Williams Haynes

“ The novice cannot do better than to steal a leaf out of the book of the professional handlers, and by a careful study of their methods, learn to show his own dogs so that they will always be at their best, making their strongest points apparent and hiding their weaknesses, and religiously seeing to it that he catches the judicial eye.
It is well to take a puppy destined for a show career and to teach him to show. It is just as easy to teach him to stand firm on his pins, all alert, full of fire, yet not bobbing about like a jumping-jack, as it is to have him sit up and beg or to "play dead." ”

“ To show a dog at his best, in the very pink of perfect condition, is the only way to insure that he will be placed by the judge where he deserves. Many a dog, really better than his rival in the ring, has gone down because of condition, and defeat is not only unpleasant, but also a great handicap to a show dog. Perfect health, no fat, well-developed muscles—these are the foundation of a terrier's "fitness." ”

“ Unless the dog knows for what he is being punished, you are like Xerxes whipping the Hellespont for wrecking his ships, except that a dog has more feelings than the sea. The best way to be sure that the dog knows is to catch him in the very act. ”

“ The dog owner does not as a rule think it worth while to post himself on the history and points of the breed. He has heard the praises sung of "the biggest and best terrier," and has decided that he is the dog he wants. If that is all he wants let him get some friend to give him an Airedale puppy or let him buy one as cheaply as he can, but he is going to lose half the pleasure of owning a good dog of a good breed. ”

“ No dog should ever be punished when you have not got perfect control over yourself. The patience of Job was never tried by a healthy, terrier puppy, or it might have reached its limit. A spoiled rug, the flower-beds wrecked, a new hat chewed up, slippers and rubbers all over the house, religious disobedience, all these things do cultivate a temper, but temper and dog-training do not live together successfully. ”

“ Very, very seldom does one meet an exhibitor who will come out frankly and say that he was beaten fairly, even if he has shown a regular "rotter" against an "out-and-outer." It does not cost one single, red cent to congratulate the owner of the dog who has beaten yours. If he has done so fairly, it is but the decent thing to do, and if you think your dog is the better, why you have the consolation of knowing that there is going to be another show where another judge will hand out the ribbons probably the very next week. ”

“ Fanciers have a world of things in common and, instead of bitterest rivals, they should be the best of friends. Friendly rivalry adds ninety per cent. to the pleasures of being a fancier, and in this a man gets just about what he gives.
In sending a dog to a show, even if the distance be but a mile or two and you are going along, too, it is best to crate him. It costs a little more, but many an unboxed dog has been lost or injured, and the railroads assume absolutely no responsibility in these cases. ”

“ Breeding is, however, far from being an exact science, though it is continually becoming more and more scientific in its methods. We cannot sit down, a pencil in our fingers and paper before us, and with the aid of the stud book and a set of mathematical formulas figure out a dog that will surely be a champion. We can, however, with a knowledge of the scientific data that biologists have collected in their research work supplementing the lore and traditions of the kennels, come nearer and nearer to the breeder's ideal of "a champion in every litter." ”

“ A puppy of that age, over distemper and house broken, is as satisfactory as it is possible for a pup to be. Bringing up a terrier puppy is hard on one's shoes, the ladies' hats, and everyone's disposition, but it is much more satisfactory to train him yourself in the ways you would have him go.
In picking out a puppy select the bright little chap to whom you are naturally attracted—I am advising the "dog owner" who knows the breed well enough not to be interested in any litter not of orthodox breeding. Only in case of doubt need you pay attention to show points. ”

“ In-breeding is beyond all doubt the strongest weapon the dog breeder has, but it is a boomerang that is very apt to come back and knock its thrower in the head. In-breeding is the breeding together of the blood of one dog—mother to son, or brother to sister. ”

“ Kennels, bedding, food and feeding, water, exercise, and grooming—these are the things which given proper attention mean a healthy and happy dog. Let us take them up, one at a time, for it is as often ignorance as thoughtlessness that causes the trouble.
The question as to the kind of a kennel is bound to have a variety of different answers according to whether one lives in the city or the country, in the North or the South, and whether one is to keep one dog or fifty. There are, however, certain fundamental considerations that apply to any home for dogs. ”

“ Since earliest times, man, more or less without thought or any knowledge of the whys and wherefores, has been carrying on scientific breeding in an unscientific way. Ever since he has kept domestic animals, his selection, formerly more or less unconscious, has been exerting its powerful force. For generations, the dog fanciers have been doing this: picking out the dogs and bitches most to their liking and mating them. The result is that while all breeds of dogs are closely enough related to inter-breed, still some are of comparative age and most breed wonderfully true to type. ”

“ Under this jacket of wire, there ought to be a vest of soft, woolly hair.
If you can collect in your mind's eye all the above details of description you should see a big, strong, compact, businesslike dog, full of the proverbial up-and-ever-coming spirit that inspires all terriers. His every movement shows strength, yet he always moves in that effort-economizing way which is the very personification of grace. When running he sweeps along with the free open stride of a galloping thoroughbred, with his head often carried low, but his tail always high. ”

“ Of course, not one Airedale in a thousand comes within seventy-five per cent. of being all that the standard describes. The average, however, is high in America; much higher here than anywhere else in the world, except England, and our best can even hold their own with the champions from the land of the breed's creation. Americans who have been interested in the dog have been blessed with enough of this world's goods to buy what they want, and almost without exception, they have been inspired with the best fancier ideal, that of breeding their own winners. ”

“ On the farms of New England, he is cherished as an exterminator of wood-chucks, moles, rats, and vermin of this class. He hunts all the way down the scale from the giant "silver tip" to the mouse in the pantry—mountain lions, wolves, panthers, lynx, wild cats, foxes, coons, skunks, rabbits, mink, what not, each and all he hunts with equal gusto and success. Is it any wonder that though the Airedale is only a little over half a century old his fame has spread from pole to pole? ”

“ Fancy, studded, bebelled, and beribboned collars look about as well on a terrier as diamonds on a bellboy.
The showing of dogs is rapidly becoming one of our most popular sports. The number of shows increases wonderfully each year, and every season the entries become more and more numerous. Daily, there are recruits enlisting in the army of dog fanciers. There is no denying the potency of the charm woven by the dog show. The confirmed fancier fairly loves the barking roar of the benched dogs; that peculiarly distinctive smell—a strange mixture of dog, disinfectant, and sawdust ”

“ A little bit of boiled liver, the sweetest tit-bit on a dog's menu, is an excellent thing to carry into the ring with you, but it is a grave mistake to be forever teasing and nagging at your entry. Leave him alone as much as possible. Do not wear out his spirits and your own patience, but just see that he is kept awake, standing firm so as to show his front to advantage, and so placed that the judge looks at him from the most advantageous position. If he has a poor colored eye, keep his tail pointed at the source of the light ”

“ The trouble is that, while master becomes a public benefactor by hurling his shaving mug out the window, the efforts of his dog to drive away the disturbers are regarded by the unsympathetic neighbors as quite as bad as the feline serenades and battle cries. No dog will bark at night if he is in a dark, quiet place, and the terrier in the backyard will sleep like a baby if he is shut up in a box covered with burlap. ”

“ Even to those who love dogs it is often disagreeably bothersome. It is bad enough in a toy dog, but in an Airedale it is worse in the ratio of five pounds to fifty.
I am not personally in favor of teaching a dog tricks. A trick dog soon learns to "love the limelight," and will be continually begging to be allowed to show off. Besides, I have an inborn dislike to seeing a dog doing stunts, and I know the feeling is shared by others who are fond of a good dog. It seems a silly thing to see a big, strong terrier begging or walking on his hind legs. ”

“ The single service is obviously a great saving of the energies of the stud dog, who, if he be popular, has to make heavy demands on his vitality. One who places a dog at public stud assumes certain responsibilities,—the keeping of his dog in perfect health and attending most carefully to visiting matrons. The stud dog should have lots of exercise, all the water he wants, and an abundance of good food. Raw lean meat, chopped fine or run through a mechanical grinder, makes a fine supplementary diet, and raw eggs and a little sherry can be added to this if he becomes at all run down. ”

“ There is ample evidence to show that the chemical composition of the muscles, bones, and blood of different animals of the same species are different, and even vary considerably in one individual at different times. The law of selection is the law of the struggle for existence, the survival of the fittest. The three laws together make up the theory of evolution by means of natural selection.
What man does in breeding is the making and improving of species by artificial selection. He takes advantage of the law of heredity to establish breeds. ”

“ Bad manners in the ring are the poorest of poor sportsmanship. Never try to hide another's dog and do not let your dog pick at or worry another entry. The terriers are all inclined to "start things" in the ring anyway, and each exhibitor ought to do his best to prevent the ring from becoming a whirling, barking, tugging bedlam. No judge can do his best under such disconcerting, if exciting, conditions, and he has a hard enough time at best, so exhibitors ought to help him as much as they are able. ”

“ The wise dog owner then will learn all he can about his breed. "Book larnin'" is good, but better still are talks with all sorts and conditions of Airedale owners and a visit to an Airedale kennel or the ringside at a dog show when the breed is being judged. No men ride their hobbies harder than dog fanciers, and all will talk and from all can something be learned.
When one has learned something about Airedales let him then buy his dog. It is best to buy a dog about six months old—old enough to be over puppy ills and not too old to learn new tricks. ”

“ Trying to house-break a very young puppy is cruelty pure and simple.
In punishing a dog, do not beat him about the ears and never use either a fine whip, or a stick. It has happened twice in my knowledge that a dog has had his hearing seriously damaged by a rupturing of the ear drums caused by blows on the head. A whip will cut the skin of a dog and a stick may break a bone. A smart slap under the jaw, accompanied by a word-scolding in a severe tone and uncompromising manner, is a thousand times better. ”

“ The A.K.C. lets one pluck and pull with his fingers, and brush and comb away as much as he wishes, but the use of knives, razors, scissors, or clippers is strictly tabooed. It is too bad that the trimming of wire terriers is carried so far as is the style to-day, for, even if legalized by the A.K.C, it so alters a dog and so improves a bad coat that it savors pretty strongly of faking. There is, however, little chance of there being any immediate reform, and to show successfully one must obey the dictates of Mistress Fashion. ”

“ Many of the books on doggy subjects are so deep and technical that the poor novice who has waded through their sonorous and involved phrases is really more at sea about how to treat his sick dog than before he took them from the shelf. Other books on dogs, especially the popular ones, are so brief in their descriptions that no amount of study of them can teach much. It is my object to steer between these two extremes and to tell something of the common ailments, so all may understand their causes, symptoms, and treatments. ”

“ House-breaking is the first lesson that has to be taught the city dog. Usually it saves time and money to see that the dog you buy is already so trained, but this cannot always be done. It is a risky business to guarantee a dog house-broken and too much faith must not be placed in any such promises. It often happens that while a dog will always behave perfectly in one house he may have to be trained all over again when introduced into another. ”

“ Exercise naturally follows feeding in our consideration of the health of the dog. Exercise, and plenty of it, is the best tonic, it keeps the muscles hard and the stomach in shape; it prevents fatness, and is just play for a dog.
There is, however, exercise and exercise. To walk a dog along on a lead is exercise, but three minutes' free running is worth half an hour of "taking the dog out for a walk" after the manner of the young lady who lives in the city. Each kennel should have an exercising yard, a lot as big as possible, where the dogs can be turned out for a romp. ”