by punokoox ie W. H. Hudson, most of writers on nature subjects, once described fox terriers as the doggiest of dogs. Upon that encomium I am not prepared to express an opinion, lest admirers of other breeds turn and rend me. At least one may say that for several generations of Englishmen {ox terriers have been ubiquitous: common objects of town or country. They are still to be seen in great numbers in spite of the many other terriers that have asserted themselves in more recent times. Their popularity dates back seventy years or more, for it had grown to such an extent in 1879 that "Stonehenge" passed some severe strictures on the dogs in the edition of his work published that year.
"For the last ten years," he wrote, "this pretty little dog has been the favourite companion of Young England, and has lately shared the favour of the other sex with the coolie, the dachshund and the black poodle, but the last-named seems to be the fashionable dog of 1879 for both ladies and gentlemen." "Stone-hange" must have been in bad humour when he penned those words, and we must not take them too seriously. A few years before that date the Fox Terrier Club had been formed almost entirely by hunting men, whose standard of points, framed on the type of dog required to run with packs of hounds, still holds good with minor amendments. For terriers may be denatured and turned into drawing-room pets by excessive petting and solicitude, but it must be airist their inclination until The fox terriers from which our show strains have sprung were founded on dogs drawn from several hunts. One of the most notable of all was Belgrave Joe, son of Helve Joe, whose origin is apparent from his nome. Belgrave Joe, bom in 1868, has been brought to my mind in rather a curious way. Captain F. MacCunn, Chief Secretary of the RSPCA, recently wrote a letter to the Press relating that a dog 27 years old had been taken to their Animal Rescue League for humane destruction. This is 2 part of the beneficent work undertaken by this admirable body. An evening paper interviewed me upon the subject, and a lady who read what I said has written to inform me that she once had Belgrave Joe's son or grandson, which was bequeathed to her charge on the death of an old lady, ed to be 17 years old, and respondent had heard that Joe was 27 when he died Unfortunately, I am unable to verify this information from my records, but we do know that fox terriers that have been reared sensibly do sometimes live to a venerable age. They are naturally hardy, have vigorous constitutions, and are not so likely to suffer from heart trouble as some of the bigger breeds do. They have the further advantage of being very adaptable, being contented in almost any surroundings. No wonder they are everyman's dogs. When they are not show! specimens they are as cheap Әs any, and of course, the cost of feeding them is negligible. On the other hand, a really good one is worth anything from £250 to £1,000.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.