Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-01
Easy to Give Misinformatiou.

| ilothhiS ID hhoWH Dis 10 OTouto Judges SO
| far.
| Easy to Give Misinformatiou.
| A cynical critic once remarked that 1t was
easy to furnish information to the public
when one did not worry as to his facts.
and truly the amount OF information fur
| nished upon this basis In dog matters ls
| very surprising. A very much-quoted para
| graph at the present time is that the only
genuine breed that Is really American and
| owes nothing, to foreigners is the Boston
terrier There is not single word of truth
| In all the paragraph referred to. The Bos-
| ton terrier has been built up from a lot OF
! common fighting or pit dogs brought over
| by the help on English steamers plying be-
| tween Liverpool and Boston. This was
| twenty-five years ago. and as they became
| quite popular in Boston among some dog
| men they and their friends got classes put
| on at the Boston show for round headed
| bull and terrier dogs. That is the name
| they were known by, and 1t well describes
| them. as they were bull and terrier and diff
| fered from the refined long-headed bull ter
rier in having the round apple" head.
When those fanciers wanted recognition by
as the American Kennel Club they asked IL
as the American Bull Terrier Club, and
the matter came before the chairman of
the stub book committee OF the American
Kennel Club, who advised the Boston peo-
pie to strike out for themselves and give
distinct name, suggesting that of Boston
terrier. and that was at once agreed to.
In the formation of breed, history shows
US that there Is almost always one potent
dog which Is conspicuous in establishing
the type, and We find this in the Boston
terrier, tracing back in nearly every in
stance of present-day best dogs to but one
or two or the sons Of Barnard's Tom. This
| preponderating inuence of a very restricted
number of dogs is not alone confined to
early production of the various breeds, but
Is always at work, though, unfortunately
we do not always know where the little pea
p9 nf hran ivy
which dog or dogs are string our present
winners but their influence may drop out
entirely. For instance, the collie Metchley
Wonder was the most popular stud dog in
his day in England, and II is no ina gina
ton to say he sired 5000 puppies yet In
the male line of all our good dogs we now
trace back through but one dog to Metch-
ley Wonder, and that was his son Christie
pher which he got when but ten months
old. Two equally famous sires OF the
period Immediately preceding Metchley
Wonder were Eclipse and Rutland. Moth
ing but puppies by them seemed capable
OF winning, yet all trace of them in the
male line is lost, though we come across
them in the female line of descent at times
This is one of the understandable pecu-
liarities Of breeding. but ii has nothing
very particularly to do with American dog
breeds, which was the starting point
The Chesapeakes.
A very much older breed of this country
the Chesapeake bay dog. Its origin is thor
oughiy established beyond the shadow of a
| doubt and We begin with Sailor and Cam
ton, two puppies selected in Newfoundland
to be taken 10 Liverpool to the owner Of a
vessel returning there from Newfoundland
but which wrecked In midocean and
the crew and dogs rescued by a Baltimore
vessel. The mate of the rescuing vessel
purchased these two puppies from the Eng
! Itch afoiF ILL
and he went to sea very shortly after
ward gave the puppies to two gentlemen
| of Maryland and It was from these dogs
! the Chesapeake descended 1t is admissible
that there were ducking dogs before they
| reached Maryland but the uniformity of
! type. color and other characteristics of the
| breed are due to the influence of the rusty
| red dog Sailor, no matter whether or not
| he was mated with the home females His
| was the preponderating influence which
| nodded and made the breed.
| In the Delaware shooting district there Is
another breed of ducking dog which II Is
| my purpose to investigate ere long. That is
| the liver spaniel which seems purely local
| In a great measure. The spaniel with the
| roughish or curly coat, rather high leg
| and with heavily feathered ears, has al
ways been a water shooting dog, but this
seems to be distinct variety In being al
| most entirely liver colored. What has for
many years been known as the Norfolk
spanielN in England is nearly always liver
and white, and that dog find In America
| and Canada wherever there Is water shoot
| ing. Although not recognized by the die
| TINT breeders of spaniels for the show
| bench this Is undoubtedly the original type
| of spaniel from which got the setter
! and all varieties of spaniels These liver
/ and white working dogs found about
| Boston, along the st. Lawrence river and in
| many other places where hardy, intelli-
gent. useful dog for the man with the gun
| is wanted. The probability is that this
| Delaware spaniel is color variety of this
/ common dog. influenced by some dog own
1 ed locally and which had the exceptional
| power to stamp color to a marked extent.
The Irish Water Spaniel.
One of the many useful but somewhat
/ neglected breeds of dogs for some time is
i the Irish water spaniel. Twenty years ago
/ we had some very fine specimens through
out the country. more particularly In what
we then considered the far west. Chicago
/ and Milwaukee, before 1t became famous.
Old timers tell of Champion Barney and
others OF that time. but when these were
retired the Irish water spaniel dropped al
most out of sight altogether. A year ago
| a new exhibitor appeared and with him
some excellent water spaniels. This was
Rev T. Moore Smith OF Scotch Plain, N. j..
and to his initial brace he has since add
ed some very good ones. until he now has a
kennel OF the variety which bid fair to do
business as the best four Of any variety of
i