The biggest and best terrier airedale

 The biggest and best terrier  indeed fits 
him to a T, but it does not convey any very defi- 
nite idea as to what he should look like. Even 
his most enthusiastic admirers never claimed 
beauty for the Airedale. He is not pretty, un- 
less we acknowledge that " handsome is that 
handsome does," and can see the beauty of per- 
fect symmetry under wiry coat and odd coloring. 

A good Airedale is about as big as a pointer; 
somewhere in the neighborhood of forty-five 
pounds, a little more for a dog and a little less 
for a bitch. His head should be long; the skull 
flat and broad; the cheeks smooth; the muzzle 
strong with tight lips over big, white, even teeth. 
His eyes should be small, dark, and full of fire 
and his ears little, carried high, and shaped like 
a V, for nothing can so detract from the correct 
terrier expression as large, light eyes and houndy 
ears. His front legs ought to be a pair of gun 
barrels, straight and strong and about the same 
thickness all the way down. His shoulders are 
like those of a race horse, long and sloping; 
while his pads should be firm and hard, not those 
loose, sprawly feet sometimes seen. 

The only kind of a back for him to have is 
short, and his ribs must be well sprung. A long 
backed dog lacks staying qualities, and a slab- 
sided one has not the room for lungs. His chest 
should be deep, but narrow, and he should be 
slightly cut up in the loin not the wasp-like 
waist of a greyhound, but no better is a body 
like a stovepipe. His hindquarters should be, 
strong, with the hocks quite near the ground. 
The Airedale that does not carry a gay tail is a 
delight to no eye.