Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-02
BEST EVER HELD
IN QUAKER CITY
HiQh Praise Accorded the Phila-
deIphia Dog
Show.
Analysis of the Glasses by Dr..
Watson, One of the
Judges.
By James Watson.

By James Watson.
Tho Philadelphia dog show was unques-
| tionably the best ever held in the Quaker
| city, and as I am never the dispenser Of
| time-serving compliments, this ought to he
somewhat stronger than the stereotyped
| record breaking encomiums which are ac-
corded to almost every recurrence Of any
| regular event. 1t was not quite equal in
| point Of numbers to that of last year. but
| 1t was a much stronger collection of dogs.
In my own allotment as judge there were
| the two extremities of the catalogue, the
| st. Bernards and few of the large breeds,
| and then all the toy dogs. 1t was the best
collection of toy dogs ever at this show,
being numerically and individually a great
| improvement on any previous year. Then
came. part of my work, the variety
classes, which are open to all breeds, a
sort of hodge podge, which, in place Of be-
ing made of the usual components of a
! hodge-podge are the choice of the whole
| show. The club gave $50 in prize money
| for each Of these variety classes, which
were for the best team of four dogs, for
the best brace for the best dog, and for
the best bitch, or, to speak more correctly,
for all dogs and for all bitches The fact
| of having to make a specific entry and pay
fee for entry to the latter two classes
prevented the winners being officially en-
titled to the name of best in the show, but
they were very naturally filled with excel
lent dogs, and all four of these classes gave
a good line upon what was at the top
throughoubthe show.
X
The single dog entries are by no means
difficult classes to Judge; for, matter
what dog is put at the top, it is bound to
be a good one; and will always have sup
porters and likewise some will favor one
or two of the others the judge also showed
a strong liking for. but the team and brace
classes are of a different character alto,
gether. We have here the element of
"sortiness," particularly in the class for
tours, and most undoubtedly the brace
class should be made up of pairs which
have as close resemblance to one another
as possible, and is even a harder class to
judge than the fours. Many of our eX-
hibtors seem to think that brace is best
made up of their two best winners two
firsts in winners classes, II possible;
whereas, they may have better brace. not
better two dogs, but better brace in two
which were close runners up. Thls was the
difficulty experienced in judging the brace
class in which there were several couples
made up of one excellent dog, and another
which was not match in shape or ap-
pearance to the good one, and whose de-
| fects were, therefore, more sharply dis
played by the essential comparison OF the
| two.
| 1t was this affinity of appearance which
| brace of Mr. George c. Thomas English
settlers, this same Philadelphia owner taking
| the first four fours, with two addltlons 10
| the brace. In speaking afterward about
| these classes in company with few OF
| the dog men, and the necessity for get
| ting matched lots Ben Lewis, who showed
| the settlers for Mr.. Thomas, said: That Is
| just what 1 did; l left some of the first
prize dogs on the benches and brought in
| four that matched"
X
| Next to the settlers came a particularly
| even lot Of wire-haired fox terriers owned
| by Mr. McComb of Dobbs Ferry, N. Y, and
here was reversed a decision Of Mr.. Keyes,
who Judged fox terriers and gave Mr.. Ruth
erford's four smooths the team special.
whereas 1 placed them fourth in the variety
team class. The smooths consisted of two
very nice ones that in the brace class were
put over the wire brace but the other two
of the smooth four did not sort up with the
premier pair, as did the Rowsley wires
Third in the team class came a very we'll
matched lot of collies owned by Mr.. Inter
myer. In color, size and quality they were
an exceptional lot of collies and when 1t
came to the brace class and the pick of the
four was shown they made most formid-
able pair. AS the Irishman is reputed to
have said the one looked SO much like both
you couldn't tell tother from which.
Another well-matched team was Mr.. Da-
Wis Bostons. which came fourth, behind the
tons was somewhat better than the ter
riers showed, but they did not appeal to
me SO much as they might to Others and
personal equation possibly came into
play In the brace class the new cand-
dates which ranked highest were the Irish
terriers of Mr.. McComb, who had also his
brace of wire-haired fox terriers, either of
which might have gone over the other, but
the Irish went in fourth place.
X
The open class for dogs had at the top q
wonderfully good bulldog, in my humble
opinion the best heavyweight, or the best
dog of his weight have ever seen, for it is
very difficult to get really good bulldog of
his size, particularly sound in movement as
well, and he went to the top followed by
the best Of Mr.. Rutherford's fox terriers
and here I again reversed the fox terrier
judges decision and in this case happened
to know 1 was doing. but as I was there
to give my opinion I put the dog that
pleased me most and Warren Blue Blood
came second to the bulldog Then a very
high-class English setter owned by Joe
Lewis named Deodora Prince, and for
fourth the fox terrier that beat Warren
Blue Blood in his classes, a dog called Sa-
bine Roller Both of these fox terriers are
American bred dogs, as Is also the terrier
Warren Remedy that was second In the
breed won the Grand Challenge cup of the
fox terrier club Over her was placed q
beautiful quality Irish terrier named Rows
ley Betty. The only drop of comfort doled
out to Philadelphia in these two individual
classes was third to the Boston terrier
champion Boylston Reana, owned by the
Spotswood kennels, which got third place.