Dogs and I

Fifty years in the ring, and not much patience left for it: a judge's memoir, with the gloves off.

Major Harding Cox bred, exhibited and judged across half a century, and Dogs and I, published in 1923, is his reckoning with the fancy that made him. The chapter titles tell you the tone - 'The Obsession of Dog Showing', 'Dogs do not Bite Judges', 'The Bulldog Bumble', 'An Action in Law' - and the opinions inside are no gentler. Bulldogs, terriers, pugs, sheepdogs, foxhounds, the Kennel Club, the politics of the bench and the coming of greyhound racing all get their turn.

Over 70 illustrations are reproduced from the original edition, including the frontispiece portrait of the author, who looks exactly as combative as he reads.

This edition features:

• A judge's memoir of half a century in the ring, published in 1923
• Opinionated chapters on the fancy, the Kennel Club and the politics of the bench
• Over 70 illustrations reproduced from the original edition
• Written on the eve of greyhound racing's arrival in Britain