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.
There are several people living in or about Carnarvonshire who can
show that Welsh Terriers have been kept by their ancestors from, at
any rate, a hundred to two hundred years ago. Notable among these
is the present master of the Ynysfor Otterhounds, whose great
grandfather, John Jones, of Ynysfor, owned Welsh Terriers in or about
the year 1760. This pack of Otterhounds has always been kept by the
Jones of Ynysfor, who have always worked and still work Welsh Terriers
with them. From this strain some good terriers have sprung, and this
although neither the present master nor any of his ancestors have
concerned themselves greatly about the looks of their terriers, or
kept anything but a head record of their pedigrees. They are all,
however, pure bred, and are set much store on by their owner and his
family, just as they always have been by their predecessors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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