Dec. 28, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
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The Airedale’s Coat. 
Chicago, Ill., Dec. 17. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Reviewing Mr. Post’s interesting letter 
on Airedale judging is a little difficult, as it is 
such a joyous mixture of facts which have no' 
existence and fancies without foundation. 
First—No Airedale judge at all worthy of 
consideration insists upon the dark-colored coat 
or the dark-colored eye. I do not recall a 
single show in recent years in which the judge 
has not put up one or more dogs with gray or 
grizzled coats and one or more dogs with 
light-colored eyes. True, all other points being 
equal, a black coat i.s preferred, but all other 
things never are equal. Quality of coat is in¬ 
sisted upon and black is the most difficult color 
in which to obtain the harshness and density 
combined. So with a dark eye. The darker 
the eye, the better, but many a dog with com¬ 
paratively light eyes has won premier honors 
in the last three years. The Champion of 
Champions for at least two years in succession 
is a light-eyed dog. But—and here lies the 
difficulty—there are degrees in this as in other 
qualities. A yellow-eyed dog ought never to 
be put up. There are many good reasons for 
this, but the all-sufficing reason is that stand¬ 
ard reads “small dark eye deeply set.” If this 
is incorrect, the remedy is an appeal to the A. 
T. C. of America to change the standard, not 
an abuse of the judge who follows the standard. 
“Almost good” dogs with one glaring defect are 
easy to produce. The problem is to breed good 
qualities in and bad qualities out, and the 
nearest approximation to this gets the blue. 
Second—The statement that a dog can be 
got ready fit to show only four times a year is 
absurd. The steady campaigns of Ch. Red 
Raven, Ch. Prince of York, Ch. Tintern Royal¬ 
ist, Ch. King Oorang, Ch. Soudan Swiveller, 
Ch. Soudan Stamboul, Ch. Clonmel Isonomy, 
Ch. King Nobbier and numberless others dis¬ 
proves it without argument. True, any dog is 
best on some particular day, and naturally an 
effort is made to have this best condition coin¬ 
cide with the most important show, but it is 
not one time in a hundred that the effort suc¬ 
ceeds, yet the dog wins because he is the best 
dog on the day under the standard. Mr. Post 
has a litter of seven puppies born Election Day 
and all have a black coat and dark eyes. Five 
hundred other puppies born within thirty days 
each way from Election Day have black coats 
and dark eyes. Now, if the expectation based 
on pedigree be excluded, Omniscience only can 
say whether five of the five hundred will have 
black coats and dark eyes ten months hence. 
In fact, it is better than an even bet that Mr. 
Post cannot pick out the one of the seven 
which will have the darkest eye at one year old. 
Third—It is true that some dogs are bad 
actors in the show ring; it is also true that all 
judges penalize such a dog when he appears, 
and there are times when such a dog should be 
given the gate. Idowever, this is so much more 
the fault of the handler than the dog, that one 
should move carefully. No one ever saw the 
late “Auchairnie” Smith, George Thomas or 
Richard Abbott show a dog whose ring deport¬ 
ment was not almost the perfection of gentle 
and restrained dignity. A genuine handler al¬ 
ways controls his dog more with voice than 
with lead. I have never yet seen the Airedale 
which could not be trained, but I know scores 
of dog owners and dog showers who have 
neither the skill nor the patience to train a 
dog. 
The best bear dogs, the best lynx dogs and 
the best mountain lion hunters I have ever 
bred have been from the best prize winning 
stock. I am therefore constrained to believe 
either that Mr. Post is in error in his sweeping 
generality concerning the dogs now being bred 
or he has had a very unfortunate and an isolated 
experience. 
The judge is trustee of a little brief author¬ 
ity and charged with the duty of so discharging 
this trust as to improve the best qualities of 
the entire breed. Fie is corrected and helped 
by criticism. Personally, I like the critics—in 
part because I do not have to agree with them. 
Edwin A. Munger. 
The Psychology of the Dog. 
(Canis familiaris). 
The dog is a very highly organized verte¬ 
brate, and in zoology it shares with man him¬ 
self the distinction of being included in the class 
mammalia. The earliest remains of this class 
have been traced to the Jurassic period, but be¬ 
yond this fact nothing is accurately known of 
the origin of the dog. It seems highly probable, 
however, that the Canidce family, which includes 
dogs, wolves, jackals and foxes, was derived 
from a common source in remote prehistoric 
times, from a group of promammalian carnivores 
which were distributed over the central regions 
of both hemispheres. This view is supported by 
the fact that all sorts of dogs, no matter how 
different in size, shape, color and habits they may 
be, yet they interbreed freely, the offspring of 
such union being almost invariably fertile; and 
further, these “crosses,” under favorable condi¬ 
tions, show a readiness to revert to the wild 
state. In this respect they show a remarkable 
similitude to the pigeon family (Columba vidia). 
These, like the Canidas, no matter how many 
varieties may be produced by the selective art 
of the breeder, all tend to revert to the original 
rock pigeon found on the European coasts. 
It is a long call from the crowned pigeon to 
the turtle dove, but perhaps not so long as be¬ 
tween a St. Bernard and a Yorkshire terrier, or 
between both these and a greyhound. 
As is well known, the dog is by nature and 
by necessity a hunter, and in his wild state he 
lived by the chase, trusting to the fleetness of 
his limbs rather than to methods of cunning and 
strategy like his congener the fox. It is gen¬ 
erally supposed that the dog was the first wild 
animal that was domesticated by man, and the 
reason is not far to seek. 
Our savage ancestors, in common with those 
Kennel. 
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None genuine unless stamped thus X 
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118 W. 31st Street NEW YORK 
FOR SALE. 
Champion Lake Dell Damsel and Endcliffe Briarwood 
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DOGS FOR SALE. 
Do you want to buy a dog or pup of any kind? If so, 
send for list and prices of all varieties. Always on hand. 
OXFORD KENNELS, 
35 North Ninth St., Philadelphia, Pa. 
The 
American Kennel Gazette 
Subscription, $2.00 per year 
1 Liberty Street New York 
Gives all official news of the American Kennel 
Club, including registrations, with addresses of 
owners and breeders, fixtures, club officials, ac¬ 
tive members, official awards of shows, and can¬ 
cellations and corrections. 
Breeders’ Register for names of breeders by States. 
Stud Dog Register for names of stud dog* by States. 
These Registers have proved of great benefit to 
many. Fee only $2.00 per year for each breed 
of the dog, were obliged to shift for a living, 
and they both found in the chase the most ready 
and congenial expedient; a fact which no doubt 
brought them into early association for a com¬ 
mon purpose—their mutual help and agreeable 
companionship. 
To this fact more than any other is due 
the highly developed intelligence and emotional 
nature of the dog as well as his (at least rudi¬ 
mentary) ethical, or moral sense, as well as his 
veneration and unfailing fidelity to his master 
in the protection of whose life and property he 
is at all times ready to sacrifice his life if neces¬ 
sary. The nature of his attachment to and 
genuine affection for his master has often been 
exhibited by his dog often following him to the 
grave, the result of uncontrollable grief 011 ac¬ 
count of his bereavement. 
Closely related to his emotional nature is 
the dog’s moral sense. Any civilized (if the 
term may be used) dog, when detected in doing 
what he knew he should not have done, will 
appear quite ashamed of himself, and will cower 
