Dogs and All about Them

Jamison's Sport is an important dog historically, for various reasons. He was undoubtedly more akin to our present type than any other Irish Terrier of his time of which there is record. His dark ears were uncropped at a period when cropping was general; his weight approximated to our modern average. He was an all coloured red, and his legs were of a length that would not now be seriously objected to. But in his day he was not accepted as typical, and he was not particularly successful in the show ring. The distinguished terrier of his era was Burke's Killeney Boy, to whom, and to Mr. W. Graham's bitch Erin, with whom he was mated, nearly all the pedigrees of the best Irish Terriers of to-day date back. Erin was said to be superior in all respects to any of her breed previous to 1880. In her first litter by Killeney Boy were Play Boy, Pretty Lass, Poppy, Gerald, Pagan II., and Peggy, every one of whom became famous. More than one of these showed the black markings of their granddam, and their progeny for several generations were apt to throw back to the black-and-tan, grey, or brindle colouring. Play Boy and Poppy were the best of Erin's first litter. The dog's beautiful ears, which were left as Nature made them, were transmitted to his son Bogie Rattler, who was sire of Bachelor and Benedict, the latter the most successful stud dog of his time. Poppy had a rich red coat, and this colour recurred with fair regularity in her descendants. Red, which had not at first been greatly appreciated, came gradually to be the accepted colour of an Irish Terrier's jacket. Occasionally it tended towards flaxen; occasionally to a deep rich auburn; but the black and brindle were so rigidly bred out that by the year 1890, or thereabout, they very seldom recurred. Nowadays it is not often that any other colour than red is seen in a litter of Irish Terriers, although a white patch on the breast is frequent, as it is in all self-coloured breeds.