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    The Wire-Haired Fox Terrier
    The Wire-Haired Fox Terrier
    The Wire-Haired Fox Terrier
    Ebook160 pages2 hours

    The Wire-Haired Fox Terrier

    By Irving C. Ackerman

    ()

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    About this ebook

    A helpful companion guide for anybody raising Terriers. Full of top tips on breeding, training and taking care of these wonderful dogs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateMay 31, 2013
    ISBN9781444659856
    The Wire-Haired Fox Terrier

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      Book preview

      The Wire-Haired Fox Terrier - Irving C. Ackerman

      CHART

      THE WIRE-HAIRED FOXTERRIER

      CHAPTER I

      POPULARITY—ORIGIN—USES—CLUBS

      "Ay, see the hounds with frantic zeal

      The roots and earth uptear;

      But the earth is strong, and the roots are long,

      They cannot enter there.

      Outspeaks the Squire, ‘Give room, I pray,

      And hie the terrier in;

      The warriors of the fight are they,

      And every fight they win.’ "

      Ring-ouzel.

      THE foxterrier, the most popular dog in the world today, has been truthfully titled the gentleman of terriers. Be he wire-haired or smooth-coated, the foxterrier is the acknowledged acme of symmetry and beauty, and more closely approaches physical perfection than any other breed of dog with the possible exception of the English foxhound.

      The saying, Once a foxterrier fancier, always a foxterrier fancier, is a truism that has held good since the beginning of the so-called dog-show movement, which took place in England late in the ’50’s of the last century.

      As far as popularity is concerned, it is sufficient to note that the wire variety of foxterrier regularly and invariably leads all breeds in number of registrations with the English Kennel Club. At English and American dog shows, the wire as a rule musters the largest entry. The same popularity attaches to this variety not only in all countries inhabited by English-speaking peoples, but likewise in every land and clime inhabited by the white race.

      There are a number of reasons for the popularity of the foxterrier. His size enables him to be kept conveniently and cheaply in these days of flats, apartments and high food costs. He is a smart house dog and a merry, bright and trappy little indoor or outdoor companion for ladies, gentlemen or children. He is always ready for a romp, a walk or a motor ride; is a quick and alert watchdog and a destroyer of vermin par excellence; sensible, faithful, intelligent, full of courage, yet kind and gentle. I have never been bitten by one, nor have I ever seen one deliberately bite a child. Moreover, he is hardy of constitution, easy to rear, and quickly taught anything that any breed of larger dog may be expected to do. There are foxterrier owners throughout the world who use these apt little tikes for every conceivable purpose for which spaniel, retriever or other hunting dog is used, be it on land or water. As a ratter and as against badger, stoat, weasel, rabbit and mole, the foxterrier stands preeminent, and when intelligently used in conjunction with ferrets, he invariably proves himself a thoroughly reliable workman.

      MR. GEORGE THOMAS HOLDING DICTATOR

      Before the days of dog shows, terriers, and particularly the wire variety, were little used as pets. They were kept because they could adequately and willingly perform the service for which they were intended and because they were strong, game and hardy. All other points now deemed so essential were neither looked for nor bred for nor expected. The inadequate ones were put to death and were not, as today, retained to breed from on account of their pedigrees. They had none. No puny or delicate specimens were ever permitted to transmit their defects to future generations. The above facts make it easy for present-day breeders to account for the thick skulls, wide fronts, prick or houndy ears which still persist in making their appearance in the litters resulting from some of the most carefully selected matings, a striking instance of the undying potency of impure blood.

      The terrier derives his name from the Latin terra, meaning earth, indicating a breed of dog that burrows or goes to earth after its quarry, for the purpose of bolting or unearthing it. The prefix fox further qualifies the work for which this variety of terrier is specially suited, by reason of its size, build and temperament.

      Until a decade ago, the smooth, as everyone remembers, was far more popular than the wire, no doubt because of his smarter lines, his trimmer and neater appearance, and the greater ease with which his coat might be kept in show condition. But today the wire, having developed with almost phenomenal rapidity into an animal approaching perfection, is by a wide margin the more popular, and his characteristics and blood lines are now as carefully studied and preserved as they were neglected in early years.

      The English Foxterrier Club was founded in 1876 at a dinner called for the purpose by the eminent all-round sportsman and author, Mr. Harding Cox, at his father’s residence in London. The present standard of the breed was thereupon formulated, and has scarcely been altered to this day. This organization is one of the richest specialty clubs in the world, and boasts of being the third oldest, having come into existence but one year after the founding of the Bulldog Club and the now defunct Dandie Din-mont Club. It held its first show in 1877, created the now renowned and much coveted Fifty Guinea Challenge Cup, and originated the idea of produce stakes for dog breeders.

      In 1913 a group of fanciers headed by Mr. Calvert Butler and Mr. G. C. Anne met in London and organized the Wire Foxterrier Association, with the late Mr. A. E. G. Way as president. The four hundred or more members of this prosperous club are today interested in promoting the welfare of the popular wire. Almost all the other smaller or sectional foxterrier clubs—and the British Isles are dotted with them—are devoted to the development of both varieties.

      Active foxterrier clubs function in India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other British possessions. There also exist active and prosperous organizations composed of foxterrier zealots in France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Russia and Finland, almost all of which hold annual specialty shows and publish elaborate yearbooks recording their respective activities.

      The American Foxterrier Club was founded at Madison Square Garden during the Westminster Kennel Club Show of 1885. The organizers were the late Mr. Lewis Rutherford, its first president, a brother and partner of Mr. Winthrop Rutherford in the Warren smooths, Messrs. Edward and Joseph Kelly, A. E. Godeffroy, Frank Hitchcock and J. E. I. Grainger, all of New York. This was the first specialty club to become a member of the American Kennel Club, and has grown from its original membership of six to over 150 strictly amateur fanciers.

      The Western Foxterrier Breeders Association, located on the Pacific Coast and composed of Far Western fanciers, has been in existence for some twenty years. There are also local foxterrier clubs scattered throughout the length and breadth of the United States and Canada.

      England has several organizations devoted solely to working foxterriers, formed to promote their working capabilities. These clubs have done much to familiarize and enlighten the public as to the prowess of the foxterrier and his wide range of occupations. As evidence of the importance attached to working abilities of foxterriers in France and Belgium, the governing kennel clubs in those countries have, for some years, ruled that no exhibition terrier may be entitled to the title Champion until it has augmented its bench show wins with honorable mention at a working trial in artificial fox earths.

      In bygone days, such celebrated hunts as the Belvoir, Grove, Quorn and Oakley maintained their own favorite strains of kennel terriers, but it seems to have mattered little to their huntsmen what kind or style of terrier was kept, so long as he performed his work in a creditable manner. The saying, Handsome is as handsome does, applied very well to these rugged and, for the most part, nondescript tikes, and the only criterion of a terrier was his working ability first, last and all the time.

      In some hunt clubs the terrier was carried in a bag, slung over the shoulders of the terrier man, who rode a rough cob or pony. In others, he followed on foot with the whips or the hunt-runner. In some instances he was kept at farmhouses, close to the fox earths, so as to be available when needed.

      Show foxterriers should be suitable in conformation to the work for which the breed is intended. A show terrier should, if called upon, be also a working terrier, and if he be too large to enter the fox earth, he is, in reality, useless.

      Today, however, the theory of the hunt has changed. It is now a mere excuse to ride crosscountry with hounds. If the fox has been fortunate enough to reach his earth ahead of the hounds, the followers do not care to waste time waiting for him to be dug out, as formerly. The order usually is, Find another one. As a consequence, the foxterrier is today little used with packs of hounds, and his occupation being gone, he is bred and valued principally, if not solely, for his show qualities.

      In very early years, certain fanciers started breeding and producing terriers which they thought should be capable of running with the hounds; but as this led to a race of leggy, long-backed and oversized terriers, too large and cumbersome to go to ground and lacking in stamina, the practice quickly came to an end. Rabbit coursing with foxterriers was another fad indulged in on both sides of the Atlantic in the early ’8o’s. Quite naturally the larger and whippety type of terrier proved the more successful for this work. The impossibility of breeding foxterriers with the speed of greyhounds quickly hastened the death of the absurd craze.

      Although the exact origin of the foxterrier has been completely lost sight of, it is certain that the terrier type of dog has existed for many centuries in England. The ancient Romans, in the days of Julius Cæsar, recorded, after they invaded England, that they had found small dogs that would follow their quarry to ground. It is true that the British Isles were for many centuries, and in fact until a century ago, overrun with four-footed vermin of various kinds which destroyed poultry and played sad havoc with the flocks. Dogs, terriers in particular, were therefore very much of a necessity to keep down the marauders.

      The first allusion to terriers is found in the work on Field Sport by Dame Juliana Berners, Prioress of Sopwell Nunnery in Hertfordshire. This work was published early in the fifteenth century, and described the terrier variety of dogs in a rather vague way.

      Dr. John Caius, a professor at Cambridge University and physician to Queen Elizabeth, was one of the first writers on the subject of dogs. He describes terriers in his book, English Dogges, published in Latin in 1557, and translated into English in 1776, as follows:

      "Another sorte of hunting dog there is which hunteth the Foxe and the Badger or Greye onely, whom we call Terrars, because they (after the manner and custome of ferrets

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