 erence to dogs in a train, etc. When at Cologne, and sub- 

 sequently Mayeuce, Smith repeated the same mystic words 

 and "yah" multiplied four times was always the response. 

 I was then coufident I could add German to my many other 

 accomplishments; but at 6 Wednesday morning my power 

 as a German linguist and Smith's evident control of the 

 language received a body blow, for at this hour we arrived 

 at Veel-under-Diin, and evidently minus our dogs. Then it 

 was I discovered the extent of Smith's fluency by the rapid 

 and unvaried way in which he thrust "Das Hunden-Wagon" 

 upon the unhappy head of the station master, who could 

 only repeat "yah, yah," which revealed to me the fact that 

 Smith, as a linguist, was a most untarnished fraud, and 

 that anything a German did- not understand was answered 

 by "yah, yah" out of politeness. 



Well, here was a pretty kettle of fish; the dogs had had 

 nothing to eat since Tuesday midday, and this was Wednes- 

 day dawning upon us, and all we could gather about them, 

 was "Yah, yah;" so, much to Smith's disgust and annoy- 

 ance, I engaged an interpreter to get at the bottom of 

 things as soon as possible. He gathered the interesting fact 

 that the station master knew nothing about the dogs, 'what 

 route they would come, where they were likely to be, or 

 anything else; the only thing he was confident about was, 

 that no dogs would come to that station, but would lie sure 

 to arrive at another, about two miles off. Here we comforted 

 ourselves by learning that they certainly would not come 

 there, but to another station only two miles further away. 

 Thither we went, only to receive the respectful assur- 

 ance of its station master, that no dogs could possibly 

 arrive there, but would without doubt arrive at the one 

 we had come from. Well, to cut a long story short, all 

 Wednesday was spent in telegraphing " to every impor- 

 tant station in Germany, Belgium and Holland, but not 

 a trace could we get of the dogs, and as judging commenced 

 at 7 Thursday morning, and the poor beggars were still at 

 the mercy of some frivolous son of the Fatherland or other 

 Smith and myself began to have a gulpy feeling in the 

 throat, as we thought of a favorite locked in his box, per- 

 haps dying from suffocation or thirst. Never again do I 

 want to go through what I did that Wednesday, and es- 

 pecially during the night; but what joy it was, when at 6 

 Thursday morning we were unfastening the boxes, and 

 fondling each dog as he came jutnpiag out. At last our 

 continual traverse of; the equilateral triangle formed by the 

 three stations was at an end, and our long anticipated en- 

 joyment of princely association was to be realized, so with 

 glad hearts and happy thoughts we attended to our dogs' 

 wants, and spruced them up for their coming contests. 



The ordinary details of the show were excellent, Spratts 

 doing the benching and feeding, and everything else being 



carried out on an elaborate scale. There were spaciously 

 fenced in judging rings, which, by the by, had a notice 

 posted up that owners wishing to use them for their dogs 

 could do so on payment of a certain sum, which imposition 

 was judiciously not enforced, and everything conducive to 

 the comfort of the dogs had evideutlv'been made a study. 

 The number of entries were, I believe* in excess of any pre- 

 vious show in Germany, and "specialist" judges had been 

 engaged; real live, full-blown soldiers we're for the nonce 

 engaged in looking after the dogs' instead of their country, 

 an occupation they apparently relished after the monotony 

 of garrison life. Away at some distance from the spacious 

 building was a large artistically arranged stand, in which 

 one of the military bands performed that music for which 

 the country is so noted; in fact, everything was on a gor- 

 geous scale, even to the ponderous badges which each 

 official conspicuously exposed to the admiring gaze of the 

 crowd. 



But, although everything connected with this great exhi- 

 bition was on so lavish a scale, all paled at the imposing 

 demeanor of the judges, as they walked with dignified and 

 self-conscious air into the different rings. Never shall I for- 



et the reverence and awe with which they inspired me; 



ad I been in the presence of some great tribunal, its effect 

 could not have been more complete. These men were judges, 

 judges which until then had been but an indistinct flicker 

 of my imagination; judges whose glance should have ren- 

 dered immortal every dog on whom it fell; judges whose 

 slightest commendation should perpetuate forever and ever 

 the image of that dog who was the lucky recipient. Such 

 were the impressions that passed through my mind as I felt 

 the influence of these grandiose airs. 



An otter hound, considered in England the best of its 

 variety, was the first to share with me this trying ordeal, and 

 may such an experience, as was this my novitiate, never fall 

 to the lot of any reader of these lines; for having accustomed 

 myself to the great atmospheric oppressiveness, over which 

 three of these inspiring individuals reigned supreme; cold- 

 blooded reality revealed to me the fact they, one and all, 

 were intently studying the records of each dog as laid down 

 in the catalogue. Yes, these unapproachable arbiters of 

 dogs' destinies were determining their fate by a previous 

 list of wins. Talk about the thunderbolt on Brooklyn's 

 balmy heights, not even that could produce such a shock as 

 did this exposure of utter incompetency on the part of these 

 sumptuously decorated officials. Defeat seemed certain 

 from a long-bodied, hollow-backed thiug. that I discovered 

 had never been beaten in this land of a paternal king, and 

 all its population, "his children." A bold stroke was neces- 

 sary, and having fortunately discovered the only committee- 

 man who appeared to me to understand the language of this 

 country, I divulged to him, as a deep secret, the fact that 

 my dog was considered in England the best ever seen. Such 

 a secret was a great deal too burdensome to confide to a not 

 over-strong but highly over-strung nature, and consequently 

 he gave it away to one of the impostors, who in turn trans- 

 ferred it to his fellow participators in the attitudinizing 

 line. Therefore, Q. E. D., as Euclid would say, these bene- 

 factors to the canine concluded, after inflicting my hound 

 and his hollow-backed opponent with an hour of ostenta- 

 tious officiousness, garnished with au active display of 

 incessant jabbering, much sapient shaking of heads, and 

 other details so esssential a part of the duties of an official 

 judge, that my dog, after a contest which for closeness was 

 unparalleled, was the hundredth part of an inch longer in 

 ear than his opponent, a,nd on this superiority they awarded 

 him the prize. So ended my first experience of a German as 

 a judge of dogs. 



As the day progressed many and varied were the autics 

 which the other exhibitors and myself were called upon to 

 witness. Smith, whose first exhibit was a Newfoundland, 

 had not fared so well as I; although Lion was a real good 

 typical dog, with a proper flat coat, he had only succeeded 

 in getting vhc. to a pack of curly-coated brutes, whose sole 

 claim to the breed w T as their color. He, unfortunately, had 

 discovered the vwdus operandi too late, and had to defer 

 proclaiming the many prizes his dogs had won until another 

 opportunity occurred; but poor Smith had not long to wait, 

 for he was showing one of the national dogs, the "Deutsche 

 Doggeu," or great Danes. This breed being judged by three 

 professed specialists this time, there was no timid hesitancy 

 in telling tree professed specialist of the three p. s.; how she 

 had always been considered the speciman of all others in 

 England. Result, ecstatic rhapsodies on the professed spe- 

 cialists'' part in behalf "de most beaut'fullest Deutsche Dog- 

 gen as had ever was ; " but when the crucial poiut arrived, 

 "demost beautiful lest," etc., was only awarded second to 

 "de most miserablest, light-boned, skimped-up blue devil 

 as ever was." The explanation was that the disgrace would 

 be too much for a great Dane to come from England and 

 beat all the specimens on their own soil. This may 

 seem the wild, acrid statement of a prejudiced mind, 

 but I respectfully beg to correct any such erroneous 

 idea, for it is nothing but the plain unadorned truth. Had 

 another, that was led by a private soldier in the guise of a 

 keeper, been placed first, then one could bave excused any 

 previous discrepancies, as she was really better than the one 

 Smith was showing, but as she had never been exhibited be- 

 fore, there was unfortunately no string of wins attached to 

 her name, and as an ordinary attendant led her in the ring, 

 the three pretenders had no line whatever, except their own 

 fathomless discernment, to go on with, which f. d. deter- 

 mined that she was worthy of a commendation; but I 

 noticed that after a good offer for this commended specimen 

 of "Deutsche Doggeu" had come from England, she carried 

 all before her, and beat those, that until this English offer 

 came, had beaten her. 



Another little incident, and I am through. Smith was 

 awarded second iu another breed, with a bitch who was a 

 champion and at the top of the tree; on remonstrating about 

 the decision, the judge informed him that on no considera- 

 tion would he put a bitch over a dog; consequently he 

 awarded the best dog first. This was the culminating blow 

 to an already long list of misadventures, and as Smith falls 

 lifeless in my arms, let a thin gauze of hazy indistinctness 

 fall o'er the scenes of my first, and if the Lord be merciful, 

 my last, experience of the German as a judge of dogs, 



Brittle. 



CENTRAL CLUB'S FREE-FOR-ALL. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



Our club has decided to give an additional stake, which 

 will be known as the "Free-for-AU Stake," open to all 

 pointers and setters without regard to previous winnings. 

 There will be but one money (§1,0001 to winner, no second or 

 third place, $50 forfeit, $50 additional to fill. Entries for 

 this stake will close Nov. 1. Pointers and setters will be 

 drawn together, not separately, as in the All- Aged Stake. 

 The Free-for-All State will be run at Lexington, N. C, and 

 will be started within three days after the running of the 

 All-Aged Stake is completed. We will issue separate entry 

 blanks for the Free-for-All Stake, and trust that none of our 

 patrons will confound this stake with our All- Aged Stake, 

 which closes Oct, 12, in which setters will be run by them- 

 selves and the pointers by themselves. Forfeit money must 

 accompany the entry and the additional money to fill must 

 be paid when the drawing fakes place the night before the 

 race is started. The published rules of the Central Field 

 Trial Club will govern this race, except that each heat will 

 be exactly four hours, neither more nor less. There will be 

 no preliminary series, but the winner and loser of each heat 

 will be declared in the first series. For entry blank and 

 other information our patrons will kindly apply to 



Central Field Trial Club, 

 C. H. Odell, Sec'y and Treas. ? Mills Building, N. Y 



DOG TALK. 



DR. WILLIAM A. HAMMOND asserts that there is on 

 record no authenticated case of a cure of hydrophobia: 

 but probably Dr. Hammond never heard of Mr. G. L. Brown; 

 of 285 Devonshire street, Boston, and his pills. The pills are 

 warranted to cure, nay, have cured, the most aggravated 

 cases of sure-enough hydrophobia. They are compounded 

 by a secret formula, bought of a Maryland man who said 

 his grandfather gave 81,000 for it. Mr. Brown, having 

 secured the recipe, now turns out the pills himself and re- 

 commends every dog owner to have them in the house. He' 

 charges 11 a piece for them, but they are "large pills." so- 

 the price is not out of proportion. Mr. Brown sets forth 

 that his main purpose is to benefit his fellow men by selling 

 them hydrophobia pills; if he is really hungering after fame 

 as a philanthropist we advise him to send his pill secret to 

 us for publication. If hydrophobia pills are to be consumed 

 in large quantities by an appreciative and grateful public 

 the $1 tax must be taken off, for most people are stupid 

 enough to fool with biting dogs, and never a pill in their 

 pockets. 



Mr. J. C. Anderson, of Chattanooga, Tenn., has received 

 from the kennel of Mr. S. W. Smith, Leeds, Eng., two St. 

 Bernards that will undoubtedly prove a great acquisition 

 not only to their owner, but to the breeders in his vicinity. 

 Prince Regent (formerly Don of Leeds) is a large dog of 

 good color and markings. He stands nearly Soin. at the 

 shoulder and weighs in poor condition about ISOlbs. He 

 was whelped iu February, 18S7, and is by Pliulimmon and 

 out of Smith's Miss Meg. Commodore Valentine, the other 

 one, is not yet mature; he is very promising. He was 

 whelped May 28, .1888, and is by Plinlimmon and out of Lady 

 Adelaide. 



Mr. Hough sends us this from Chicago: "The intelligent 

 telegraph editor of the dailypress has been once more getting 

 in his work in the matter of field sports. I note that the 

 dispatches in one of our big dailies here show the results of 

 the recent 'rabbit-chasing contests' of theN. C. A. at Louis- 

 ville, and mention among other things the fact that ' Land- 

 run's blue and white dog Count ran with Abyc.' I think 

 this is the same old Abye that I have met while trying to 

 send a telegraphic report of a coursing meet to the Associ- 

 ated Press. The intelligent telegraph editor knows more 

 about a left-hand biff than he does about a bye-dog." 



Two correspondents sign their names to a note sent to 

 Land and Water, recording that a sportsman, who was out 

 shooting with a favorite black retriever, in the act of firing 

 at a rabbit, accidentally shot the dog. Seeiug that the 

 dog was wounded, he was too overcome for a moment to go 

 and see what damage he had done. Before he had recov- 

 ered himself the dog came to him retrieving his own tail, 

 which had been shot clean off, and laid it at his master's 

 feet. 



Entries for the Daubury dog show close on Saturday. 

 Although the fair is held during the whole of the week, the 

 dog department will be ruu only from Wednesday morning 

 until Saturday at 10 o'clock A. M. The judges are Mr. E. S. 

 Porter, New Haven, Conn., and Mr. James" Watson. Phila- 

 delphia. The address of the secretary is B. C. Lyon's, Dan- 

 bury, Conn. 



The first annual dog show of the Georgia Pet Stock and 

 Bench Show Association will be held at Augusta, Ga., Jan. 

 13 to 18. The management announce that a liberal premium 

 list will be issued. Mr. Johu Davidson will judge all classes. 

 Mr A H. Afouderleith, Augusta, Ga., is the secretary. 



The report of the annual meeting of the Canadian Kennel 

 Club is unavoidably crowded out this week. 



DEATH OF OTHO.— Arlington. N. J.. Sept. 21. -Editor 

 Forest and Stream: Champion Otho died on the 19th from 

 disease of the kidneys. He was born in August. was 

 bred by Mr. F. W. Rothera, Simcoe, Out., and was by Hollo 

 out of champion Lady Abbess, He was well known all over 

 the country for his magnificent head and front. We miss 

 him as much as if he had been a member of our family. 

 Will there ever be another St. Bernard raised in this conn 

 try with a model head like Otho's?— K. E. Hdpf. 



KENNEL NOTES. 



NAMES CLAIMED. 

 £ST~ Notes mast be sent on tne Prepared Blanks. 



Tallow River Joe. By L. K. Avery, Bremen, Ind., for Murk, 

 white and tan beagle dog, whelped June 0, 1884, Mark Anthony 

 (imported Major— Diana) out of Flora (imported Riugwood- 

 Juliet). 



Yellow River Music. By L. K. Avery, Bremen, Iud., for black 

 and white beagle bitch, whelped July 17, 1880. by Goodwood Hal- 

 tier (A.K.R. 3812) out of Goodwood Mu^ic (A.K.R. 3*1 1). 



Lord Chandler, Lord Elesmcrc, Parone, Virgle E. and Lulu Lee. 

 By Eberhart Pug Kennels, Cincinnati, O., for silver fawn pugs, 

 three dogs and two bitches, whelped Sept. 1, 1889, by Joe IE 

 (champion Joe— Maudie) out of East Luke Virtue (champion Brad- 

 ford Ruby— Puss B.). 



.Dido II. By Joseph Hayes, Manchester, N. TEL. for red Irish set- 

 ter bitch, whelped July 1, 1887, by Suil-a-Mor (Claremonl— Dido) 

 out of Nora (Cigar— Belie). 



BRED. 



£W Motes mast be sent on tne Prepared Blanks. 



Hilda— Grim Bayard. T. N. Vail's (Roxbury, Mass.) St. Bernard 

 bitch Hilda to American Kennels' Grus Bayard, Aug. 24. 



Knight's Belle— Muni; of Fumes*. Elms Kennels' (Forest Lake, 

 Minn.) English setter bitch Knight's Belle to P. H. Gotzian's 

 Monk of Eurness, Sept. 8. 



Spunkey— Little Red Rover. Theo. J. Hook's (Rome, N. Y.) 

 cocker spaniel bitch Spunkey (A.K.R. 0572) to his champion Little 

 Red Rover (champion Obo II.— Woodstock Dinah', July 8. 



Walk-in Bess— Little Red Rover. F. P. Servev's (Route, N. Y.) 

 cocker spaniel bitch Walkill Bess ( Walkill Silk— Walkiil Blanche I 

 to Theo. J. Hook's champion Little Red Rover (champion Obo II. 

 —Woodstock Dinah), Sept. 0. 



New Forest Russet— Tenhro eel; . T. J. Tyrell's (Philadelphia, Pa ) 

 fox-terrier bitch New Forest Russet (New Forest Rustic— Ga\ ) to 

 W. T. MeAlees's Tenbroeck (Raby Mixer— Temptation), Sept. 15. 

 WHELPS. 



t~&~ Notes must be sent on tbe Prepared Blanks. 



My. E. F. Vacheron's (Woodhaven, L. I.) greyhound bitch Fly 

 (George Washington — Louisette). Aug. 1-1, eight, (three dogs), by 

 H. W. Huntington's champion Bauds (Cly to— Primrose). 



Miss Pug. Eberhart Pug Kennels' (Cincinnati, O.) pug bitch 

 Miss Pug, Aug. 3, five (three, dogs), by their Bradford Ruby II. 

 (champion Bradford Rub\ — Puss B.). 



Miss Topsy- Eberhart Pug Kennels' (Cincinnati, O.) pug hitch 

 Miss Topsy, Aug. 23, four (two dogs), by their Douglass If. (Doug- 

 lass I.— June). 



Pandora. John R.oggc's (New York) English setter bitch Pan- 

 dora (A.K.R. 2425), May 21, four (three dogs), by Rock Belton (Yale 

 Bel ton— Princess Lilly). 



Spunkey. Theo. J. Hook's (Rome, N. Y.) cocker spaniel bitch 

 Spuukey (A.K.R. 0572), Sept. 13, seven dogs, bv Lis champion Little 

 Red Rover (champion Oho 11.— Woodstock Dinah); one red. 



Goldsmith Venus. A. M. Goldsmith's (Chicago, Hi.) Yorkshire 

 terrier bitch Goldsmith Venus (Bradford Harry -Biddy), Aug. 21, 

 two bitches, by P. H. Coombs's Bradford Harry (Grawshaw's 

 Bruce— Beat's Lady); both since dead. 



PRESENTATIONS. 



Pandora. Blue beltou English setter bitch, whelped Julv 25, 

 1884, by Don Juan out of Petrel III., by C. H. Mcilwain, Treuton, 

 N. J., to John Rogge. New York. 



Rock Belton— Pandora whelps. Black, white and tan English 

 setters, whelped May 21, 1889, by John Rjgge, New York, a dog to 

 Dr. C. H. Mcllwaine, Trenton, N. J,, and a hitch to Dr. Bathgate, 

 Morrisania, N. Y. 



