HOUSE AND GARDEN 
335 
less lenient with a dog? But, give a dog a bad name and hang 
him! 
Unfortunately, the bull terrier’s bad name, which he so little 
deserves, has been kept alive. The daily papers delight to tell 
stories about dogs, very good dogs and very bad dogs. The very 
good dogs — they mourn themselves into a decline over Master’s 
grave, or fish the 
children out of the 
mill pond—are al¬ 
ways, in the news¬ 
papers, a collie or 
a St. Bernard. The 
very bad dogs — 
these go mad or 
bite the children on 
the way to and 
from school—inva¬ 
riably appear in 
the daily press as 
a bulldog or a bull 
terrier. Obviously, 
all canine vices and 
all canine virtues 
cannot be concen¬ 
trated in these four 
varieties. This 
strange peculiarity 
of all newspaper 
dog stories has, however, done not a little to create the impres¬ 
sion that any dog with bull in his name is a vicious, faithless 
wretch. 
This erroneous idea has also been propagated by the alleged 
sport of dog fighting. The dogs fought in the pit are, however, a 
very different animal from the true bull terrier, though, unfor¬ 
tunately, they often steal his own fair name and go masquerad¬ 
ing. In truth they are a nondescript lot, produced without regard 
for purity of breeding or uniformity of type, the sole object be¬ 
ing to get a four-footed fighting machine. Of course, they are 
game, and of course they are natural born scrappers. In details 
they differ greatly, and in weight also, but, generally speaking, 
they are thick-headed, heavy-shouldered animals, marked with 
spots of black, brown, brindle or yellow, very unlike the wedge¬ 
headed, clean-cut, snow-white bull terrier. They are, moreover, 
quite as different in breeding and disposition as in looks. Dog 
fighting is a fly-by-night sport, but for this very reason the con¬ 
fusion between the thoroughbred and the pit dog has been 
fostered. 
At the time Pierce Egan penned his vivid eulogy the “new bull 
and terrier dog’’ was, in looks, much like the pit dog of to-day. 
As he now stands, the bull terrier is the product of a century’s 
careful breeding. With the Boston terrier, since both were made 
out of the same materials, the old bull and terrier cross, he is a 
striking demonstration of what man can accomplish by continued, 
conscious selection in breeding. Much, I came near to saying 
most, of the bull terrier’s physical improvement was due to the 
Hicks family — father and son. In their famous kennels in Bir¬ 
mingham, England, were developed the wedged-shaped head, the 
distinctive sting tail and the pure white jacket. Madman, Old 
Dutch, and Gully the Great were probably the greatest of the 
great Hicks’ dogs. Madman was the first dog of really classic type 
the breed saw. He made his debut in 1864, and proved not only a 
great winner, but also a great sire. Old Dutch, on the other 
hand, was no show dog, being very faulty in front, but he pos¬ 
sessed a truly wonderful head, and I have had it from “old 
timers” that to him the present-day bull terrier owes, in a great 
measure, his clean skull and strong foreface. Gully the Great, 
who was eventually imported to this country in 1893 by Mr. Frank 
F. Dole, of New Haven, was, like Madman, both show dog and 
sire. Other breeders than the Hickses and other great dogs than 
these three have been factors in the making of the bull terrier, but 
even a mere catalogue of their names would fill pages of House 
and Garden, and there is no room for them in an article like this. 
The bull terrier that wins at the bench shows to-day must be a 
bright, active dog, moving, as has been aptly said, “smoothly.” 
Pie must stand well up on his toes, with an air of dreamy alert¬ 
ness that is quite typical. Plis skull must be flat on top, without 
any stop, or dent, between the eyes. His foreface must be well 
filled in below the eyes, terminating in a big, black, blunt nose. In 
these points lie the secret of the wedge head and the famous down 
face, so distinctive of the variety. His eyes must be dark and 
bright, almond shaped, and set in at quite an acute angle with the 
top line of his head. These Chinese eyes of his give him that 
peculiar, dreamy-wicked expression so greatly desired by all 
judges. His front, though it is wider than in the other terriers, 
must he straight, with heavily boned legs and clean, sloping 
shoulders. Strong, springy pasterns and compact, well-arched 
feet alone will carry him to the blue ribbon. His chest must be 
deep and his back shortish, while his hindquarters must be strong 
and muscular, with well-lowered hocks. A judge expects his tail 
to be thick at the base and gradually tapering to a fine point, like 
the sting of a wasp, and he will penalize him if he carries his 
tail any way but straight out behind on a level with the line of 
his back. Plis coat must be fine, round his lips and on his under¬ 
parts one can see his pink skin through its fine covering, and the 
hair has a peculiar, satin-like gloss to its whiteness. Any mark¬ 
ing, save possibly a very small spot, and that must only be of pale 
lemon color, will handicap him out of any chance of figuring in 
the higher awards, since not for nothing is he called the “white 
’un.” In one thing he has considerable latitude. He may vary 
from thirty-five to fifty-five 
pounds in weight. Our 
have of late years been 
to a lithe, racy, upstand 
terrier, but recently th 
been raised a cry for a r 
the old, more solid, thong 
means cloddy, type pr 
still in England. 
England, however, is n 
the headquarters of the 
The law disqualifying f 
British bench shows 
any dogs with cropped 
ears sounded the 
death knell of the bull 
terrier's long-standing 
and well - deserved 
popularity. The un¬ 
cropped dogs lose 
their trim appearance 
and typical expres¬ 
sion, and, as the older 
fanciers of the “white 
’un” gradually drop 
out, no new recruits 
fill the ranks. It 
seems to be but a 
question of time when 
the breed will follow 
the footprints of the 
Manchester terrier 
( Cont. on page 365) 
Pie is the product of a century’s careful breeding— 
wedge-nose, blunt, black snout, with dark and bright, 
almond-shaped eyes 
In absolute contradiction to all popular opinion, aL 
“white un" is a capital dog with children, kind, 
gentle, strong and long suffering 
