In conclusion let me state:  “Put a price on your dogs that in your best judgment you know (not guess) to be a fair and equitable one (and if unable to decide what is right, call in an honorable expert who can) and take neither more nor less.  Always remember that a man can raise horses, corn, cotton, or dogs (or any other honest product) and be a gentleman, but the moment he raises ‘Cain’ he ceases to be one.”

[Illustration:  Gordon Boy, Gretchen, Derby’s Buster, Tommy Tucker, Ch.  Lord Derby]

[Illustration:  Gordon Boy]

CHAPTER XI.

BOSTON TERRIER TYPE AND THE STANDARD.

The standard adopted by the Boston Terrier Club in 1900 was the result of earnest, sincere, thoughtful deliberations of as conservative and conscientious a body of men as could anywhere be gotten together.  Nothing was done in haste, the utmost consideration was given to every detail, and it was a thoroughly matured, and practically infallible guide to the general character and type of the breed by men who were genuine lovers of the dog for its own sake, who were perfectly familiar with the breed from its start, and who were cognizant of every point and characteristic which differentiated him from the bulldog on the one side and the bull terrier on the other, and while admitting the just claims of every other breed, believed sincerely that the dog evolved under their fostering care was the peer, if not the superior, of all in the particular sphere for which he was designed, an all-round house dog and companion.  In the writer’s estimation this type of dog, for the particular position in life, so to speak, he is to occupy, could not in any way be improved, and the mental qualities that accompany the physical characteristics (which are particularly specified in the first chapter) are of such inestimable value that any possible change would be detrimental.  It may be observed that it was the dogs of this type that have led the van everywhere in the days when he was practically unknown outside of the state in which he originated.  “Monte,” “Druid Vixon,” “Bonnie,” “Revilo Peach,” and dogs of their conformation possessed a type of interesting individuality that blazed the way east, west, north and south.  Does any one imagine that the so-called terrier type one so often hears of, and which a large number of people are apparently led today to believe to be “par excellence,” the correct thing, would have been capable of so doing?  No one realizes more fully than the writer the fact that the bully type can be carried too far, and great harm will inevitably ensue, but the swing of the pendulum to the exaggerated terrier type will in time, I firmly believe, ring in his death knell.  It is a source of wonderment to me that numbers of men who don the ermine can distribute prizes to the weedy specimens, shallow in muzzle, light in bone and substance, long in body, head and tail, who adorn (?) the shows of the past few years.  I am not a prophet, neither the son of one, but I will hazard my reputation in predicting that before many years have rolled, a type, approximating that authorized by the Boston Terrier Club in 1900 will prevail, and the friends of the dog will undoubtedly believe it to be good enough to last for all time.