Show AWARDING BENCH SHOW PRIZES Only Experts Are Allowed as Judges NOT A VERY EASY TASK EVEN THOUGH DEFINITE STANDARDS STAND-ARDS HAVE BEEN FIXED The Dog is Unquestionably a Most Popular Animal and He Is Increasing In-creasing in Favor as Years Roll By To Be Called a Dog Will Soon Be Considered a Great Compliment Com-pliment it AVonld Appear Copyright 1896 by John Glmler Speed Bench shows for dogs are strongly in trenched In the favor of the American people and the attendance at them each year is larger than the year preceding The dog is unquestionably a most popular animal and undeserving oC the reproach Implied when a mean man is contemptuously contemptu-ously called a dog on the contrary he merits what the great naturalist Cuvier said of him when he declared that the domestic dog was the completest the most singular and the most useful conquest con-quest ever made by man It would be a pleasant and a grateful past to relate well authenticated instances of canine intelligence in-telligence loyalty and affection in illustration illus-tration of the truth of the great naturalists natural-ists sweeping assertion but that wobjd be foreign to the purpose of this article which will attempt to show how the judges at the dog FK ws determine the winners in the various classes The novice looking at a ring full of splendid dogs all of the same class if he thinks ot it will surely be puzzled to know how In the course of an hour or so a jiiJge can examine forty or fcfty dogs and ucriermne which is the nrst which the second and so on of the whole lot and not offend every exhibitor save the one to whom is given the first prize It cannot be said that the judges do escape es-cape criticism but the special ciubs have so defined and given numerical value to the vanous points of different classes of dogs that prizes are awarded now with something approximating mathematical accuracy This is proved by the fact that prize winners in the bench shows are usually also the best performers in the special held of work tor which each is bed and trained Sometimes there is a dog in the ring at a bench show that is so manifestly superior to all competitors that he is nrst and the others nowhere 4 At such times this dog gets the blue ribbon but the jiadges task is not simplified simpli-fied for he must select second and thrd prize winners quite as carefully as though there were no such a star in the ring as the one that outclasses his rivals To be second In the mastiff class to Beau forts Black Prince to be second to the late Sir Bedevere in the St Bernard class were honors that were sought after as keenly as though these two great dogs were not on exhibition This year neither will compete as Sir Bedevere is dead and Black Prince has been purchased pur-chased for exhibition in England In these classes therefore there will be a new deaLJUDGING THE MASTIFF The owners and breeders of dogs have formed special clubs such as the Collie olub the Fox Terrier club the Mastiff club the Pointer c3tQD and so on Now these clubs make rules determining the standard by which the dogs shall be judged In the ring and each club definitely defi-nitely says ho wthe judge shall be guided In apportioning the value of the points of the dog For instance the points of the mastiff are apportioned as follows General character and symmetry 10 points Skull 12 points Face or muzzle IS points Ears 4 points Eyes 6 points Height and substance of body 10 points Chest and ribs 6 points Porelegs and feet C points Hind legs and feet S points Back loins and flank 10 points Tail 3 points Coat and color S points Total 100 points The judge with this standard before him looks over each dog and scores his points rsom what as they are marked In the diagrams dia-grams printed with this article The dog with the largest score gets first prize and BO on The club also describes the perfect mastiff by way of explaining why such numerical value should be given to the various points The mastiff the club rules say should be large massive and powerful symmetrical and of wellknit frame a combination of grandeur and rood nature of courage and docility His head In general outline should have a square appearance while breadth is greatly to be desired Of the skull the rule says it should be broad between the eyes forehead fiat but wrinkled when attention Is excited brows super ciliary ridges slightly raised muscles of the temples and cheeks temporal and masseter well developed arch across the skull of a rounded flattened curve with a depression up the center of the forehead from the medium line between the eyes to half way up to the sagittal suture To the foregoing two points the value of twentytwo is given while to the face or I muzzle Is accorded eighteen points and the latter Is described with great fulness as follows Short broad under the eyes and keeping nearly parallel In width to the end of the nose truncated that is blunt and cut off squuare thus forming a right angle with the upper line of the face of great depth from the point of the nose to under jaw Under Jaw broad to the end canine teeth healthy powerful and wide apart Incisors level or the lower projecting beyond the upper but never sufficiently so as to become visible when the mouth is closed Nose broad with widely spread nostrils when viewed view-ed from the front fiat not pointed nor > turned up in profile Lips diverging at obtuse angles with the reptum and slightly slight-ly pendulous so as to show a square profile pro-file Length of muzzle to whole head and race as 1 to S Circumference of muzzle i j I measure midway between the eyes and 1 nose to that of the head measured before theearsaslto5 I I shall not go on with the minute de i scription of the mastiff for fear of being tedious but will content myself with the general remark that the other values enumerated have to do with the dogs height and substance his general sirenfe hand I h-and capacity to carry his own great we gnt i with ease The mastiff Is the ideal watchdog watch-dog and for this reason is required to have both intelligence and courage His intelligence is so great that those who I have had the best opportunities of observing ob-serving him are prepared to ma ntain that I he has as accurate knowledge of property j rights as a full bench of supreme court I juuges Whether in such cases the mastiff I arrives at his decisions by Instinct or by reason has not been determined but he decides justly in all cases and in some it i would seem that the process of reasoning could not have been absent Indeed Mr Uinchell of Fair Haven Vt the breeder of the famous Black Prince can give forty instances of mastiff intelligence some of which are almost uncanny in I their penetrating Insght For instance when Mr Winchell entered into correspondence I corre-spondence for the sale of Black Prince the dog became uneasy and clung to Mr Vinchell 0 with a pathetic closeness When I the telegram arrived from London dosing dos-ing the bargain Black Prince was present pres-ent and saw it opened He lowered his great head put his tail between his legs I and slunk off to his kennel From that time until the ship that took him to England I Eng-land sailei he neglected his food and would not be comforted It is pleasant to I relate however that he regained his spirits on the voyage and in England at Ii I collar and made of plain black leather The fox terrier can probably stand the Insidious attentions of indiscriminate pet tniff as we1 as any other clog but a season sea-son or so of such treatment is pretty sure to spoil his courage and make him degenerate into an animal no whit better bet-ter than the shivering toy dogs that sleep on pillows in cages originally designed de-signed for canary birds No tox terrier subject to such treatment couid possibly develop into a prize winner at a dog show THE SCOTCH SHEPHERD DOG The collie or Scotch shepherd dog is now and long has been one of the most useful of his race Sheep tanning in many uarts of Scotland never coma nave been inontable without the aid of this wonderful won-derful intelligent animal in watcnmg sneep in gatnermg them in their foUls and in taking them to market one well trained dog can do the work that it woum require at least six men to do In Scotland therefore the colLie has long been esteemed as mans most laithful friend and ha has been appropriately celebrated in song and story in America Amer-ica the collie has not yet been extensively exten-sively used in his appropriate work but a neat many splenuiU show specimens have been imported and the progeny of these are very tine and hanasome The coijie is noted for his intelligence which is unquestionably as great as that of the ireivch poodles which do such remarkable re-markable things at the circus The collie = col-lie however has no fordness for tricks He will learn a trick learn quicitly anu thoroughly But so soon as the collie realizes that what he is doing is only a trick he will do it again with much un III I I 10 1 1m fS 10 < fLJ J kg f J r S f 5 F I r I rtl IJ f 1 oj4 I 11 1J t v r T I i i i g i6 j f I CCIT 10 5YwiTsYciAIicns 15 r I 11 r2 COITJhD FACE 20 lilt S 3 4tc JY the bench shows he Is carrying off all the I I honors i The mastiff is also a most docile creature crea-ture but he will not suffer indignity or rIdicule rId-Icule To catch a mastiffs eye and laugh at him is pretty sure to provoke his anger 1 an-ger to treat him with disrespect is very apt to arouse in him an unapproachable i fierceness But all in all the mastiff is the gentlest of dogs the best protector I of property and safest companion of children I chil-dren of all of his race Notwithstand inc these indisputable facts the mastiff In America today is in disrepute anil suffers from an undeserved charge of savasreness and treacherous untrustworthiness untrust-worthiness The cause of this disrepute is very plain to those who know the history Pl W51nWisk tory of the mastiff in this country and who also know what the consequences I are when incongruous families of dogs are Interbred The mastiff fifteen years ago was so popular that he was In constant I con-stant demand at good prices Breeders who knew how to select parents and who were faithful to correct principles I of breeding could not supply the demand so the dog dealers and other scamps went I into the business of supplying mastiffs They bred recklessly and every large dog resembling the mastiff type was sold asa as-a mastiff even though he had in him only onequarter of mastiff blood These mongrels and halfbreeds were the dogs whose actions in various parts of the country have given the mastiff a bad name for many of them were fierce and treacherous and untractable Now It is well known to all dog breeders that the crossing of breeds more frequently than not results in the elimination In the progeny pro-geny of all the good qualities of both breeds and the exaggeration ot the bad Qualities of both breeds Why this should be so I do not know but it is true that everv observant breeder of experience asserts It is an incontrovertible fact The mastiff is not the only dog that has suffered suf-fered from this cause and one of the best results of the bench shows for dogs Is that none but purely bred animals can be exhibited THE FOX TERRIER One of the most attractive dogs bred in this country is the fox terrier which in manner and in habts is the nost Gentlemanlike of his race He is clean scrupulously clean nice In his taste courageous beyond belief and as handsome hand-some as a clean limbed thoroughbred race horse This type is probably the result I re-sult of a careful crossing of the Eng lish terrier and the Itauan greyhound I and he was originally bred for and used I in the hunting field as an auxiliary of every nack of foxhounds When a fox j went to ground the terrier would by I persistent snapping in the hole where I he would follow start the fox again i But long ago the foxhound became too fast for the fox terrier and In his or i i icinal occuoation he became obsolete I I He was saved from extinction by his I lawn I i cheerful attractiveness for a more companionable and lively fellow does f not exist He is to be sure quite useful I as a destroyer of vermin wnether rats I or ground hogs The Fox Terrier club has fixed the following standard which I aoolies alike to smooth and wirehaired I fox terriers 1 Head and ears 15 ponits Neck 5 points I Shoulders and chest 15 points Back and loin 10 points Hind quarters 5 points Stern 5 points Less and feet 20 points Cait 10 points i Symmetry and character 15 points Total 100 points I It is a great pity to make a ladys ps t I of a fox terrle It is true that he is about the least troublesome dog one can have about a house but he Is too much of a real doc to b3 coddled in a ladys ilaD and wear a ribbon about his neck I I If collar he must have let It be a dogs willingness or not at all He Is a working work-ing dog with a high appreciation of ability Over his kennel the motto might be appropriately inscribed Labor solus nobilltat In breading the coille for thf bench shows there has been a disposition I disposi-tion to favor silkiness of coat and point edness of head To get the former slight traces of the Gordon setter blood have I been introduced and for the latter even slighter traces of the deer hound But this kind of tampering with what is probably the most purely bred of all the types of dogs is sorry business and is i now frowned upon by the collie club and judges in definite terms are cautioned against it Here is the standard for judg ins collies Head and expression 15 points Ears 10 points Neck and shoulders 10 points II Less and feet 15 points Hind quarters 10 points Back and loins 10 points Brush 5 points I Coat and frill 20 points Size 5 points Total 100 points The breeding of the collie for bench show points has not It must be admitted admit-ted contributed to his utility If however how-ever the collie were bred for such points and also used in he field the careful breeding would probably improve the type The instinct of an animal is inherited in-herited and Is developed by training the Inheritance of course is greater from generation to generation The opposite of this must also be true and the Instinct of an untrained dog must decrease and the Inheritance of his progeny must be less Tho collies in America are probaby therefore not susceptible of acquiring the accomplishments of those faithful tykes celebrated by Hogg and Burns THE POINTER The Pointer club has set up this standard stand-ard Skull 10 points Nose W 10 Points Ears eyes and lips 4 points Neck e points Shoulders and chest 15 points Back Quarters and stifles 15 points Legs elbows and hocks 12 points Feet 8 points Stern 5 poms Coat 3 points Color 5 points Symmetry 7 points Total 100 points Anyone familiar with the work which a pointer Is required to do tho field will see the wisdom of this apportionment apportion-ment in every regard perhaps except that of color which probably might have been left out of the account en itrely and given over to the points ap portioned for legs and feet But the standard has been proved to be In the main fair by the fact that the bench show winners are pretty nearly always good performers In the field It is thought that the fixed stand of the pointer is due to the modification and exaggera tion of the start of surprise common to all dogs when first aware of their prey But however it cTIgnated it ts now an instinct that is a transmitted Inheri tance from generation to generation so that a pointer puppy wi genraton come to a point before he has been trained The greatest service of the bench shows Is that those who brped dogs In this country are being taught that an impurely bred dog Is worse than worth less while a purely bred do les whte brc dc has a property value according to his Individ Q ual excellence and the skill with which various oure strains have been blended In his bloodJOHN blende JOHN GILMER SPEED |