Dogs and All about Them

Occasionally one hears of very high prices being paid for dogs acknowledged to be perfect specimens of their breed. For the St. Bernard Sir Belvidere sixteen hundred pounds were offered. Plinlimmon was sold for a thousand, the same sum that was paid for the Bulldog Rodney Stone. For the Collies Southport Perfection and Ormskirk Emerald Mr. Megson paid a thousand sovereigns each. Size is no criterion of a dog's market value; Mrs. Ashton Cross is said to have refused two thousand pounds for her celebrated Pekinese Chu-Erh, and there are many lap-dogs now living that could not be purchased for that high price. These are sums which only a competent judge with a long purse would dream of paying for an animal whose tenure of active life can hardly be more than eight or ten years, and already the dog's value must have been attested by his success in competition. It requires an expert eye to perceive the potentialities of a puppy, and there is always an element of speculative risk for both buyer and seller. Many a dog that has been sold for a song has grown to be a famous champion. At Cruft's show in 1905 the Bulldog Mahomet was offered for ten pounds. No one was bold enough to buy him, yet eighteen months afterwards he was sold and considered cheap at a thousand. Uncertainty adds zest to a hobby that is in itself engaging. Thanks to the influence of the Kennel Club and the institution of dog shows, which have encouraged the improvement of distinct breeds, there are fewer nondescript mongrels in our midst than there were a generation or so ago. A fuller knowledge has done much to increase the pride which the British people take in their canine companions, and our present population of dogs has never been equalled for good quality in any other age or any other land.