Like the White English Terriers the Black and Tan has fallen on evil days. It is not a popular dog among fanciers, and although many good ones may be seen occasionally about the streets the breed suffers from want of the care and attention that are incidental to the breeding and rearing of dogs intended for competition at shows.
There are many who hold the opinion that one of the chief reasons for the decadence in the popularity of the Black and Tan Terrier, notwithstanding its many claims to favour, is to be found in the loss of that very alert appearance which was a general characteristic before the Kennel Club made it illegal to crop the ears of such as were intended for exhibition. It must be admitted that until very recently there was a considerable amount of truth in the prevalent opinion, inasmuch as a rather heavy ear, if carried erect, was the best material to work upon, and from which to produce the long, fine, and upright, or "pricked" effect which was looked upon as being the correct thing in a cropped dog; hence it followed that no care was taken to select breeding stock likely to produce the small, semi-erect, well-carried, and thin ears required to-day, consequently when the edict forbidding the use of scissors came into force there were very few small-eared dogs to be found. It has taken at least ten or a dozen years to eradicate the mischief, and even yet the cure is not complete.
Another factor which has had a bad effect is the belief, which has become much too prevalent, that a great deal of "faking" has been practised in the past, and that it has been so cleverly performed as to deceive the most observant judge, whereby a very artificial standard of quality has been obtained.
The standard of points by which the breed should be judged is as follows:—
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GENERAL APPEARANCE—A terrier calculated to take his own part in the rat pit, and not of the Whippet type. HEAD—The head should be long, flat, and narrow, level and wedge-shaped, without showing cheek muscles; well filled up under the eyes, with tapering, tightly-lipped jaws and level teeth. EYES—The eyes should be very small, sparkling, and bright, set fairly close together and oblong in shape. NOSE—Black. EARS—The correct carriage of ears is a debatable point since cropping has been abolished. Probably in the large breed the drop ear is correct, but for Toys either erect or semi-erect carriage of the ear is most desirable. NECK AND SHOULDERS—The neck should be fairly long and tapering from the shoulders to the head, with sloping shoulders, the neck being free from throatiness and slightly arched at the occiput. CHEST—The chest should be narrow but deep. BODY—The body should be moderately short and curving upwards at the loin; ribs well sprung, back slightly arched at the loin and falling again at the joining of the tail to the same height as the shoulders. FEET—The feet should be more inclined to be cat- than hare-footed. TAIL—The tail should be of moderate length and set on where the arch of the back ends; thick where it joins the body, tapering to a point, and not carried higher than the back. COAT—The coat should be close, smooth, short and glossy. COLOUR—The coat should be jet black and rich mahogany tan, distributed over the body as follows: On the head the muzzle is tanned to the nose, which with the nasal bone is jet black. There is also a bright spot on each cheek and above each eye; the underjaw and throat are tanned, and the hair inside the ears is the same colour; the fore-legs tanned up to the knee, with black lines (pencil marks) up each toe, and a black mark (thumb mark) above the foot; inside the hind-legs tanned, but divided with black at the hock joints; and under the tail also tanned; and so is the vent, but only sufficiently to be easily covered by the tail; also slightly tanned on each side of the chest. Tan outside the hind-legs—commonly called breeching—is a serious defect. In all cases the black should not run into the tan, nor vice versa, but the division between the two colours should be well defined. WEIGHT—For toys not exceeding 7 lb.; for the large breed from 10 to 20 lb. is most desirable.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE BULL-TERRIER
The Bull-terrier is now a gentlemanly and respectably owned dog, wearing an immaculate white coat and a burnished silver collar; he has dealings with aristocracy, and is no longer contemned for keeping bad company. But a generation or two ago he was commonly the associate of rogues and vagabonds, skulking at the heels of such members of society as Mr. William Sikes, whom he accompanied at night on darksome business to keep watch outside while Bill was within, cracking the crib. In those days the dog's ears were closely cropped, not for the sake of embellishment, but as a measure of protection against the fangs of his opponent in the pit when money was laid upon the result of a well-fought fight to the death. For fighting was the acknowledged vocation of his order, and he was bred and trained to the work. He knew something of rats, too, and many of his kind were famed in the land for their prowess in this direction. Jimmy Shaw's Jacko could finish off sixty rats in three minutes, and on one occasion made a record by killing a thousand in a trifle over an hour and a half.
The breed is sufficiently modern to leave no doubt as to its derivation. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century attention was being directed to the improvement of terriers generally, and new types were sought for. They were alert, agile little dogs, excellent for work in the country; but the extravagant Corinthians of the time—the young gamesters who patronised the prize-ring and the cock-pit—desired to have a dog who should do something more than kill rats, or unearth the fox, or bolt the otter: which accomplishments afforded no amusement to the Town. They wanted a dog combining all the dash and gameness of the terrier with the heart and courage and fighting instinct of the Bulldog. Wherefore the terrier and the Bulldog were crossed. A large type of terrier was chosen, and this would be the smooth-coated Black and Tan, or the early English White Terrier; but probably both were used indifferently, and for a considerable period. The result gave the young bucks what they required: a dog that was at once a determined vermin killer and an intrepid fighter, upon whose skill in the pit wagers might with confidence be laid.