THE WELSH TERRIER

This breed is near akin to the wire-hair Fox-terrier, the principal differences being merely of colour and type.  The Welsh Terrier is a wire-haired black or grizzle and tan.  The most taking colouring is a jet black body and back with deep tan head, ears, legs, belly, and tail.  Several specimens have, however, black foreheads, skulls, ears, and tail, and the black will frequently be seen also extending for a short way down the legs.  There must be no black, however, below the hock, and there must be no substantial amount of white anywhere; a dog possessing either of these faults is, according to the recognised standard of the breed, disqualified.  Many of the most successful bench winners have, nevertheless, been possessed of a little white on the chest and even a few hairs of that colour on their hind toes, and, apparently, by the common consent of all the judges of the breed, they have been in nowise handicapped for these blemishes.

There are not so many grizzle coloured Welsh Terriers now as there used to be.  A grizzle and tan never looks so smart as a black and tan; but though this is so, if the grizzle is of a dark hard colour, its owner should not be handicapped as against a black and tan; if, on the contrary, it is a washed-out, bluish-looking grizzle, a judge is entitled to handicap its possessor, apart altogether from the fact that any such colour on the back is invariably accompanied by an objectionable light tan on the legs, the whole being a certain sign of a soft, silky, unterrierlike coat.

The coat of the Welsh Terrier slightly differs from that of the wire-hair Fox-terrier in that it is, as a rule, not so abundant, and is, in reality, a different class of coat.  It is not so broken as is that of the Fox-terrier, and is generally a smoother, shorter coat, with the hairs very close together.  When accompanied with this there is a dense undercoat, one has, for a terrier used to work a good deal in water, an ideal covering, as waterproof almost as the feathers on a duck’s back.  The other difference between the Fox and Welsh Terrier—­viz., type—­is very hard to define.  To anyone who really understands Welsh Terriers, the selection of those of proper type from those of wrong type presents little if any difficulty.

As a show-bench exhibit the Welsh Terrier is not more than twenty-two years old.  He has, however, resided in Wales for centuries.

There is no doubt that he is in reality identical with the old black and tan wire-haired dog which was England’s first terrier, and which has taken such a prominent part in the production and evolution of all the other varieties of the sporting terrier.