Dogs and All about Them

Very justly is he classed among the sporting dogs. He is a born sportsman, and of his pluck it were superfluous to speak. Fear is unknown to him. In this characteristic as in all others, he is truly a son of Erin. CHAPTER XXXVII THE WELSH TERRIER This breed is near akin to the wire-hair Fox-terrier, the principal differences being merely of colour and type. The Welsh Terrier is a wire-haired black or grizzle and tan. The most taking colouring is a jet black body and back with deep tan head, ears, legs, belly, and tail. Several specimens have, however, black foreheads, skulls, ears, and tail, and the black will frequently be seen also extending for a short way down the legs. There must be no black, however, below the hock, and there must be no substantial amount of white anywhere; a dog possessing either of these faults is, according to the recognised standard of the breed, disqualified. Many of the most successful bench winners have, nevertheless, been possessed of a little white on the chest and even a few hairs of that colour on their hind toes, and, apparently, by the common consent of all the judges of the breed, they have been in nowise handicapped for these blemishes. There are not so many grizzle coloured Welsh Terriers now as there used to be. A grizzle and tan never looks so smart as a black and tan; but though this is so, if the grizzle is of a dark hard colour, its owner should not be handicapped as against a black and tan; if, on the contrary, it is a washed-out, bluish-looking grizzle, a judge is entitled to handicap its possessor, apart altogether from the fact that any such colour on the back is invariably accompanied by an objectionable light tan on the legs, the whole being a certain sign of a soft, silky, unterrierlike coat.