http://darwin.lib.cam.ac.uk/perl/nav?pclass=letter&pkey=1646

Letter number 1646:

From W. D. Fox   8 March [1856]

Delamere | Northwich

March 8

My dear Darwin

I have anxiously inspected My Dorking & Cochin friends Yards for an old Cock of Each, & written to Captain Hornby —but I fear you have not received any yet. There must be some die before long I think.

Have you a Sebright Bantam yet? If not I have an old Gentleman I will send you shortly. You should have an old White Dorking also, as they are quite distinct from the other in form.

I forget whether I ever told you that I had long considered the Scotch Deer Hound a mongrel, par Excellence. Dont tell any Scotch so, or I shall be murdered. It has long been a pet idea of mine, & I have often said I could breed them without any Deer Hound blood in them. I have also always thought the Irish Deer or Wolf Dog, was merely a cross with the Scotch & a Mastiff.

Some months ago in a conversation on this head with a M ^r Lister near here, he told me to my great delight that he had a Bitch ¹ / ₂ Deer Hound & ¹ / ₂ Mastiff. On looking at her it is wonderful how little the ¹ / ₂ Mastiff is recognisable in her. On minutely examining however, you find her mastiff Blood in neck & shoulder. I much wished this Bitch crossed back with Deer Hound. This has been done, & the result, as shown in a splendid Bitch puppy, is to completely restore the Scotch Deer Hound. I dined there last week, & met a stranger who was enthusiastic about Scotch Dogs—of which by the way he gave a pretty story as having happened to himself. Walking one day in Regent S ^t . he felt something cold in his hand, & on looking, found a Scotch Dogs nose there, who had been with him Deer stalking &c 2 years before in the Highlands, & was then walking in London with his Master.

Lister, rather spitefully introduced me to this Captain Warren —as being one who believed in the Scotch Dogs being mongrels. Of course I maintained my ground, when, to my intense amusement he (after warning me not to go to Scotland & especially Badenoch, with such views) quoted the puppy as an Example of pure blood, as might be seen by any one, & which he said was well worth 40£. He was so enthusiastic that I was obliged to break the fact by degrees, “that her Grandfather was a Mastiff.”

I am trying now to get the ¹ / ₂ breed Scotch & Mastiff Bitch put to a pure Mastiff—& I expect either the produce of that—or the next cross at all events, to be the Irish Wolf Dog.

I would defy any Scot to detect the false blood in this puppy Bitch— She is quite a perfect Scotch Deer Hound.

I see Tegetmeyer—or some such name, who doctors all the Fowls in England—says he is engaged with you in examining the anatomy of Fowls. He seems to know a great deal about them from his letters in Cottage Gardener—but I often think his prescriptions rather foolish. You are not meddling with Geese I think yet, are you.

Tell me how M ^rs Darwin & your little ones all are—also Susan Catherine & M ^rs Wedgwood & Believe me always Yours affec ^ly W D. Fox.

In reality way back, and today the Mastiff has never been , nor today the Mastiff should not be the tallest ....just the Heavy weight of the dog world.

Odin..........

Attachments:

"We've come a long way baby!!"

Well, I agree that we have a lot of poor quality mastiffs out there today,  but there are also a lot of really good ones. In the past ten years the overall quality of the dogs in the ring has improved. I am, although, disappointed with the soundness of the dogs in England. There have even been critiques written by the judges about the unsoundness of the dogs at Crufts. Maybe it is time they started importing from us!

Who ever said that the dog was imported from England?

It just says, "mastiff imported"!

Ken, this one's for you!

C.J. Lougest's Black Peter 1899

I wish that they all looked like him!

You're welcome Deborah!

And thank you for those kind words!

Mr. O, there is never any need to Thank what should be the obvious.  My Christmas gift to you- You are a kind and good Man, who makes us all think a little more about the best interest of the Mastiff.  You bring wonderful information and questions to the surface, making you a very important part of this Forum.  You allow us to torment you with never an ill word back.  You are strong and resilient, never budging from your long term goals.  You are very funny to me.  I admire you and You will always be appreciated in my eyes.

Was that 6 bananas, or seven?

Go ahead! Make my day!

A fistful of bananas!

http://www.angelfire.com/wv/StormMastiffs/art1.html

*This American kennel obtained the remaining stock from Hellingly in England, when Hellingly closed down.

Valiant Ceres C1948 Rare photos

Attached Thumbnails:
 
Lower picture appeared in dog encyclopedia 1949

1948

Attached Thumbnails:

http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/acslinda/vpost?id=1439950

Skull of the dog info

http://darwin.lib.cam.ac.uk/perl/nav?pclass=letter&pkey=1670

Wow Steve these three are cool photos. I especially like the second one but the first one is very interesting with the soldier included, he was probably the main subject originally, but interesting to see the background that they captured!

1846