Fox terriers are the second most adorable breed of dog (after God's chosen breed, the English springer spaniel), and one was in Melbourne's news 100 years ago this week. "Clio" of Melbourne's Punch reported a terrier-enriched grand parade of virile soldiers soon to go to the Great War.
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"Thursday – the hot day of the march through the city – was a particularly trying day, and the soldiers must have felt pretty limp after covering all those miles at a brisk pace.
"Goodness! but it did your heart good to look at them! Brown, and brimful of health and spirits. And the swing with which they strode past had in it something more than mere mechanical precision and order. As the long line of khaki, burnished with bronze, passed along, a positive wave of virility and fighting fitness could be distinctly felt.
"With marvellous exactitude the procession started on time, and the head of it neared the saluting base before His Excellency the Governor-General had arrived. The whole long riband of khaki marked time – and most of its members looked glad of a moment's halt, too.
"One member, however, seemed tremendously puzzled at the delay: he was fresh, and ready to proceed onward to glory, luncheon or Vice Regal inspection – anywhere so long as it was onward. This impatient one was a regimental mascot, a small, active-limbed fox terrier, with his name 'Gunner' labelled on his side. He rounded up his battalion with bristling excitement, which only subsided when the order to advance was at last given."
