The following is a description of the various best known types, designated by the names of the most representative specimens of each type in Belgium.
Dogs of the Djeck type (M. Jadoul) have beautiful large skulls, good bodies, legs and feet, good underjaw and full eye, but are inclined to be light and soft in coat.
The Loustic type (M. Martin); as a rule, good bodies and coat, well proportioned heads, very large eyes and warmth of colour lacking in the other strain.
Tom and Charles type (M. Leon Polfleit); very strongly built dogs, cobby, biggish bone, big, broad skulls and possessing very strong vitality. Their colour is, in the writes view, the best colour of all being a rich, golden wheaten tint, with harsh coat of nice length.
The Tipsy type (M. Pastels); a very neat, lightly built dog, with good underjaw and excellent muzzle, somewhat narrow in head but possessing prominent small eye, good texture of coat, but a little lacking in clearness of colour.
Lastly the Molos type (M. Mans); which contains judicious outcrosses from Loustic strains and which has no doubt, on the whole, produced the most consistent and best type of latter years to be found in Brussels.
To those who would built up a successful kennel, the writer would advise to carefully study the representative of these various strains which are in this country and then judiciously start crossing, as some of these strains in Brussels, specially the Loustic strain, have been very in-bred.
In the early days the question of underjaw was one which did not receive sufficient attention, but the advent of Mrs. Handley Spicer very strong team, including Copthorne Pasha and the never beaten Champion Copthorne Top-of-the-Tree, practically ended the day of the over-shot dog. Miss Grace Howard was also another prominent exhibitor of this type in those days and it is to be regretted that she has severed her connection with the breed. Another recruit to the fancy at this time was Mrs. Whaley, who added Griffons to her excellent kennel of Black and Tans and has remained a strong and successful breeder and exhibitor ever since.
Two years later the breed was further strengthened by the kennel of Miss A. F. Hall who gave up Japanese and Pekingese and in a very short time assisted by Miss Johnson, got together a large kennel of excellent bitches. Miss Johnson also built up a smaller kennel, specialising in tiny specimens.
Griffons are not easy to breed and, as in all big headed, short nosed breeds,whelping troubles are frequent. If however, the breeder will only realise that the best results, are as a rule, obtained by crossing big bitches (6 1/2 lbs. and upwards) and small, active, stocky dogs (not small weedy dogs), and that inbreeding is always a source of danger, the risk can be reduced to a minimum. The disposition of the Griffon is also a point on which special stress should be laid. Of all dogs they are perhaps of the most intelligent, and when considering the matter of breeding, the question of disposition of the sire and dam should be carefully studied.
The in-breeding in Brussels, in many instances has produced dogs which can only be described as "fools", and a great many of the timid dogs one sees crawling about the ring are the results of breeding with these dogs. Fanciers who want true type will eliminate such specimens from their kennels and only breed from plucky and sprightly stock.
Many of the best bred bitches in this country are cropped and therefore, it is difficult to determine what the ears of the progeny are likely to be. Small ears and with correct semi-erect carriage are important points in a show dog and big ears often handicap an otherwise good specimen.
The best coat in colour and texture has, in the case of many well known winners, been produced by crossing a rough dog with a smooth bitch. The tendency of the smooth variety is to produce the narrow head and pinched muzzle so that big headed and wide nosed stock should be used as sires or dams, as the case may be.
Today, the three largest and most important kennels in England are, Mrs. Handley Spicer, Miss Halls´ and Mrs. Whaleys´, while Mrs. Cochrane (one of our most sporting breeders and exhibitors), Mrs. Johnson, Miss Johnson, Mrs. Levy, Mrs. Pearce, The Misses Plunket, Lady Cook, Mrs. Dresser, Mrs. Jennings, Mrs. Bradley, Miss Vera Catchpole and Mrs. Blacket-Gill are owners of small kennels and have been careful breeders and frequent exhibitors; Miss Toll has the distinction of having bred one of the best puppies benched this year.
In judging these dogs the head is perhaps the first thing one looks at; but if a good head is set upon a badly made crouching body, head properties must be discounted.
A cobby, well set up body is the next point that one looks to and having got the general outline, one examines the coat for colour and texture, giving special attention to the texture on the head; so many good coated dogs fail through having a silky top-knot. Small ears and correct ear carriage should then be examined and then, if one wishes to be hypercritical and two specimens run each other very closely, one can examine the toe nails to see if they are properly black, examine the mouth to see if the tongue projects beyond the lips and see whether one pair of eyes are a shade lighter or darker than the other. One will also look for white hairs on the chest.
All these faults should penalise a dog to a certain extent, but considering our quarantine regulations and the small number of the breed exhibited, any judge who insists on disqualifying on these points, is going away from the practice pertaining in large and more important breeds and is not helping the advancement of the best type of Griffon.