Dogs and All about Them

land: how the Hospice St. Bernard kept a considerable number of dogs which were trained to go over the mountains with small barrels round their neck

many lives in this way, the subjects of their deliv

ophes of distemper and the fall of an avalanche which had swept away nearly all their hounds, the monks were compelled to have recourse to a cross with the Newfoundland and the Pyrenean sheepdog, the latter not unlike the St. Bernard in size and ap

tractive features at our dog shows, and are individually excellent guards and companions. As a companion, the St. Bernard cannot be surpassed, whe

s with dignity. Specimens of the breed have occasionally been seen that are savage, but

a line running up between the eyes, and over the skull, joining at the back the white collar that encircles the neck down to the front of the shoulders. The colour round the eyes and on the ears should be of a darker shade in the red; in the centre of the white line at the occiput there should b

me, so that the two varieties are often bred together, and, as a rule, both textures of coat will be the result of the alliance. The late M. Schumacher, a great authority on the breed in Switzerland, averred that dogs with very roug

scends from the crossing of a bitch (a Bulldog species) of Denmark and a Mastiff (Shepherd's Dog) of the Pyrenees. The descendants of the crossing, who have inherited from the Danish dog its extraordinary size and bodily strength, and from the Pyrenean Mastiff the inte

before Mr. Cumming Macdona (then the Rev. Cumming Macdona) introduced us to the celebrated Tell, who, with others of the breed brought from Switzerland, formed the foundation of his magnificent kennel at West Kirby, in Cheshire. Albert Smith, whom some few that are now alive will remember as an amusing lecturer, brough

re said to have been bred at the Hospice of St. Bernard. Three years later, at the National Show at Birmingham, a separate class was provided for the saintly breed, and Mr. Cumming Macdona was first and second with Tell and Bernard. This led to an immediate

cess to a close there came a lull in the popularity of the breed until Dr. Inman, in partnership with Mr. B. Walmsley, established a kennel first at Barford, near Bath, and then at The Priory, at Bowden, in Cheshire, where they succeeded in breeding the finest kennel of St. Bernards that has ever been seen in the world. Dr. Inman had for several years owned good dogs, and set about the work on scientific principles. He, in conjunction with Mr. Walmsley, purchased the smooth-coated Kenilworth f

Klingsor-the smooth-coated dogs, the King's Son and The Viking; the rough-coated bitch, Judith Inman, and the smooth Viola, the last-named the finest specimen of her se

Britain at the present time have been br

RGE SINCLAIR'S ST. BER

by C. Rei

f the St. Bernard as drawn up by t

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e level. EXPRESSION-The expression should betoken benevolence, dignity, and intelligence. NECK-The neck should be lengthy, muscular, and slightly arched, with dewlap developed, and the shoulders broad and sloping, well up at the withers. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF BODY-The chest should be wide and deep, and the back level as far as the haunches, slightly arched over the loins; the ribs should be well rounded and carried well back; the loin wide and very muscular. TAIL-The tail should be set on rather high, long, and in the long-coated variety bushy; carried low when in repose, and when excited or in motion slightly above the line of the back. LEGS-The fore-legs should be perfectly straight, strong in bone, and of good length; and the hind-legs very muscular. The feet large, compact, with well-arched toes. SIZE-A dog should be at least 30 inches in height at the shoulder, and a bitch 27 inches (the

from 170 lbs. to 210 lbs.; o

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them as puppies and by fattening them to such an extent that they have been injured in constitution, and in many cases converted into cripples behind. The prizewinning rough-coated St. Bernard, as he is seen to-day is a purely manufactured animal, handsome in appearance certainly, but so cumbersome that he is scarcely able to raise a trot, let alone do any tra