Most of the nonsense that is heard about trimming emanates, of course, from the ignoramus; the knife, he says, is used on them all, a sharp razor is run over their coats, they are singed, they are cut, they are rasped (the latter is the favourite term).  Anything like such a sweeping condemnation is quite inaccurate and most unfair.  It is impossible to cut a hair without being detected by a good judge, and very few people ever do any such thing, at any rate for some months before the terrier is exhibited, for if they do, they know they are bound to be discovered, and, as a fact, are.

When the soft-coated dogs are clipped they are operated on, say, two or three months before they are wanted, and the hair gets a chance to grow, but even then it is easily discernible, and anyone who, like the writer, has any experience of clipping dogs in order to cure them of that awful disease, follicular mange, knows what a sight the animal is when he grows his coat, and how terribly unnatural he looks.

The wire-hair has never been in better state than he is to-day; he is, generally speaking, far ahead of his predecessors of twenty-five years ago, not only from a show point of view, but also in working qualities.  One has only to compare the old portraits of specimens of the variety with dogs of the present day to see this.  A good many individual specimens of excellent merit, it is true, there were, but they do not seem to have been immortalised in this way.  The portraits of those we do see are mostly representations of awful-looking brutes, as bad in shoulders, and light of bone, as they could be; they appear also to have had very soft coats, somewhat akin to that we see on a Pomeranian nowadays, though it is true this latter fault may have been that of the artist, or probably amplified by him.

Perhaps the strongest kennel of wire-hairs that has existed was that owned a good many years ago by Messrs. Maxwell and Cassell.  Several champions were in the kennel at the same time, and they were a sorty lot of nice size, and won prizes all over the country.  Jack Frost, Jacks Again, Liffey, Barton Wonder, Barton Marvel, and several other good ones, were inmates of this kennel, the two latter especially being high-class terriers, which at one time were owned by Sir H. de Trafford.  Barton Marvel was a very beautiful bitch, and probably the best of those named above, though Barton Wonder was frequently put above her.  Sir H. de Trafford had for years a very good kennel of the variety, and at that time was probably the biggest and best buyer.

Mr. Carrick, of Carlisle, was also a prominent owner years ago, and showed some excellent terriers, the best being Carlisle Tack, Trick, and Tyro.  The latter was an exceptionally good dog.