April, i p i 6 
27 
THE 
GENTLEMAN’S 
TERRIER 
WILLIAMS 
HAYNES 
The typical thoroughbred has a 
long, lean head with small. 
V-shaped ears set well up 
A CENTURY ago the fox ter¬ 
rier was just what his name 
says he is. “Terrier,” coined from 
the Latin terra, means literally a 
•dog to go to earth, and a fox ter¬ 
rier is—or rather was, for he has 
lost his original job—a dog used 
to hunt foxes in their underground 
dens. 
In those days fox hunting in 
England was not only good sport, 
hut real hunting as well. Reynard 
was drawn as he is to-day; the 
hounds thrown on his trail; the 
hunters following in the thrilling 
’cross country race. But the 
hounds and the horses were not 
•so fast then, and the sly rascal 
was often able to make good his 
•escape. So, lest he multiply to 
the extermination of all poultry, 
a sturdy little terrier, with in¬ 
structions to bring him out dead 
or alive, was sent into his den 
after him. 
But times and hunting customs changed. By careful selec¬ 
tive breeding the speed of the foxhounds was increased, and 
the infusion of Arabian blood produced the lithe, fast, thor¬ 
oughbred horse. The chunky little terrier was either trampled 
under foot, or, if he dodged the flying hoofs, he would be left 
far behind before half a dozen fields were crossed. He could 
no longer keep up with the hunt, so his friends set to work 
to follow the hound breeders’ example and breed for speed. 
They succeeded only in developing a lank, greyhoundy sort of 
terrier, fast enough, but lacking in stamina and much too big 
to do the work that was formerly expected 
•of him underground. Moreover, foxes were 
becoming less and less plentiful, and if one 
did hole up when hard pressed by the pack. 
The fox terrier is an ideal pal for healthy, active 
children, for he is full of “pepper." intelligence 
and abounding high spirits 
Cackler of Notts, an example of 
an earlier strain whose blood 
runs in modern champions. 
he was left safe in his haven, free 
to run another day. The fox ter¬ 
rier had lost his job. 
But because he was an attractive 
dog, a splendid companion and 
useful, too, as a rat catcher and 
night watchman, he did not sink 
into oblivion. The mad ’cross 
country race, which the fox hunt 
had become, having been given up, 
fox terrier breeders settled down 
to develop a sensible type. They 
did not return to the extremely 
chunky original, but they did get 
away from the lanky wastrel 
which the craze for speed had 
created. They found the happy 
medium, approximately the fox 
terrier we know to-day, a lithe, 
clean-cut dog, but small enough 
to be a real terrier. Ever since that 
time, fifty odd years ago, the breed 
has been perennially popular. 
His Traits and Popularity 
Nimble witted, game as a pebble, cheerful, affectionate, im¬ 
pudent sometimes, but always a plausible little rascal, the fox 
terrier is a dog after many men’s hearts. His high spirits 
may bubble over mischievously on occasion and the wanderlust 
in his inquisitive soul may take him roaming sometimes; but 
he is so clever and so winning in his ways that it is quite im¬ 
possible to resist him. He is just the best dog of all to win 
over the chronic dog-hater, for he embodies all the dog’s pro¬ 
verbial devotion with a little more than his share of other 
dogs’ intelligence, and he is decidedly good looking. He is a 
wholly delightful combination of the saucy, 
self-reliant cleverness of the street dog with 
the nice instincts and perfect carriage of 
(Continued on page 88) 
The whiskers and shaggy eyebrows of the A wholly delightful combina- The smooth coated fox terrier is a little 
wire give him a fascinating, quizzically alert tion of cleverness and thor- patrician, a clean-cut young gentleman of the 
expression of rough-and-readiness oughbred instincts beau monde, neat and trim 
