The Airedale

by 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 a "public dog" it is an innately more useful accomplishment.

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; if his back is plenty long, do not let the judge see more of his profile than possible, and so on, with different rules for each dog in the world.

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.

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. It is also a mighty nice thing to find a good point or two to mention in the dogs that have been placed behind yours, assuming, of course, that you have not had the fate of being "given the gate."

These little courtesies of the ring are often sadly lacking at our American shows. 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. The express companies do charge a very high rate (one and a half times that charged for merchandise) for very poor service, but they are at least legally responsible for dogs committed to their charge. In England, wicker hampers are very popular for shipping dogs, but here, while lightness is to be sought, they are hardly strong enough to withstand the gentle care of our "baggage heavers."

The shows provide bedding, food, and water, but the fancier supplies his own chains and leads. To fasten a dog on the exhibition bench, bench chains, as they are called, are used. These are either nickel or brass finish, with snaps at both ends, and by means of them a dog can be so fastened that he can move about comfortably and yet not hang himself by getting over the front or get into trouble with his neighbors beyond the partitions.

In the show ring, however, these chains would be too heavy, and it is the custom to show terriers on long leather leads. There are two styles in vogue. One is a regular lead fastened with a snap to an ordinary collar, which should be a half inch strap of plain leather. The other is the slip collar, or a long lead with a loop at one or both ends. The loop is slipped over the dog's head and fastened by a sliding clasp. All leads and collars for terriers should be light and plain. 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; the excitement of the ring; the doggy parties at lunches, dinners, and at night after the show is over. It is all different from anything else in the world of sport, this charm of the bench show, and it is sure to hold in a fast grip any dog lover who falls under its sway.