Snyders and Rubens,—heroic animals, by the side of which our sporting-dogs are insignificant pets.
With the dogs in the large hall “the Fancy” proper were little interested; it was only on entering the smaller shed running parallel with it that this class of the genus homo showed itself. Each bull-dog and bull-terrier of eminence had its master present, who appeared to be a kind of inferior appendage to the animal itself. In the large room there were a few powerful bull-dogs which maintained the character of this class as an animal of physical power as well as of surpassing pluck; but in the little room they grew “small by degrees and beautifully less,” until some of them appeared to be but a four-legged kind of tadpole, all head and jaw. The bull-terriers were equally small, but as a rule, finely bred, and of a high class. The London breeders have brought this dog to the highest perfection, and we may say the same of the black and tan terriers, of which there was really a splendid show. The changing fashion in pet dogs is one of the notable things of the time. A dozen years ago no lady was complete without her Blenheim or King Charles spaniel. There were plenty of these breeds present, but as a fashion they are decidedly on the wane, and the Maltese and the pug are now in favour among the haut ton, whilst Dandy Dinmonts and Skyes find congenial homes among the upper middle-classes. Some of the Maltese were too ethereal to be handled, and were fenced off from the rough public by glass cases. One large case contained a pure white Maltese, with his back hair parted with a perfection that could not be matched by Lord Dundreary. The Skye terriers were, on the whole, below par, but the pugs must be considered fine, as they were so very ugly. The little five-pound terriers and the Italian greyhounds shivered continually, and watered at the eyes, as all of these little high-bred, thin-skinned, over-nerved animals do; but the ladies much admired them, and therefore we must not be hard upon them, we suppose. We have heard of blue boars and blue lions, but we confess we were puzzled at the heading “Blue Scotch Terriers” in the catalogue. The black has certainly a shade of blue in it, like that on a raven’s wing, and there is a reddish tinge, which gives the dog a very odd appearance. The real curiosities of the Exhibition, however, were found among the foreign dogs. It brought to mind at once the pictures in Arctic voyages and travels to look at some of the little Esquimaux dogs—fat, short little fellows, with fox-like heads, and bushy tails curled tight over their backs. “Etah,” a very large dog of this class, suggested a sad tale, as he is the only survivor of a pack used by Dr. Kane in his search after Sir John Franklin.
We can readily understand a dozen of such fine fellows as this, doing weeks of heavy sledging-work, but the physical powers of the smaller Esquimaux dogs seem scarcely up to such heavy work, unless employed in large numbers. Possibly this exhibition introduced first to the British public a dog we are all familiar with in books of travel, but whom very few of us have seen—a thoroughbred Australian dog, or dingy. A nearer likeness to a wolf we never saw, and his appearance certainly suggests that he is the missing link between the dog and that animal. There was a truffle-hunter to be found in this odd corner—a queer little fellow apparently of no particular breed. The wolf-hounds shown here seemed but light animals to tackle such an enemy; but we are told that the sire of the specimen exhibited by Mr. Frank Buckland is known to have killed several hyænas and wolves in the neighbourhood of Constantinople. A common hound to be found in Turkey and Asia Minor—the scavenger of the country, in fact—was also exhibited here, and attracted a good deal of attention. It seems to us that dogs abroad are pretty much in a state of nature, if we except the French poodle, who does such credit to the canine peruquiers of that country: and with this state of nature they seem to have retained a degree of vigour which our breeders are sacrificing to produce certain qualities which are not compatible with the general health and energy of the animal, and consequently with his powers of reproduction—a matter which dog-fanciers may not care about, but which, if true, proves that we are working upon a wrong system, which, sooner or later, will correct itself.
A. W.
WETZLAR ON THE LAHN.
PART II.
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Old Portal in Wetzlar Cathedral.
