to even my patience there is a limit, and when that limit is reached, by the Lord Harry, then shall the sparks fly." For a coat, pig bristles close together and an undercoat under them will do very well. And size-ah! there comes the question; weight is nothing to go by, and measuring up to a point is useless. Let me have one of a size that can do a good day's all-round work. I don't want him to go up a gas-pipe; but I should like him to experience no trouble in going to ground in the Mersey Tunnel. The Welsh Terrier Club is a very business-like institution, with a President, two Vice-Presidents, a committee of ten, a sub-committee of three, eighteen judges, and thirty-four members. The entrance fee is half a guinea, aud the annual subscription a guinea. Mr. W. J. M. Herbert is the Honorary Secretary of the club. The club trophies consist of a dog challenge bowl and a bitch challenge cup, which may be competed for four times in each year, and are fairly safeguarded from annexation by the fact that to accomplish a right to keep them permanently they must be won twelve times by the same owner with the same dog or bitch, or twenty times with different dogs and bitches. Bruce's spider had a soft job compared to this. There are also a breeders' challenge cup, which becomes the absolute property of the member who scores eighty points first, the limit of possibility at each competition being four points, and a juvenile cup to be won outright with twelve successful shots at it-than which conditions I know nothing more carefully framed to foster that true spirit of obstinacy or, say, determination, which is characteristic of the Welsh nature. A valuable addition to the archives of the Welsh Terrier Club is a Stud Book compiled by Major P. F. Brine, which, in carrying the pedigrees of some of the dogs back to the year 1854, invests the breed with a dignity of antiquity that few others can aspire to. It is pleasing to note that Major Brine set himself this admirable task out of sheer admiration for a Welsh terrier called Brilliant, the best little dog he ever had. Like the dog, the idea was brilliant. Si monumentum requiris, what can you desire better than this? Therein breathes the true dog-lover's spirit. A few fanciers with similar sympathies might dower our various breeds of dogs with similar valuable mementoes of their interest in the breed, and lay up a stock of priceless information for future generations, which may not be otherwise obtainable by the ages that are to come. STANDARD OF POINTS OF THE WELSH TERRIER HEAD. The skull should be flat and rather wider between the ears than the wire-haired fox terrier. The jaws should be powerful, clean cut, rather deeper, and more punishing, giving the head a more masculine appearance than usually seen on a fox terrier. Stop not too defined; fair length from stop to end of nose, the latter being of a black colour. EARS. The ear should be V-shaped, small, not too thin, set on fairly high, carried forward and close to the cheek. EYES.-The eye should be small, not being too deeply set in or protruding out of skull; of a dark hazel colour, expressive, and indicating abundant pluck. NECK. The neck should be of moderate length and thickness, slightly arched, and sloping gradually into the shoulders. BODY.-The back should be short, and well ribbed up; the loin strong; good depth and moderate width of chest. The shoulders should be long, sloping, and well set back. The hindquarters should be strongthighs muscular and of good length, and the hocks moderately straight, well let down, and a fair amount of bone. The stern should be set on moderately high, but not too gaily carried. LEGS AND FEET.-The legs should be straight and muscular, possess. ing fair amount of bone, with upright powerful pasterns. The feet should be small, round, and cat-like. COAT. The coat should be wiry, hard, very close, and abundant. COLOUR.-The colour should be black and tan, or black grizzle and tan; free from black pencilling on toes. SIZE. The height at shoulder should be 15 inches for dogs, bitches proportionately less. Twenty pounds shall be considered a fair average weight in working condition, but this may vary a pound or so either way. There have never been any point values adopted for this breed. Mr. Glynn seems to have a monopoly of this strain, for all the dogs and bitches mentioned by my correspondents bear his affix, " Brynhir." They include Brynhir Breaker, Burglar, Buxom, and Burnish. I asked Mr. Glynn to be good enough to send me a photograph of what he thought would represent the breed most typically, and he favoured me with Brynhir Ballad, whose illustration I have the pleasure to reproduce. Mr. Glynn thus describes her : Ch. Brynhir Ballad was bred by Mr. J. Roberts, and is by Morlwyn Plough out of Vic., and was born in August 1898. She is black and rich tan in colour, and weighs about 20 lbs. She has a dark eye; small ears, carried very close to the head, and properly placed; tail always up; coat good, and of the sort that does not want trimming. Where she probably beats any other terrier I have ever seen in any breed is in her hindquarters and movement. The poetry of action and of a perfect, symmetrical hunter are all present with her. Her second thighs, loins, back, and general hardness are a treat to see. Her head, ears, expression, and terrier character could not, and will never be, improved on in any terrier. It is possible for the hypercritical to pick two faults in her-her feet might be better and her bone bigger ; but, as I once heard Mr. Harding Cox say, in awarding her the cup at the Agricultural Hall for "the best terrier of any variety in the show," "It may be true you might improve her in those respects, but I doubt it, for her tout ensemble and symmetry are perfect. She has ample bone and quite good enough feet for her." The same celebrated judge once told me he considered Ballad the best piece of dog-flesh he had ever seen in his life. Ballad has won 22 championships and 147 first and special prizes, and is the dam of several winners. |