The Hon. Mrs. Neville Lytton

In the present treatise I can only refer to a few of the points, which I think extremely important in the modern toy spaniel, if we wish to increase the popularity of the breed.

Firstly, we must breed sound dogs. Our black-tan stock is particularly unsound, and all of our varieties (with individual exceptions) are terribly short of coat, a fault chiefly due to an in-bred degeneracy of the roots of the hair. If we want to save the breed from getting universal rat coats and losing long feather beyond recall, my strong advice is to breed from the few profusely coated specimens, which we have, and leave the poor -coated specimens severely alone.

Never mind curls; they are a sign of strong growth of hair and healthy skin. Curly-coated dogs are, in my experience, infinitely less liable to skin disease than straight-coated ones. The growth of hair upon toy spaniels is getting weaker and weaker. Fanciers breed for head alone and forget the body which carries it.

Almost all the dogs whose coats are perfectly straight have a type of coat, which is of an entirely wrong texture, and I consider that a perfectly straight coat should be penalised for this reason. The coats should be strongly wavy and very soft, not harsh and straight.

Secondly, we must not encourage exaggeration in our anxiety to out-do each other as breeders of wonders. Let us keep away from deformity. A point that is generally misunderstood is the proper shape of the muzzle. A toy spaniel's muzzle should not be flat on each side of the nose, with a depression under each eye. The muzzle should be so thoroughly well-cushioned up on each side of the nose that this black nose should look almost embedded in fur, especially when the dog is exceedingly short in face. When looked at in front, the outline of the muzzle should from a practically perfect wide arch, which puffs out on each side of the nose, the topmost curve almost, sometimes quite, touching under the lids of the eyes.

It will be noticed that when the cushions of the muzzle are properly developed, the whiskers stick straight up out of them, like pins of a pincushion. The under jaw must not stick right out beyond the upper lip. The under teeth should just overlap the upper lip. The under teeth should just overlap the upper ones comfortably, but the nose should not recede, leaving the under jaw protruding, even if the teeth do not show. This is an exaggeration, which is very ugly and now very common.

The whole face of a toy spaniel should have a round, chubby, furry appearance and a sweet, pretty, lively expression with no lines, furrows, or irregularities of the outline. If a muzzle is the proper shape, there are practically no marks of tears on it, as even the "lachrymal duct is weak," according to one authority, the tears run out upon a rounded surface and cannot lodge so as to form stains.

Reference to the photograph of Ch.The Seraph will illustrate what I mean about the arch of the muzzle. The eyes must be set absolutely straight, i.e., horizontally, and should set very low down, being on a level with the nose when viewed straight in front, i.e., the top of the nose should be level with the top of the eyes. The skull should be perfectly round, on the top of the eyes. The skull should be perfectly round, on no account peaked or flat at the top, and the ears should not be exaggeratedly low. In my opinion, Ch. The Seraph's are set too low and too far back; they should hang forwards and not be thrown back, almost inside out, as in some specimens. In the photo of Ch. Little Tommy, note the cushioned muzzle puffed out beyond the nose, the lovely round skull and pretty expression. Compare his muzzle with that of his companion (sitting up) and note the difference.

In the photo of Ch. Windfall, notice the muzzle beautifully round, with no vestige of tear stains any more than on the muzzles of Ch. Little Tommy and Ch. The Seraph. The low placing of the eye is also well shown. Ch. The Seraph's eyes are slightly oblique. An untrained observer would not notice this defect, but it is there all the same and is very noticeable when exaggerated, giving an unpleasing expression. Many good dogs are spoilt by this fault. Among our big winners today are some which have the wrong and some the right type greatly exaggerated, and there is now a strong tendency to exaggeration of under jaw, which is very undesirable.

The best coated dogs are undoubtedly Ch. Royal Clyde, Ch. MacDuff and Ch. Little Tommy, all simply marvellous, in addition to Little Jock, Little Wonder (a sweet little dog), and Seestu Prince. Our smallest dogs are Seraphina, Ch. Casino Girl, The Orchid, L'Ambassadeur , and Miss Comet. Tri colours are much too heavily marked, and the fault is apparently becoming more and more common. Our best marked dogs are Ch. Cleveden Magnet, The Bond man, Ashridge Hero, Ch. Zana, Ch. The Troubadour and Speculation.

There are very few Blenheims with the spot in any perfection. Among these are Cupid, Lala, Miss Comet, Lovely Spot and Seestu Prince other well-known have it but less perfectly placed. Doncaster Comet has a perfect spot, but I have only seen him once, and this was a long time ago.

Two lovely dogs, which have been far too heavily penalised by special judges for white markings are Cheruboskie and Walkley Mac. Some very beautiful dogs, which have not had their desserts, are L'Ambassadeur ( a pretty dog), Seraphina ( extremely small one) and quite in the first rank of tri-colours, Lord Ellington, Moncrieffe Rex and Moncrieffe Toy. Rococo too, has had very bad luck at times. Ch. Rococo I admire immensely. He has the best type and sound expression and is thoroughly sound.

I strongly object to the present absence of uniformity and conviction among specialist judges as to what they consider to be the right type. There is no settled type to which I can now point and say, "That is the type, which will win consistently under speciality judges." This is very hard on breeders and especially beginners. They find it impossible to please the judges or to learn what points they must be bred for, and even experienced breeders, with all their skill, cannot keep pace with the fluctuations of judicial opinion.

Imagine a student trying to reconcile to one standard type the following examples we have had of winners during the past year: Ch. Casino Girl, Ch. Dragon Fly, Ch. A.M. Baronet, Ready Money, Ch. Cara, Ch. Cherub Roscoe, The Bandolero, The Orchid, Doncaster Comet, Stuart King, Ch. Royal Clyde, Ch. Windfall, Peter Piper, The Advocate, The White Rose, Ch. Toy and Ashton M. Rolla.

A more heterogeneous collection as to type would be hard to find, and the student might well ask, "Which is right?" I could write volumes more, but space forbids here, though The Kennel may shortly publish a work, which will embody all information at present available regarding breed.

It is my firm conviction that if breeders and judges would maintain a sensible regard for laws of soundness and symmetry, avoid all extremes of exaggeration, and pay more attention to general excellence and less to detail, the toy spaniel would rapidly become the favourite instead of the least popular in the toy breeds.