Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

and have none of his points exaggerated. He should neither be a hound nor a terrier, but a type of his own.

The following champion dogs are considered by my contributors the most typical in the breed :—Sloan, Snakes Prince, Wirral Hollybranch, Hollyberry, Sly Boots, Clifton Wonder, Doreen, Lenchen, and Brandesburton Mimosa. I am glad to be able to include four of these in my illustrations, as well as a picture of Waldmann, a dog of a quarter of a century ago, which is interesting for comparison with the present type.

Ch. Sloan was bred by Mrs. Smith, and is the property of Mr. N. D. Smith; he is by Ch. Hotspur ex Semolina, and was born in August 1898. He stands 10 inches at shoulder, weighs 21 lbs., and is of a golden red colour. He has clear hazel eyes, brown nose, ears set well back, coat short and strong, girths 21 inches, and is 42 inches from tip of nose to tip of tail. Two or three pounds less weight would improve him in his owner's opinion. He has won five championships, seventeen first prizes, and is a marvellous sire of winners, his progeny including Brandesburton Mimosa, and many other dogs with great reputations.

Ch. Wirral Hollybranch was bred by Mrs. Bradbury, and is owned by Mr. A. Bradbury; his sire was Brandesburton Minimus and his dam Carmen Sylva, and he was born in December 1900. He is a red dog of good quality, very shapely in body, with good loin, nice type of head, and well placed ears. He stands well on his pads and is thoroughly sound. He has won five championships, and twenty-seven first, challenge cups, etc. He has recently been placed at stud, so that he has not had time to produce winning progeny yet, but great things are hoped for.

Ch. Hollybranch, litter brother to the last-named, is very like him in every way. He is a dark-red dog, very active, nice sized body with plenty of muscle, deep in keel, and good stern. Clean in head, stands well, and is quite sound. He is the winner of three championships and twenty-three first and special prizes. Ch. Snakes Prince was bred by Mrs. ex Victoria Ivedon, and born in June A. C. de Boinville, describes him as 22 lbs., and measuring 10 inches at shoulder. Eyes, clear hazel; nose and claws, brown; strong and very thick, short coat; loose, leathery skin; faultless teeth; perfectly level mouth and

de Boinville, by Woodin 1897. His owner, Mr. "a red dog, weighing

good jaw; well placed tail, strong and flat at root, well finished and tapering; well-shaped ears, thrown out forward when excited. Measurements: Length of head, 8 inches; length of tail, 9 inches; over all, 40 inches; chest measurement, 22 inches. Snakes Prince has won four championships and thirty-three first prizes, and is the sire of Ch. Lenchen and many winning dachshunds."

[graphic][ocr errors][merged small]

THE DEERHOUND

THE magic pen of Scott and the marvellous brush. of Landseer found a subject not unworthy of their genius in the Scottish deerhound, and they may be said to have educated the modern English-speaking peoples into an appreciation of this noble and beautiful breed. Around it hangs the halo of romance; we connect it with Gelert saving its master's infant from the wolf, and with that spendid creature in The Talisman, which is reputed to have saved the life of Richard Cœur de Lion; we admire it in Landseer's matchless canvases, where it is ever nobly used to add to the stories it illustrates the spirit of the chase or the pathos of canine fidelity. It is associated in the minds of the least doggy people with nothing that is ignoble, but on the contrary appeals to them with the humanised instinct of the St. Bernard and the Newfoundland. As a type of dog I doubt whether the mere picture of any other breed can excel it in creating emotion and admiration, or recalling the glow that comes from aristocratic and heroic associations.

And yet, to be just to dog shows, it is indisputable that they arrived just in time to rescue the deerhound from threatening extinction. For as Nero fiddled whilst Rome was burning, so we English-British I should more properly say-gushed into raptures over a

[graphic]
[blocks in formation]
« ForrigeFortsett »