There is a great tendency with breeders and judges to be run away with against their better judgment by a fancy type which for some unknown reason becomes popular. Of late years, for instance, flat-sided, flimsy "Japanese" coated dogs have been the fashion and have fetched big prices for their short faces, quite eclipsing the more typical specimens in the prize lists. This is, however, not likely to permanently affect the breed, as this type is constitutionally delicate, and is also in the highest degree ephemeral and breeds out in a couple of generations. Our serious danger among Toy Spaniels lies in the latest phase, namely the Bulldog type, which, starting with Black-and-tan and Rubies, is gradually invading the " broken colours " as well, and if allowed to spread will destroy the breed, as it is a persistent, prolific, and dominant type, almost impossible to breed out when once a strain is contaminated by it, especially as it probably comes from a cross. This coarse, large, heavy-boned, vulgar caricature of a breed which should be fairy-like and exquisite is gaining ground more and more, owing to its short face and prominent jaw, over which judges have gone (let us hope temporarily) crazy.

No doubt they will soon see their error, and the type will lapse into the disrepute which it deserves, but meanwhile grievous and possible irreparable damage may be done to our dogs.

Different Types of Head

1. Balldog type Short "face. Flat skull, Tear marks. Eye small and obliquely set, Exaggerated under jaw Wrinkles.

2. Good skull. short down-face imperfect finish. Ear set much too low

3. Good head, Globular skull Short up-fat.:. Ear . .correctly placed and wide at the top. Note crest and position of eye

4. A common type of "monkey face. skull peaked. Nose Iong and narrow

5. Bulldog type Wrinkled down face Eye small. Ear too far back and had leather Muzzle disproportiontely large and heavy'

6. Skull too high. Ear set Ion high Nose too straight.

7. Nose too long. Skull flat. wrong type.8. Ear set too far back (compare ). 9, A common winding modern type. very short face. Ears too low andl too far back. Eye set obliquely Drooping muzzlebad expression.Note excessive distance between thecorner of the eye nearest the ear and the corner of the mouth which droops

10. Modern noseless type Good expression.

12. Exaggerated modern type. Bad expression. 11.Exaggeratedly wide under jaw. Good head,Frog's expression .Small eyes, ,3. Ditto. With pig eyes.

We do not want to breed Bull-spaniels any more than Jap Spaniels, neither do we want noseless cripples, or animals with heads like a Dutch cheese, or dogs like the deformed "golliwogs" which have recently been such a favourite present for children. The result of the spread of the Bull-spaniel type, without regard to general prettiness and beauty of expression, is that only trained experts can see any attraction in the breed, and that Toy Spaniels decrease yearly in popularity with the outside public. Heavy, massive, ugly animals will never be popular as pets; what people want is a pretty, intelligent, dainty, lively little pet, with lots of fluff and feather, and not a burglar's terror, and as long as we persist in breeding these burglar's terrors, as evidence of our skill in outdoing our neighbours in special points, so long will our Toy Spaniels be a byword for gro-tesqueness with the general public, and appeal to none but specialists, or possibly to the children who have been trained to "golliwogs."

The more noseless a Spaniel is, the more delicate his lines should be. The curves must be extraordinarily subtle so as not to offend the eye. Remember, there are only two canons of proportion possible in a noseless type; one is that of the Bulldog, and the other that to which the Japanese type is the nearest approach. Anything which deviates from the laws of proportion belonging to these two types is a mathematical abomination. In one the curves are all strong and rugged, massive, heavy, and impressive; in the other they should all be round, soft, full, delicate, and exquisite. Both are equally symmetrical according to their canons, but mix the two, and you get an antagonism of line which sets your teeth on edge.

There are certain laws of proportion which must be observed. You cannot have a high skull which is narrow, or large eyes set close together, or an enormously high dome with ears too low to furnish it. You cannot have the under jaw of a prizefighter on the face of a cherub. The fault with breeders is the fault of all modern art workers, that they are always trying to imitate one thing with another, and are not content to develop each thing along its own lines of perfection. The water colourist is always trying to make his work look like an oil painting, the cement worker is not satisfied unless he gets a substance to look like stone. Deal boards must imitate oak, silk is made to look like fur, and everything is made to appear something which it is not.

The result of all this is inferiority in everything. The imitation is never equal to the thing it imitates, whereas if its own possibilities were developed it would excel in its own line. If, however, you set out to imitate oil with water colour or stone with cement, you can only achieve success by observing the laws which govern oil paint and stone, and acting accordingly. The King Charles Black-and-tan Toy Spaniel, by rights, should not be noseless, and if we are determined to make it something which is not natural to it, we must make it conform to the proper proportions of the noseless type.

In his own line the Japanese dog conforms to these laws. The Japanese dog may or may not be naturally noseless, but, even supposing he has been evolved from a large pointed-nosed ancestor, which I emphatically do not believe, we must remember that the Japanese have the genius for producing dwarfed specimens without grotesqueness or distortion, as may be seen in their dwarf cedars, orange trees, and other miniature growths. These dogs have also been short in face for centuries, at any rate, and breed true to type. The appearance of the noseless Japanese dog is not deformed. His short face settles into natural graceful curves, each harmonising with the other. The feathery tail, the proud carriage and crest all make circular curves agreeing with circular curves of head, eyes, and muzzle. If we must make all our Toy Spaniels noseless, they must, as I have said, conform to the laws which govern the noseless type evolved by masters whose artistic genius we are never likely to excel. There are no two roads to follow, and fanciers must fairly make up their minds on the matter. People talk of Japanese crosses. It is not necessarily a cross which makes some of our Toy Spaniels recall this breed. It is merely the evolution of the noseless type to its proper canons of proportion.

Some fanciers are certain that the evolution and reversion have been helped out by surreptitious crosses, in which matter they may be wiser than I am, but I would point out that the word "Jappy" is used much too loosely among fanciers. I have heard the word applied to dogs with Bulldog under-jaws! As a rule, everything small, lightly marked, and with a straight, flaky coat, is called Jappy. When I speak of the Japanese type, I do not mean what is popularly called "Jappiness," and before people talk of a Jappy type they should study the points of the Japanese

Spaniel The Japanese recognise that, in order to make a noseless type possible, it must be diminutive, delicate, and exquisite. Enlarge this type and you will get gro-tesqueness. Think of a noseless Toy Spaniel on the scale of a rhinoceros. What more terrifying, hideous monster could be produced ? Try and imagine my own Ch. Windfall as big as an elephant This mental gymnastic will show you the inappropriateness of having things on a wrong scale.