Dogs and All about Them

No history of the Fox-terrier could be complete without mention of Mr. Francis Redmond and his kennel, going back, as it does, to the Murchison and Luke Turner period, and being still to-day the most prominent one in existence. We can date his earlier efforts from his purchase of Deacon Nettle, the dam of Deacon Ruby; Dusty was the dam of Ch. Diamond Dust; Dickon he had from Luke Turner, and in this dog we have one of the foundation-stones of the Fox-terrier stud-book, as he was the sire of Splinter, who in his turn was the sire of Vesuvian. Mr. Redmond's next great winners were D'Orsay and Dominie, two sterling good terriers, the former of which was the sire of Dame D'Orsay, who, bred to Despoiler, produced Dame Fortune, the mother of Donna Fortuna, whose other parent was Dominie. Donna Fortuna, considered universally the best specimen of a Fox-terrier ever produced, had from the first a brilliant career, for though fearlessly shown on all occasions she never knew defeat. Some took exception to her want of what is called terrier character, and others would have liked her a shade smaller; but we have still to see the Fox-terrier, taken all round, that could beat her. As an outcross Mr. Redmond purchased Dreadnought, one of the highest class dogs seen for many years, but had very bad luck with him, an accident preventing him from being shown and subsequently causing his early death. We must not forget Duchess of Durham or Dukedom; but to enumerate all Mr. Redmond's winners it would be necessary to take the catalogues of all the important shows held for the past thirty years. To no one do we owe so much; no one has made such a study of the breed, reducing it almost to a science, with the result that even outside his kennels no dog has any chance of permanently holding his own unless he has an ample supply of the blood.