Many of our smooth terriers are slightly crossed with the bull-dog, in order to give courage to bear the bites of the vermin which they are meant to attack. When thus bred, the terrier shows no evidence of pain, even though half a dozen rats are hanging on to his lips, which are extremely tender parts of the body, and where the bite of a mouse even will make a badly bred dog yell with pain. In fact, for all the purposes to which a terrier can be applied, the half or quarter cross with the bull, commonly known as the "bull-terrier" or "half-breed dog," is of more value than either of the purely bred progenitors. Such a dog, however, to be useful, must be more than half terrier, or he will be too heavy and slow, too much under-jawed to hold well with his teeth, and too little under command to obey the orders of his master. Some-times the result of the second cross, which is only one quarter bull, shows a great deal of the shape peculiar to that side; and it is not until the third or fourth cross that the terrier shape comes out predominant. This is all a matter of chance, and the exact reverse may just as probably happen, although the terrier was quite free from the stain of the bull,which is seldom the case.

This may account for the great predominance of that side in most cases, as we shall see in investigating the subject of breeding for the kennel in the next Book. The field fox-terrier, used for bolting the fox when gone to ground, was of this breed. So also is the fighting-dog par excellence, and, indeed, there is scarcely any task to which a dog of his size may be set that he will not execute as well as, or better than, most others. He will learn tricks with the poodle, fetch and carry with the Newfoundland - take water with that dog, though his coat will not suffer him to remain in so long, - hunt with the spaniel, and fight "till all's blue." For thorough gameness, united with obedience, good temper, and intelligence, he surpasses any breed in existence.

The points of the bull-terrier vary in accordance with the degree of each strain in the specimen examined. There should not be either the projection of the under jaw, or the crooked fore legs, or the small and weak hind-quarters; and until these are lost, or nearly so, the crossing should be continued on the terrier side. The perfect bull-terrier may, therefore, be defined as the terrier with as much bull as can be combined with the absence of the above points, and showing the full head (not of course equal to that of the bull), the strong jaw, the well-developed chest, powerful shoulders, and thin fine tail of the bull-dog, accompanied by the light neck, active frame, strong loin, and fuller proportions of the hind-quarter of the terrier. A dog of this kind should be ca-8 pable of a fast pace, and will stand any moderate amount of road work. The hight varies from 10 inches to 16, or even 30. The color most admired is white, either pure or patched with black, blue, red, fawn, or brindle, sometimes black and tan, or self-colored red.

The dog whose portrait is given, is Tarquin, bred and owned by Mr. Vero Shaw, of England.

BULL TERRIER, TARQUIN.

Fig. 38. BULL TERRIER, TARQUIN.

The Bull Terrier 68