Sent from Edward Nettleship
30 Mar 1909
Description:

‘...

I am very pleased you can take Tong (T. not J.) & hope Mrs Pearson & the household won’t find her a trouble. I suppose you have some piece of garden or space of some kind? She does not want a large place but they (I mean these white Pekingese) like to be out & lie about on the sun or roll on grass. I think it would be unsafe to take her out in street except on a lead, at any rate that would need a good deal of care, not so much from the stealing point of view as that she is not very active (at[?] about 4 ½ & has had several broods) & that none of them see quite so well as common dogs & she might get confused & run over. She follows however quite well & keeps close to her master (or mistress) & therefore on a quiet path or road I expect the lead might be taken up. But if you have a back garden from which she cannot get into the road that will probably serve every purpose.

I fancy there is not much risk of her being stolen; (a) she is so peculiar with her pale blue-white eyes, pink nose & white hair, that she wd. easily be traced, and (b) though the fanciers do not exactly give away their albino Pekingese (I paid £6 for her) they do not get what are called big prices & seldom exhibit them, - don’t like them in fact. As a fact Tong did take 3^rd prize at some show, so I suppose her form is good & that if she had been coloured her reward wd. have been higher.

I can keep her quite well some weeks longer without much trouble & if she comes in season will put her to Jack again; in fact I had better keep her till then if at all possible so that she will go to you prepared & give no trouble in that way. – They go 9 weeks so that she ought to have next family about end of June if served towards end of May; or sooner if sooner.

We ought to try to get

R.R. x D.D.

R.R. x R.R. – This she has done & will do again now I hope.

R.R. x D.R. – Has been done & I hope to get done again with one of the puppies.

The difficulty is, as you suggest, to be sure of a D.D. sire.

One of the puppies is going to Mrs Franklin of Islip (near Oxford) who sold Tong to me, on condition that she tries to find a dog free from known blood relationship of any degree. She will I think do her best & I shall keep at her about it.

You will see from enclosed rough pedigree & list of names however that it is a very mixed business. There are several on the paper that are or seem to be quite outsiders, but some are dead or present owner not known &c., & all over it all is the shadow of the Imperial Palace at Pekin from which they are all supposed to derive. The ones ringed with red are those we have.

Kindly let me have the ped: back; I have not done it out fair yet & have no proper copy. I have got a few additional items to fit in, since.

The lines are almost hopelessly tangled; wd. it be clearer if done in some sort of wheel or oval fashion with radii? I will attend to the revise [sic] of Chap. I.

Yrs sincerely, E. Nettleship.’