In the future at the bigger dog shows special classes will be reserved for the Sealyham terrier, which thus takes its place as a new animal “within the morning of the Act.” The bulldog itself is not more English then the terrier, and among its thousand admires there is rejoicing that a new sort has emerged from the rest.

The Sealyham, though quite pure and distinct, has some of the qualities of all the terriers, from the fox terrier to the West Highland which the public inaccurately call the Aberdeen.

This engaging little beast represents in one sense a protest against the show fashion in fox terriers.

TOO-HANDSOME DOGS.

The prize-winning fox terrier is too tall and handsome for anything. His legs are a marvel of straightness and very long. His nose is long and straight. To look at him you would say he was made rather for greyhound work in the open country than for work in covert, much less for his real and original work underground down rabbit holes and foxes´ earths.

In the view of the fox hunter “the fancy” have destroyed the fox terrier by making him too beautiful for words, just as they have made the bulldog too ugly for words and at the same time destroyed his utility by emphasising his ugliness.

The fox-hunter wants a terrier which is built low, which is strong, which has, too, pluck that distinguishes the terrier class above most dogs. So a master of fox-hounds away in the rough promontory of South Wales where badgers abound, where earths along the cliff are wonderful size and intricacy, where dogs are still dogs, animals kept chiefly for use in sport, where the wild country gives scope even for the setter and the pointer away there an M.F.H set to work to bring the Sealyham terrier to its individual perfection.

PLUCKY AND TRUSTY COMPANIONS.

In a short while, with the help of other enthusiasts , he succeeded. The National Show and Cruft´s opened classes for the Sealyham and any visitor to a show of quality will in future have the chance of inspecting the distinct merits of this new and yet old and aristocratic terrier. So the Sealyham came to its own, rough haired with the white ground and dark, irregular patches of the terrier, with the drooping ears of all good terriers, with the short legs of the West Highland group and its slightly turnspit shape.

The pluck of these small dogs has not been bred out of them, and is so invincible that they will face a badger or hedgehog with as much grit as Jock of the Bushveldt, Mr FitzPatrick´s now famous hero, faced koodoo or crocodile. They are born to  be trusty companions to countrymen and a terror to the rats that may frequent their promises.

Is it a thing to be glad of when a variety of dog takes its place in the show? Some people say that fanciers gradually spoil all dogs, making them tender so that they lose their pluck, changing their shape so that they lose their special form of utility making them rather stupid so that they lose there value as companions. It is quite true that the fanciers have done some very foolish things. The old English bulldog has been quite spoiled simply because the judges have given marks for a long longer jaw. The jaw now sticks out so far that the dog is peculiarly incapable of doing what was once his special mark: he cannot grip by reason of the plain fact that the lower jaw is inches beyond the upper. They have absurdly lengthened the legs of the smooth-haired fox terrier and made him so “nervy” that he is often actually nervous of bodily harm.

POPULAR FAVORITES.

On the other hand , it is largely owing to “the fancy” that the Palace of Pekin was made to yield its almost sacred treasure, and that the Pekinese are new popular favourites.

Even with our own native dogs, including the terriers, great advances have been made owing to the shows. One of the most charming of the newer dogs is the white West Highland terrier, which has some points of resemblance with the Sealyham, different though it is in essentials. By the very best breeding skill the dark colour was eliminated and the white variety , though it is still not fixed, was found to have distinct and endearing qualities.

The white dogs were rather less noisy and vociferous. very good in the house and yet possessed of the quaint airs and sprightly energy of the dark Aberdeens. One might describe the Sealyhams in much the same terms, except that they have a greater share of sporting pluck than some of the terriers which have suffered from too great refinement at the hands of the fanciers.

BEST DETECTIVE DOGS.

The different species and varieties of dogs have different mental and physical qualities. Airedale terriers are the best detective dogs, being the best hearers. Bull terriers are perhaps the pluckiest, sheep dogs and poodles perhaps the most intelligent , bloodhounds, it may be, the best in nose, they toys good in the house, retrievers best in the field, and so on but whatever special virtue each boasts the little terrier has a good share of it - a true nose , an heroic spirit, a sporting instinct, a gift of fidelity, a fund of common sense, and as invincible a capacity for getting down holes as the hero of any cinematograph burlesque you please.

The terrier is probably, according to the historians, the very oldest of the dogs known to Britain, and oldest classifiers used to include turnspits among the terriers. It is curious that this newly recognised Sealyham terrier seems to have in especial the qualities that marked out the original terrier breeds, including the turnspit. We may say of this terrier, which is as good a friend to man as it is an incorrigible enemy of four footed mammals, what Cuvier said of dogs in general, that they represent the “completest”, the most singular, and the most useful conquest ever made by man.