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no superior at killing rats and all kinds of vermin. He has an exceptionally fine nose, and makes a very useful dog for rough shooting, being easily taught to retrieve. If he has any fault at all, it is that he is of too jealous a disposition, which renders it almost impossible to work him with other dogs, as he wants all the fun to himself, and if he cannot get it he will fight for it. But by himself he is perfect. As a companion he is peculiarly affectionate and faithful, and remarkably intelligent ; he makes a capital house-dog, is a good guard and is very safe with children.

Bedlingtons are not dainty feeders, as most writers have asserted, nor are they tender dogs. If they are kept in good condition and get plenty of exercise they feed as well as any others, and are as hard as nails if not pampered. They are easy to breed and rear, and the bitches make excellent mothers. If trained when young they are very obedient, and their tendency to fight can in a great measure be cured when they are puppies ; hut, if not checked then, it cannot be done afterwards. Once they take to fighting nothing will keep them from it, and instead of being pleasurable companions they become positive nuisances. On the other hand, if properly broken they give very little trouble, and will not quarrel

unless set upon.

CHAPTER XXXVI THE IRISH TERRIER

THE dare-devil Irish Terrier has most certainly made his home in our bosom. There is no breed of dog more genuinely loved by those who have sufficient experience and knowledge

to make the comparison. Other dogs have a larger share of innate wisdom, others are most xsthetically beautiful, others more peaceable ; but our rufous friend has a way of winning into his owner's heart and making there an abiding place which is all the more secure because it is gained by sincere and undemonstrative devotion. Perhaps one likes him equally for his faults as for his merits. His very failings are due to his soldierly faithfulness and loyalty, to his too ardent vigilance in guarding the threshold, to his officious belligerence towards other canines who offend his sense of proprietorship in his master. His particular stature may have some influence in ` his success as a chum. He is just tall enough to rest his chin upon one's knee and look up with all his soul into one's eyes. Whatever be the secret of his attraction 'tis certain that he has the Hibernian art of compelling affection and forgiveness, and that he makes one value him, not for the beauty of his ruddy raiment, the straightness of his fore-legs, the set of his eye and ear, the levelness of his back, or his ability to win prizes, but rather for his true and trusty heart, that exacts no return and seeks no recompense. He may be but an indifferent specimen of his kind, taken in as a stranger at the gates ; but when at length the inevitable time arrives, as it does all too soon in canine nature, one then discovers how surely one has been harbouring an angel unawares.

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