Dogism-Amateur Dog Book

Amateur’s Dog Book

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AMATEUR'S DOG BOOK

A TREATISE ON THE MANAGEMENT, TRAINING AND DISEASES OF DOGS

By WILLIAM A. BRUETTE Kennel Department American Field ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO Printed by The Newburgh Daily News Newburgh. N. Y.

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Table of Contents

AMATEUR'S DOG BOOK 1

A TREATISE ON THE MANAGEMENT, TRAINING AND DISEASES OF DOGS 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS II

FOREWORD. 4

CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 5

SLEEPING QUARTERS. 5 BEDDING. 7 FEEDING. 7 WATERING. 8 WASHING. 8 EXERCISE. 10 GROOMING. 10 FLEAS AND LICE. 11

TRAINING. 12

EFFECTS OF TRAINING. 12 BENEFITS TO THE TRAINER. 13 TRAINING AGE. 13 TRAINING METHODS. 13 REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 14 TEACHING A DOG ITS NAME. 15 HOUSE BREAKING. 16 MINDING THE WHISTLE. 16 TO-HO. 18 DROP. 18 HEEL. 19 GUARD. 20 STAYING OUT OF DOORS. 20 CARRYING. 21 FETCHING BOOTS OR SLIPPERS. 23 RETRIEVING. 24 TRAILING. 26 WATER DOGS. 26 RETRIEVING FROM THE WATER. 29 LIFE-SAVING DOGS. 30 FETCHING A BOAT. 31 DIVING. 31

TRICK DOGS. 33

SHAKE HANDS. 34 SITTING UP. 34 SHUTTING THE DOOR. 36


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OPENING THE DOOR. 36 TRUST AND PAID FOR. 37 WALKING ERECT. 38 DANCING. 39 JUMPING. 39 JUMPING THE ROPE. 40 SPEAKING. 40 DEAD DOG. 41 BRINGING HIS TAIL. 41 CLIMBING A LADDER. 41 SNEEZING. 42 SINGING. 42 STANDING ON FORELEGS. 42

GUARD AND WATCH DOGS. 44

PERSONAL GUARD. 45

DISEASES OF DOGS. 46

DETERMINING THE DISEASE. 46 CARE—DIET----NURSING. 47 DISTEMPER. 48 WORMS. 51 TAPEWORMS. 52 CHOREA. 53 COUGHS. 54 DISEASES OF THE EYE. 55 GOITER. 56 INDIGESTION. 56 CONSTIPATION. 57 DIARRHEA. 58 MANGE. 59 ECZEMA. 60 FITS. 60 WARTS. 61 CANKER OF THE EAR. 61 POISONS. 63 Arsenical Poisoning: 63 Strychnine Poisoning: 63

KENNEL MANAGEMENT 64

FEEDING. 65 EXERCISING. 69 RAISING PUPPIES. 71 BROOD BITCHES. 73 BREEDING. 75


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FOREWORD.

MAN discovered a good many thousand years ago that he needed a companion to guard him while he slept and assist him in his pursuits. He tried first a fellow man, but some proved dishonest, others untrustworthy and all ungrateful; and primitive man then obtained a dog, we know not when, or how, or where. Darwin said it was a conquest and Spencer added that it was the greatest conquest ever made by man. The dog proved honest, trustworthy and grateful, and the man and the dog conquered other animals by day and at night the dog guarded his master while he slept in the cave or rude hut he called his home.

The mists of antiquity and unread geological drifts conceal the birth of this comradeship of the man who dressed in skins and hunted with a club and the wolfish-appearing animal which was the ancestor of the dogs of today, and the light of imagination flickers and dies out as it contemplates the probabilities of this partnership being broken.

In the years that have intervened this comradeship between man and dog has gone on until the present day finds them bound together so closely in love and obedience as to make the assertion that the dog is man's best friend an axiom.

If the following chapters shall afford any aid or assistance to man in caring for his dog or enlarging its sphere of usefulness, the purpose for which this book was compiled will be abundantly secured.


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CARE AND MANAGEMENT.

THE health and happiness of a dog depend upon its surroundings and the attention given its sleeping quarters, food, grooming, washing and habits of life, for a healthy dog which is forced to occupy dirty, vermin infested quarters and subsist on unwholesome food, and which is seldom or never exercised, groomed or washed, will soon be in a miserable condition—dull, lifeless, rough-coated and out of sorts.

SLEEPING QUARTERS.

Every dog should be provided with sleeping quarters that he may consider his own. For a small pet dog a basket is all that is necessary, and for bedding there is nothing better than a folded Turkish towel, as it can be washed easily and kept clean. Women are partial to cushions for their pets. If these have removable linen covers that can be changed and washed two or three times a week, no objection need be raised to them, but the fancy velvet or plush covered affairs commonly used are abominable, as it is impossible to keep them clean.

Large dogs which sleep in the house can be given a rug. This should be aired and dusted daily and washed at least once a week.

A good bed is illustrated herewith, consisting of a wooden framework of suitable size and about six inches high, over which is tacked a piece of canvas or burlap, like the head of a drum.


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If a dog is kept out of doors it must be provided with a kennel. A very simple one may be made from a kerosene barrel, the objectionable smell being removed by burning a handful of shavings in the barrel. This will ignite what remains of its past contents and the flames can be smothered by turning the open end of the barrel to the ground. With a piece of canvas hung over its front, that the dog can push to one side when going in or out, this will make a water and wind proof kennel that is free from crevices that harbor vermin.

If it is concluded to have a carpenter construct a kennel—and it is always advisable to do so—the Vero Shaw model kennel possesses many advantages over the ordinary affair with the door at one end. As seen by the illustration, the Vero Shaw kennel has a bench open in front, but protected at the sides and top, on which a dog can rest and enjoy the air. The top also can be raised and the sides taken apart, so as to permit of easy and thorough cleaning of the sleeping apartment.

Whenever it is possible to do so, place the kennel under a shed that is open to the south or east. This will render it cooler in summer and warmer in winter and in every way more comfortable than if the roof of the kennel be exposed directly to the elements.

If a number of dogs are kept larger buildings must be provided, and instructions and suggestions for

building them will be found in "Modern Dog Breeding," a treatise devoted to the breeding, conditioning and exhibiting of dogs.

Kennels should always be placed on clay or black soil, for fleas are very partial to and breed in the sand, and inmates of a kennel located on sandy soil are sure to be infested with fleas.

If the dog is to be kept on a chain, a strong wire on which is an easily sliding ring should be stretched from a post near the kennel to another post or tree some distance away, so that by snapping the dog's chain to the sliding ring he will have greater opportunity to exercise than if he were chained to his kennel or post. In these days of cheap wire netting it is better to provide a dog with a yard in which he can exercise freely, as the constant tugging when on a chain sometimes affects a dog's throat and chest or the conformation of his shoulders.


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BEDDING.

In warm weather a dog requires little or no bedding and is probably more comfortable on bare boards. During cold weather oat straw makes the warmest and most comfortable bed, as it does not mat and is free from the seeds and dust that are the chief objections to hay. During the fall and summer pine shavings make good bedding, as they are objectionable to fleas, and this property can be intensified by sprinkling them with turpentine. In flea-infested sections some breeders mix tobacco scraps with the bedding. Another excellent practice is to lay a strip of tarred paper under the bedding. Every morning the bedding should be stirred up and examined. If it is dusty, damp, dirty or packed down, it should be renewed, and to insure its being fresh should be changed once a week, at least.

FEEDING.

The dog is a carnivorous animal and in a state of nature lives on an all-meat diet. Domestication and association with man have so altered its organs of digestion that it now thrives best on a mixed diet—one containing both meat, grains and vegetables. Meat does not affect the scent of a dog nor does it cause germ diseases or worms, as is frequently stated, and a dog which has sufficient exercise would thrive on an all-meat diet. But when the life led is artificial and the opportunities for exercise limited the danger from feeding too much meat lies in the fact that meat is so stimulating that it loads the system with impurities that the organs of the body are unable to eliminate, thereby resulting in diseases of the skin.

Dogs should be fed twice a day. In the morning give a light meal, consisting preferably of one or two Spratt's Dog Crackers. These should be fed dry, so that the dog will gnaw at them, thereby stimulating the secretion of saliva that is important to insure complete digestion. Feed a heavy meal at night, allowing the animal to eat until satisfied, for a dog always sleeps best on a full stomach. Dogs should never be allowed to nose over their food. As soon as they show that they have had enough the remnants of the meal should be immediately removed.

Feeding time affords the owner a favorable opportunity of informing himself as to the health of his dogs. If a dog does not eat his evening meal with the usual gusto, take it away and let him fast until the next day. Then try him again, and if he still refuses to eat, or only noses his food, consider him sick and take means to restore him to health. All that most cases require are a few doses of Dent's Pepsinated Condition Pills. If the bowels are constipated and the liver is out of order, it may be necessary to give one of Dent's Laxative Pills, to insure a good cleansing of the system. Cases due to worms or distemper should be given proper treatment.

Pet dogs suffer from overfeeding and the promiscuous use of sweets and candies that produce indigestion and other ailments. The proper diet for them is Spratt's


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Pet Dog Crackers, stale or toasted bread and milk, a little well-cooked, lean meat, beef broths, etc., with an occasional bone of good size.

If but one or two dogs are kept table scraps, if fresh, not too highly seasoned and free from chicken or fish bones, make a satisfactory and wholesome diet.

Where a number of dogs are kept, an excellent food can be prepared by boiling sheep or beef heads until soft and then thickening the liquor in which they were boiled with stale bread, crackers, vegetables and meal.

Nearly all dogs are fond of boiled liver, and it can be given with good results once or twice a week, as it has a very desirable laxative effect upon the bowels.

Spratt's Dog Crackers have come into general use in the last few years, and although some dogs refuse to eat them, a little tact and perseverance upon the part of the owner will accustom the dog treat them. They form a very satisfactory diet and the trouble of feeding is reduced to the minimum.

Puppies can be weaned by dipping their noses into a pan of milk. They proceed to lick the milk off from their noses and soon learn to lap it. They should be fed at least six times a day on milk that has been scalded; to it can gradually be added broken crackers and other solid food. Sour milk also should be given two or three times a week, as it is a preventative of worms.

WATERING.

Dogs can go several days without food and escape serious consequences, but any restriction in their supply of drinking water will be followed by eruptions of the skin and a disgusting odor from the body. It is therefore important that dogs have before them at all times an unfailing supply of fresh water. During warm weather this must be frequently changed, to insure its being cool and pure. Earthenware crocks make good drinking vessels, as they can be kept clean without much labor, and are not easily tipped over. No benefit is derived from placing a lump of sulphur in the water, as sulphur is a mineral that will not dissolve in water.

WASHING.

Dogs from time to time require washing to remove the accumulations of dirt and the fine scales that the skin is constantly exfoliating. By adding proper insecticides to the water in which the dogs are washed, the fleas and lice which ordinarily infest dogs will be destroyed, diseases of the skin will be prevented and the comfort of the dog correspondingly p romoted.

The use of proper soap stimulates the growth of the hair, removes the objectionable doggy smell and improves the appearance.


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When washing dogs every precaution should be taken to prevent the animal contracting cold. If the bath is to be given out of doors during the summer, a warm, sunshiny day should be selected; if in the house, see that the room is properly heated, and do not allow the animal to enter the open air until the coat and skin are thoroughly dry. In washing large breeds, such as St. Bernards, they can be placed on some clean surface; collies and setters can be placed in an ordinary tub, while a footpan answers for small dogs. Fill the receptacle with lukewarm water as high as the dog's knees; to this add Dent's Germicide in the proportion of a tablespoonful to the gallon, as it softens the water, destroys all insects and germs, and assists in cleansing the skin. The animal's coat should then be moistened all over, beginning at the neck and shoulders, either pouring on the water from a small tin cup or using a sponge. Dent's Dog Soap should then be rubbed well into the coat, more water gradually added, and the animal carefully rubbed until a profuse lather is produced. The head should be washed last and care exercised that soap or water does not gain entrance to the ears or eyes. Allow the lather to remain on a few moments and then rinse off with clean water, to which Dent's Germicide has been added in the proportion of from one to three tablespoonfuls to the gallon.

The animal must now be carefully dried with a coarse towel, those made from a salt sack cut into suitable sizes being efficient and durable.

Even after a dog has been thoroughly dried there is danger of its taking cold, and while most authorities advise giving a freshly washed dog a warm kennel or a bed before the fire, a better procedure is to blanket it lightly and induce it to exercise for fifteen or twenty minutes. The natural warmth of the body, induced by exercise and retained by a blanket, will restore the natural circulation quicker than artificial heat. If the weather is such that the dog cannot be safely exercised out of doors, exercise him in a warm room and give him a warm bed of clean straw. A good meal at this time will nourish him and stimulate his powers of resistance. Therefore, the best time to wash a dog is about one hour before feeding time.

When washing long-haired toy breeds, such as Yorkshires, use Dent's Quinine Shampoo.

A small quantity should be dissolved in a pan of water. Place the dog in the pan and cleanse his coat by brushing him with a long-handled hair brush kept saturated with the soapy water. By preserving the part of the hair down the dog's back, all danger of snarling the coat will be avoided. Rinse in clear water and dry by brushing before a fire with two or more ordinary hair brushes that can be alternately warmed and used.

When washing collies it is advisable to dissolve the soap in the water instead of applying it directly to the dog's coat, and in drying this breed brush the hair the wrong way and force the air into the coat with a fan.


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The best preparation on the market for washing dogs is Dent's Dog Soap, as it stimulates the roots of the hair, increases the glossiness of the coat and contains ingredients destructive to insect life that will destroy fleas and cure most of the simple diseases of the skin.

EXERCISE.

Dogs require plenty of exercise and unless they get it are unhealthy and liable to attacks of skin diseases, indigestion, constipation and other bowel complaints. Some of the active breeds, like collies and setters, will get all the exercise they require if turned loose for a thirty-minute run, twice a day. Large breeds like St. Bernards are not so easily taken care of.

They require a slow walk for at least an hour every day, and if it is not given them their bones and muscles do not develop properly. Pet dogs such as toy spaniels or pugs should be given a run every day, and it is an excellent idea to teach them to chase a rubber ball indoors, as in this way they can be given considerable exercise. On returning from exercising a dog, don't forget to examine his feet for cuts, pieces of glass, thorns or splinters.

GROOMING.

There is an old stable adage that a grooming is worth more than a feed. This is also true of dogs. A dog should be brushed and rubbed down every day. Brushes and combs are, of course, useful implements for removing snarls and burrs, but after the coat is straightened out and the snarls removed, nothing is so good for putting on the finish as the naked hand, and a little care of this kind will work wonders in a dog's appearance.


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FLEAS AND LICE.

Fleas are the greatest annoyance dogs have to contend with. The common flea does not lay her eggs on the dog, as commonly supposed, but in piles of rubbish, cracks in the floor, carpets and rugs. These eggs hatch out in about four weeks, and jump upon the first dog that comes their way. The lather from Dent's Dog Soap is sure death to fleas and lice; but if the dog is returned to flea-infested quarters, he will promptly accumulate another crop. The importance of keeping the yard and kennel clean and the necessity of using some good disinfectant are evident. In our opinion Dent's Germicide is the best for kennel use. It is non-poisonous, inexpensive and mixes freely with water, forming a clean, milky solution. To properly disinfect a kennel sweep up and burn all old bedding and rubbish and then scrub the walls and woodwork with a strong solution of Dent's Germicide. Sprinkle it about the yards, and over the sleeping quarters and woodwork, and use it in washing the drinking and feeding pans. This treatment will effectually destroy all fleas and lice, and the deodorizing gas it throws off as it slowly evaporates destroys germs and purifies the air.


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TRAINING.

THE power of speech is the only limit to the possibilities of a dog's education, for amiability, rare intelligence, powers of reasoning and wonderful instincts are coupled with a devotion to and faithfulness for its master that prompt it to obey his every wish, and as a result the human race in all ages and under all conditions has looked upon the dog with a friendly eye, cultivated his companionship and by training has adapted his powers and instincts to various uses. It is stated by authorities on agricultural subjects that without the trained collie sheep raising in large sections of the Highlands of Scotland could not be profitably conducted. In the far North commercial connections and explorations are possible only through the hardihood of the Eskimo Huskie, and field sports without carefully broken dogs would prove tame and uninteresting and degenerate into mere butchery.

The education of a dog which is intended as a house pet or companion is fully as important as that of the breeds previously mentioned, for a carefully trained dog is a far more agreeable and useful companion than one which is allowed to grow up without proper attention to the development of his mental powers and instincts, and a man who loves dogs and has come into possession of a valuable puppy should no more think of neglecting its education than he would that of his children.

EFFECTS OF TRAINING.

Under training a dog's appearance improves and it acquires a knowing, keen, sagacious appearance that distinguishes it from the heavy, stupid expression and sleepy looks of one whose education has been neglected, and there is no excuse for a man or woman owning a dog which will not come when called, which barks at horses and strangers, climbs over you with muddy paws, kills chickens, tears up carpets and curtains and conducts itself generally like a spoiled child, when by a little early training it could have been taught to come promptly at command, walk quietly at heel, lie down at a word, retrieve from land or water, guard any object that may be given it, go on errands, bring your slippers or paper, do little tricks that amuse its master and his friends and conduct itself decorously and mannerly, so that everyone will admire it.


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BENEFITS TO THE TRAINER.

The man who spends much time on the training of a dog profits by the experience, for he gains a knowledge of self he never quite had before and develops a spirit of patience and self-control that will be of benefit to him in his contact with his fellow men and in the everyday transactions of life. Time thus spent is especially profitable as it applies to children, for they all like dogs and it is as natural for little boys and girls to want a dog as it is for them to play. They enjoy the proprietorship as well as companionship, and bestow their affections on their pets so completely as to develop a fellow feeling and kindliness of spirit that will make them better men and women, and if they are encouraged and instructed to train their pets to do useful and amusing tricks they will learn a valuable lesson in patience and self-control.

TRAINING AGE.

A dog, like a child, must have a period of infancy, but do not defer its lessons until the period of youthfulness has passed. There is considerable difference in the time required for development in the various breeds. Small dogs are fully developed in less than one year, medium-sized dogs in from ten to eighteen months, while the St. Bernards and other large dogs require about two years to attain their full growth. Females usually develop faster and learn easier than males. The training of a high-spirited dog of one of the medium-sized varieties may be begun when it is four or five months old; that of one of the toy breeds should be started about a month or so earlier, and of a St. Bernard, Great Dane or other large breed a couple of months later.

TRAINING METHODS.

All the lessons are rudimentary, short, gentle and easy, and should be taught in a way that does not altogether check the pupil's spirit of playfulness, although his trainer must be careful not to indulge too freely in p lay. The main consideration at first is to give the dog a slight idea of what control really is and to encourage a desire to please you; care, however, must be exercised that the lessons are not continued so long as to tire and disgust the pupil.

A puppy's first lesson must be given when you are alone, as in no other way can you hope to hold his attention; ten minutes at a time is long enough for a lesson, repeated three or four times a day, and if there are any signs of tiring or disgust end the instruction sooner. The trainer will be obliged to exercise considerable judgment in deciding where the attention to the lesson ends and is succeeded by sulkiness. Inasmuch as the lessons should be carried on so as to interest the dog and with some regard to its pleasure, it is advisable to reward your pupil after each lesson with some tid-bit, such as a small piece of boiled liver.


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The training of dogs and children is accomplished along the same general lines, as neither must be forced or crowded; interest must be stimulated by words of encouragement or rewards, and attention to the task at hand enforced by gentle and carefully gloved firmness. The first lesson should be so administered as to make it easier to inculcate the second, and a feeling of regard and confidence between teacher and pupil should be cultivated at all times.

In training dogs, the fact should always be borne in mind that a puppy which has lived in the world only five or six months has not had a very lengthy opportunity to gain knowledge of the world's affairs and its brain is as yet undeveloped. We do not expect any display of intelligence in a child five or six months old and it is unreasonable to expect more of a dog of that age than you would of a child several times as old. Simply bear in mind that a puppy is anxious to please you, and as soon as his little, undeveloped, playful brain comprehends what you want he will do it. It may test your own patience and intelligence to make him understand vour wishes, but perseverance and kindness will attain the desired result.

If your dog is kept in a kennel or on a chain, let him have a good run to loosen up his joints and work off some of his enthusiasm before you start in with his lessons.

If you have come into possession of a timid puppy, which is afraid of loud noises or new scenes, do not attempt to train him until he overcomes his nervousness. The best way to do this is to take your dog around with you to different places where there are loud noises. If the puppy is only a little fellow, pick him up in your arms and hold him, but do not talk to him or pet him too much. Dogs are very observing animals and pay a great deal of attention to your actions, and if you begin to pet a young or timid dog every time he hears a new noise, he will believe from your actions that there is really something to fear; if, however, you pay no attention to the noise, he will be impressed by your lack of concern and soon come to the conclusion that there is nothing to fear.

REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.

A young puppy, that is, one under four or five months of age, should never be whipped—a good scolding will answer the purpose better—and in talking to your dog do not confuse him by shouting or yelling at him, and above all do not give two or three different commands without giving him time to understand or obey any one of them. Always speak in your ordinary tone of voice and go about things coolly and rationally, remembering you have plenty of time and that what the puppy does not learn today may be inculcated tomorrow. Always use the same words in ordering a dog to do the same things. The importance of doing this cannot be too forcibly impressed upon all those who desire to attain success in training.

The whip should be used sparingly, and never even scold a dog, much less whip him, unless you are absolutely confident that the dog knows what he is being


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punished for. When you whip a dog, and it is seldom necessary to do so, apply the lash slowly and deliberately, with well marked intervals between each stroke, and let the last stroke be the lightest, giving the dog plenty of time for reflection before continuing the walk or lesson or allowing him to do anything else. Do not whip a dog and then get effusive; let him reason it out for himself and conduct yourself quietly, and your pupil will most likely crawl up to you. If then given a kindly word or a pat on the head he will go on with the work or lesson with a distinct remembrance of having been detected in the commission of a fault and of being punished for committing it, and you will have retained his confidence and affection, which are absolutely necessary for success.

It is all very well to praise a dog after he has obeyed you or has performed some trick, but never praise him while performing; keep quiet until he has finished and then bestow your favor.

A dog which is spoken to while obeying a command often becomes confused and takes his mind off his work, thinking he has completed the act and is receiving praise for having done so, and so breaks off right in the middle. This happens often in retrieving; your dog may be coming to you and would do so if you let him alone, but if you speak he is apt to drop the object he is carrying and come to you on the run.

TEACHING A DOG ITS NAME.

By simply addressing your dog with any particular name he will in a short time recognize it and answer to it. If you have several dogs it is a good idea to teach each its distinctive title as soon as possible, as it will assist you in managing them. This is easily accomplished, as all you need to do is to hand-feed your dogs for a few days. Have their food cut into small morsels, call each dog by name to receive its allowance, and see that no other dog gets it; if any of the others come, send them back.

When out for a walk allow your dogs to range freely and then call one of them by name and when he comes hand him a tidbit, then repeat this action until all have been served. A repetition of these lessons will cause your dogs to become thoroughly familiar with their names and they will come willingly upon being called.


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HOUSE BREAKING.

This is the first lesson that should be taught a dog. Dogs are naturally clean animals, but puppies, like children, are thoughtless. It is an absolute necessity that dogs which are to be kept in the house should be clean in their habits, and any mistakes they may make after they are eight or ten weeks old should receive prompt attention and correction. Of course, a two-month-old puppy is too young to be whipped; if it makes a mistake call its attention to what it has done and then immediately put it out of the house, and in a few days it will probably understand why it was put out. If this does not produce the desired effect, wait until you catch it in the act and rub its nose in the mess it has made, and after scolding put it out of the house. A young puppy must never be punished unless caught in the act, if the proper effect is desired. An old, hardened offender may be switched, but the whip as a rule should be used sparingly, as there is always danger of confusing and cowing a dog.

In teaching dogs cleanliness, give them opportunities for emptying themselves. If not so provided with an opportunity nature's necessities will compel them to relieve themselves where they are kept, and it would be unreasonable to punish a dog for what it could not help. All dogs should be taken out of doors the last thing at night and the first thing in the morning and during the day several times, as opportunities of this kind are absolutely necessary if they are to be kept in good health.

MINDING THE WHISTLE.

As a rule it does not take very long to train a dog to come to the whistle. Always use the same whistle, and it is advisable to blow it in a peculiar way, so that the pupil will learn to understand its meaning. You must be careful about punishing a dog for not obeying the whistle! A good way to teach a dog to obey promptly is to take him out for a run just before he has had his dinner and when he is keen with hunger, as he will probably range away. When he is some distance away blow a sharp blast of the whistle, and, if necessary, call him in, and when he returns hand him a piece of meat. Repeat this several times during your walk, and after a repetition of this lesson for a few days he will appreciate the meaning of the call and return to you as soon as he hears the whistle. It is possible to elaborate upon this branch of his training and teach him to obey a series of blasts as: Stop at one blast, drop at two blasts, or come in on three. Old, stubborn dogs sometimes refuse to obey the whistle and must be forced to do so, and this is accomplished by the use of the check cord, which will be described later.

"Home" or "Go Home" are words that every dog should understand and should be taught to obey. Begin by allowing the puppy to follow you only a short distance, fifty or sixty feet, then turn around and order him back home, if necessary, advancing toward him threateningly, and he will most likely scamper back. The


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distance can be gradually increased until he will understand and obey the order, no matter how far away you may be from your residence.

"Kennel Up" is a term that explains itself, and there is no difficulty in teaching a dog to go to his kennel when he hears it a few times and has been chased into his kennel with a light switch. If he sleeps in the house, the word basket or bed can be substituted for kennel.

"Quiet." Dogs are prone to be noisy, and when they bark too often or keep it up longer than necessary at the approach of a stranger or upon hearing a strange noise, they should be cautioned with the word quiet, repeated several times, and, if necessary, enforced with a switch.

"No" is a most useful word in the vocabulary of either dog or man, and your dog must be taught its meaning, if he is to be a useful and pleasant companion. Whenever he does anything that you do not want him to do say "no." If he is out with you on the street and attempts to pick up any refuse call out "no" sternly and order him to you; if he does not come, go to him and scold him and then lead him away. If he does not profit by your scolding switch him and repeat the switching at every repetition of the act.

Some dogs are too friendly with everyone they meet, and while you want your dog to be good-natured and pleasant, you do not want him to mix promiscuously, as he will be apt to follow some stranger or be easily stolen. To teach one of these promiscuous mixers and chummy dogs to exercise more discretion in the way he makes up with people, have a few strangers chase him away. This will alarm him and he will hustle back to you for protection, and will soon develop more or less suspicion of strangers and give you more of his affection. This must be done carefully, because if he is chased back too often or is scared too much he will become a timid dog.


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TO-HO.

This is one of the first lessons that should be taught a dog and is one that is interesting and not in the least difficult to teach, simply requiring patience and time, and will serve as the groundwork for many other lessons. It consists in making a dog stand still at command, and you can begin teaching it to a puppy four or five months old. The puppy to be taught should have a light cord fastened to his collar and his meal set down in front of him. He will immediately rush toward the food, but must be held back and the word "to-ho" uttered, not loudly, but distinctly; hold the pupil in this position and repeat the word several times so as to impress it on him. When he stops tugging at the check cord and settles down a little say "on" and allow him to go on and finish his meal.

In giving the second lesson allow the puppy to about half finish the meal, then hold him back from the dish two or three feet and say "toho" several times, and after he quiets down allow him to finish his meal. Practice this lesson twice a day until there is a thorough understanding on the part of the puppy as to what is expected of him.

The next step is to toss a piece of meat down in front of the puppy and say "to-ho," and this lesson should be repeated until he will not move up to take the morsel unless ordered to do so by the word "on." Then throw the meat some distance away, and as the youngster starts for it say "to-ho;" keep him standing a moment, then say "on," allowing him to advance a short distance, and then stop him again with "to-ho." It will require a long time and numerous lessons to attain perfection, but as a primary lesson in obedience it is worth the trouble. By holding up the right hand when uttering the word "to-ho" the dog will associate the two and will in time learn to stop at the upraised hand.

DROP.

This is another early lesson that considerable time must be spent on. Do not expect to get a young dog to lie down nicely in two or three lessons; it is better to spend three or four weeks in perfecting him. It is comparatively easy to teach a dog to lie down, but the owner must be very careful not to display any temper or undue harshness, as there is always danger of cowing a timid dog.

Call your dog to you, place one hand on his back over the hindquarters, the other on the neck or shoulders, and gently but firmly force him to the ground, meanwhile repeating the word "drop." Of course, he will struggle some, and after you get him down will probably roll over on his back, but this should not cause discouragement. Repeat this operation two or three times a day, and after a few lessons the puppy will probably crouch a little when you place your hand on his shoulder, and day by day will go down a little easier, and soon will begin to crouch as soon as he hears the word, even if your hand is not on him, and finally will drop as soon as he hears the word "drop."


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After this has been accomplished you can begin to pay attention to the position the dog is in while down, which should be with the body straight out and the head between the front feet. We do not advocate this position exactly, and it is often preferable to allow the puppy to assume a position that is comfortable and more or less peculiar to him. After he will drop at the word of command and when close to you, back away slowly and walk around him in gradually increasing circles, and if he moves take him back to where he moved from and make him drop, and perhaps give him a cuff with your hand. After he will keep at a drop while you move all around begin teaching him to drop while at a distance from you. At first call out "drop" when ten or twelve feet away; he will probably come in close to you before obeying, but make him return to where he was when the order was first given and stay down for two or three minutes. After being taught to drop promptly gradually increase the distance until he will drop at command anywhere within the sound of your voice. The next lesson is the most difficult, and that is to teach a puppy to stay at drop while you go out of sight. You can accomplish this best by making him lie down in the yard, while you walk away or hide behind a fence, and if he starts to move speak to him sharply. This can be followed by going into the house or barn for a minute or two and gradually increasing the length of time you are out of sight.

HEEL.

It is quite important that all dogs be taught to walk at heel quietly, particularly those which are kept in the city. This is not a difficult lesson and can be as easily taught to an old dog as to a puppy; in fact, there is considerable danger of cowing puppies by enforcing this command at too early an age or being too strict with them. Puppies are naturally restless creatures with an inquisitiveness that leads them everywhere, and this to a certain extent should be encouraged. Of course, endless

trouble will be provoked if you allow a young dog to chase about when you are threading your way through crowded streets or among horses and wagons, or through carefully kept gardens, and at such times a light lead should be slipped around the dog's neck or attached to his collar. He will probably want to run in front of you, and if only four or five months old, or of a very timid disposition, should be encouraged to do so, but if a courageous fellow and eight or ten months old, call him behind you or to your side and hold him there by shortening your grip on the lead, at the same time tapping him very gently on the nose with a switch whenever he tries to go ahead too fast, repeating the word "heel."


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GUARD.

As the pupil advances in age and intelligence he can be gradually taught accomplishments, such as guarding any object that may be placed in front of him. For the first lesson have him drop either in a room or yard and place before him a glove or handkerchief of your own or a ball or some object that he has been in the habit of playing with, and say "guard." Do not make a dog stay at this lesson too long at a time, but go through it every day and repeat the word "guard" until he will stay with and watch the object you leave until you relieve him of his duty.

STAYING OUT OF DOORS.

This useful performance is one of the last lessons to be taught a young dog and considerable time will be necessary in perfecting the pupil. It is often necessary to take a dog out in stormy weather or when the ground is muddy, and at such times it is very undesirable to admit him to the house until he is dry or while his paws are encrusted with mud. If he has been taught to guard, it will 'only be necessary to throw some object with which he is familiar on the porch or veranda, and make him drop in front of it and guard it. Go inside and watch him, and if the dog shows any inclination to leave his position speak to him sternly, and if he slinks away bring him back and scold him, then leave him in his old position and go into the house and again watch him. Do not keep the puppy at this too long at first; if he will stay where you leave him for two or three minutes after the first five or six lessons he is doing well and in time can be taught to wait for hours.


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CARRYING.

The larger breeds of dogs, such as the St. Bernards, retrievers, mastiffs or Great Danes, can be taught easily to carry objects, such as baskets or parcels, and really seem to enjoy doing so. A dog which is perfectly drilled in this

accomplishment will promptly pick up and hold anything that is given or pointed out to him or that he may be sent after, and will let go of it only when told to do so. A dog which will drop the article he is carrying when you stop walking, or one which is slow about relinquishing his hold or has to have his mouth opened before he will let go, is imperfectly trained. Most dogs like to carry things, but those which do not can be taught to do so. This can be accomplished by placing the article you wish carried in the mouth and holding it there with one hand while leading the dog along a few steps, then praising and rewarding him for doing so. If the dog will not open his mouth promptly pass the right hand over the jaws and with the thumb on one side and the fingers on

the other force his lips against his teeth; this will cause him to open his mouth and the object you wish carried can be inserted; then make him hold it by supporting the lower jaw with one hand while you stroke his head with the other. The hand that supports the lower jaw should gradually give it less and less support and be moved back toward the neck until finally you are simply stroking the lower jaw, and then remove the hand altogether. The pupil must be carefully watched, and if he shows any inclination to let go of the object he must be prevented from doing so by promptly supporting the lower jaw.

After the dog will hold the object you give him he can be made to take a few steps, gradually increasing the distance, but whenever he lets go of the object promptly replace it. Be careful not to give him articles to carry that are too heavy; praise him when he does well and be sure not to continue the lessons too long, or make him carry articles so far that he becomes tired. As you progress in these lessons accustom him to giving up the article he is carrying at command without mouthing it.

To teach your clog not to give the article to anyone but yourself, get a stranger to attempt to take it, and have him start back as he does so; this as a rule, will make a dog refuse to give up whatever he may be holding. You should then come up, praise the dog, take the object from him and reward him. If the dog should give it up to the stranger, have him instructed to walk rapidly away without bestowing a word or a look upon the dog. You should then come up


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and ask the dog for the object and by your actions express your displeasure at his having lost it. After your pupil has become proficient and reliable in carrying ordinary articles you can begin giving him articles to carry that are of delicate construction or of a fragile nature, and teach him to be careful not to tear or injure them. He can then be taught to carry a basket by the handle and other objects.

The smaller breeds, such as terriers, have neither the strength nor the inclination to carry things possessed by the larger breeds. However, they can be taught to carry a glove or handkerchief simply as an accomplishment.

An easy way to go about teaching this lesson to a small dog is to shake a glove so as to attract his attention; he will most likely want to grab it, and should be allowed to do so and encouraged to walk with it. He will probably shake and worry it, and while this should not be encouraged it cannot be altogether stopped, as you are working with the puppy in what he considers a spirit of play. If he will follow with it in his mouth as you move on, very good, and if he should drop it, pick it up and shake it before him again and encourage him to take hold of it, and as soon as he does, start off again and induce him to follow with it. Continue these lessons two or three times a day for five or ten minutes at a time, discontinuing them so soon as the pupil shows signs of tiring.


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FETCHING BOOTS OR SLIPPERS.

A dog which has been well trained in carrying can be taught to bring your boots or slippers or to take them away and deposit them in their proper places. In teaching a dog to perform this service it is important that you have some particular place where you keep your boots or slippers. Take off your boots in one of the other rooms, have your pupil pick them up one at a time, and go with him while he carries them to the place in which you are accustomed to leaving them; he should be taught to leave the boots there and pick up one or both of your slippers and carry them to your library or sitting room, where you should put them on. After he has been practiced at this for a few days or until he knows what is expected of him, give him one of your boots and have someone he is accustomed to call him to the place where you usually leave your boots, and when he arrives there tell him to put the boot down in its proper place. He should then be given a slipper, and you should call him to you and relieve him of the slipper and give him the other boot, when your assistant should then call him back, make him deposit the second boot and give him the other slipper to carry to you. After your dog becomes proficient in carrying your boots and slippers he can be taught to get your cane, hat, gloves or any other familiar articles.

You can also teach your dog to go to the corner newsboy or newsstand for a paper. At the start give him a penny to carry while you walk to the newsstand, and when you arrive there instruct the dog to give the money to the newsman and have him give the dog a folded paper, which he should carry home. By going through this performance with him day after day and praising and rewarding him when you get home he will soon take an interest in the transaction, and you can then teach him to go alone by giving him a penny to carry as usual and going with him nearly to the newsstand and letting him run ahead alone; and by gradually remaining farther and farther in the rear he can finally be sent alone to get a paper.

You can also teach a dog to pick up anything you may drop while walking on the street. To do this, when walking, drop a glove that your dog has been accustomed to carrying and walk along as if you did not know what had happened. If he picks it up let him carry it a short distance and then turn around as if you had discovered your loss, and when you see him carrying it relieve him of it and praise and reward him. If the dog fails to pick up the glove, go on a short distance, then show by your actions that you have lost something and go back with him and look for it; and when you find it let him pick it up and carry it a distance. Repeat this lesson until he will pick up anything of yours that he sees you drop or that he discovers. He can be taught also to pick up and carry anything you may point out to him and work simply by signals.


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RETRIEVING.

RETRIEVING is the most useful accomplishment that a dog can be taught, and it is a feat which all breeds of dogs are more or 1ess capable of performing. Of course, toy dogs and house dogs cannot be expected to do much more than retrieve a ball or glove in the house and on the lawn, but the larger breeds, such as retrievers, spaniels and setters, which have keen powers of scent are used by shooters in retrieving game from land or water, while Newfoundlands, St. Bernards and other powerful breeds make efficient life-savers, and collies and rough-coated terriers afford their owners and friends a great deal of amusement and occasionally are really useful while rambling along a stream or lake.

There is a decided difference of opinion as to wha t constitutes a retriever. Some men believe their dogs are retrievers if they will chase after a ball or stick, pick it up and bring it back in an uncertain way and then lay it down a few feet away. This in no sense of the word denotes a finished retriever; in fact, it is only rudimentary fetching, and the dog which will simply pick up objects in plain sight and which hunts for them with his eyes and does not use his nose should not be considered a good retriever. A properly trained retriever will not go for an object until ordered to do so, and will then go promptly, and as soon as he finds what he was sent for, picks it up gently and without mouthing it returns promptly and delivers it into his master's hands. A retriever should be taught to look for things which he has not seen placed or thrown and must work by scent and be guided this way and that by a wave of the hand.

There are two methods of teaching a dog to retrieve, the force system and the natural system. The force system is fully described in "Modern Breaking," a book devoted solely to the development of hunting dogs, and is very effectual with such dogs, as by it a dog of any age can be taught to retrieve. The amateur trainer will, however, find the natural system the safer and easier method to pursue in teaching his dog, although in many cases a combination of both the force and natural systems proves most successful.

In using the natural system a dog's lessons should begin at an early age, for by this method a dog's natural instincts to fetch and carry are taken advantage of and developed into a useful accomplishment. Most puppies have more or less of the retrieving instinct, as is evidenced by their fondness for picking up and carrying odds and ends about the house, kennel and yard. At the teething period this instinct is especially strong, as the gums are inflamed and sore and the youngsters get more or less relief from mouthing hard objects or having a soft object like an old glove drawn between their teeth, and these conditions can be made use of to advantage. Shake an old glove in front of a puppy and he will grab hold of it; draw it through his teeth and throw it a few feet away, and it is more than likely he will pick it up and give it a shake or two and bring it to you, so that you will again draw it away from him and throw it out for him to fetch. Every time you throw the glove say "fetch." Repeat this operation about half a dozen times, but be sure to desist


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before the puppy gets tired of the play, for while this is a lesson, in the puppy's mind it is only play. The puppy will not understand the word "fetch" at first, but in time, from hearing it repeated so frequently, he will associate it with the act of bringing the glove to you.

For these early lessons a glove is the best object that can be used, as it is soft on the puppy's mouth and the scent of the hand naturally associates it in the puppy's mind with his master. After the puppy has become accustomed to the glove and has some idea of picking it up and carrying it, various articles should be used, as a soft ball or one of india rubber, or a roll of cloth.

If this is not done he may interest himself only in the glove and pay no attention to other objects. Repeat these lessons several times each day, showing him the object and then throwing it a short distance away for him to fetch, until he thoroughly understands what is expected, then gradually increase the distance, always exercising great care that you do not attempt to force your pupil too fast or throw the object too far. These lessons are best given in a closed room.and the pupil generally does best if worked alone, for outsiders or other dogs distract his attention. In some cases two puppies can be worked together, but there is always danger of them playing with each other and getting their minds off the retrieving. There is very little trouble in getting the dog to run to the object after you throw it and he will generally pick it up, and so long as he will bring it to you of his own accord all is well, but if he will not do so you will have to persuade him to fetch it to you, and if your voice is not sufficient to accomplish this try the effects of rewarding him with a tidbit of boiled liver. In giving lessons this way the dog must not be too hungry, for if he is, after he receives the first reward it will drive all thoughts of fetching out of his mind and he will think only of the food and will watch the hand that gave him the morsel. Throw the glove or other object six or eight feet away, and if he fetches it to you reward him with a morsel of meat or liver and pat him on the head to show your appreciation. Repeat this lesson several times and reward him as often as he brings you the object thrown of his own accord, but if he fails to do so do not reward him. If he drops it before he reaches you, go to him and place it in his mouth, say "fetch" and walk him back to the place where you. stood and then reward him. The idea is to get him to understand that if he brings you the ball he will be rewarded. Do not keep him too long at these lessons at one time, but keep them up day after day and always give them in more or less of a spirit of playfulness; after he will retrieve reasonably prompt you can become more exacting about his always bringing the object to you and delivering it into your hand.

Up to this time the pupil has been allowed to run for the object as soon as it was thrown, and it is also presumed that these lessons have been continued over a period of four or five months and that meanwhile he has been taught to drop at command. After he has been faithfully drilled in retrieving without orders he can be taught to retrieve to order. This can be taught easily. Call your dog to you, order him to drop, and if necessary steady him by laying a hand lightly on his shoulder; then throw the ball or glove, keep him in position a moment, and say "fetch,"


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waving him on with your hand. Practice this until he will lie perfectly still when you throw the ball and will not start after it until he hears the word "fetch," then practice him standing. You can elaborate on these lessons and make them more difficult by throwing the object into the grass or weeds, or tossing it over a fence. After he has progressed as far as this in his schooling a variety of objects should be introduced for him to retrieve, so that he will not become too much accustomed to one or two objects.

During all these preparatory lessons the puppy has relied upon his eyes to find the object and has not used his power of scent. This should be developed, and he must also be taught to rely upon his master and look to him for instruction as to the direction in which to search. As a first lesson leave the pupil in one room and hide the ball or glove he has been accustomed to retrieving in another room, then call in your dog, say "fetch," and pretend to look for the object yourself, hunting with him until it is found. Do not hide it in too difficult a place, and be sure he finds it before he gets tired of the search, and never forget to reward and praise him for his success. After he has become proficient in searching for objects that have been hidden about a room he can be worked out of doors. Order him to drop behind a house or fence, or a patch of bushes, and then place the ball or glove in some place where it can be found easily, gradually hiding it in more difficult places. These lessons can be rehearsed further by hiding pieces of meat or liver about a room or yard, and then going with him and encouraging him to scent them out and find them; this will teach him to use his nose, and if the lessons are given on an empty stomach he will search industriously and in time becomes very expert.

Trailing.

A dog can be taught to follow a trial by dragging a piece of meat tied to a string through the grass and encouraging him to foot out the scent until the meat is reached, and after he finds it allow him to eat it. Do not drag it too far the first lesson, but gradually increase the distance, and later draw the meat zigzag or in a circle. It will require considerable practice and experience before a dog becomes expert at this, but keep him at it and in time he will become proficient.

To teach your dog to be guided by your hand, scatter a few pieces of meat about the yard and after he finds the first, direct him with a wave of the hand toward the next, continuing in the same manner until he has found all you have placed, and he will soon learn to look to you for directions.

WATER DOGS.

After a dog will retrieve on land he can be taught to retrieve from the water, and at times be really useful as well as entertaining, for every one enjoys seeing a dog disport himself in a pool, swimming about and retrieving objects thrown by his master or diving to the bottom for bright objects, and many lives have been saved by well-trained water dogs.


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Newfoundlands have always enjoyed the premier position as water dogs, their great strength and courage enabling them to face seas that would beat down the strongest swimmer, and they stand at the head of life-saving dogs. Unfortunately, breeders have neglected this noble breed and they are now so rare as to be almost extinct.

St. Bernards are not as powerful swimmers as the Newfoundlands nor are their coats so wet-resisting, but their strength enables them, when properly trained, to render more assistance to a person in distress than some of the lighter breeds.

The retrievers, especially the curly-coated variety, make very good water dogs, but the best of all water dogs, excepting the Newfoundland, is the Irish water spaniel. This breed has an especially thick, oily, water-resisting coat and possesses all the intelligence and docility and more dash and courage than any of the other members of the spaniel family. A good Irish water spaniel would rather be in the water than on land. They have good noses and make splendid assistants to the duck hunter, and can outswim all other breeds of dogs.

All of the poodles except the toys take to the water cheerfully and are easily taught to retrieve. Nearly all collies are fond of water and by reason of their dash, enthusiasm and intelligence make excellent retrievers; their thick coats, however, are hard to dry. The setters take more or less readily to the water and by reason of their spaniel ancestry have the retrieving instinct well developed. Most rough-haired terriers also take readily to the water, the Airedales heading the list as water dogs, for they take to it as promptly and make as expert swimmers as spaniels, and some of them are powerful enough to make good duck retrievers. Bull terriers, on account of their thin coats, are at a disadvantage in the water during the cold weather, but they are so game and courageous that they make undaunted swimmers and divers.

Dogs do not have to learn to swim, but can do so as soon as they can walk. This fact must not be interpreted into considering them amphibious for, on the contrary, they are land animals and except in rare instances are born with a natural dread of the water. Teaching dogs to retrieve from water is largely a matter of overcoming this fear and prejudice and replacing it by a fondness and enthusiasm for that element. The old method of overcoming this dread was to take a young dog by the back of the neck and pitch him into a deep pool and then allow him to paddle out as best lie could. A dog of unusual courage might withstand this shock and possibly in time forget about it, but a dog at all timid or easily alarmed would be so completely overcome with terror and disgust as to have ever afterward a dread of water. It is by such treatment that many dogs, which with proper care and training would have made good retrievers, are ruined for life.

There is only one right way to develop a fondness for water in a young dog and that is by accustoming him, or rather allowing him to gradually accustom himself, to the untried element. Dogs are inquisitive animals, more or less jealous, and have the spirit of emulation so strongly developed that one of the best methods of


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teaching a dog to take to the water is to allow him to see a well-trained dog disporting himself in a pond or stream. If the puppy is especially plucky and has not had his natural courage weakened by a previous ducking or ill treatment, the temptation to wade or swim out to the other dog is too strong to resist, particularly if you have chosen the right sort of a day on which to give the youngster his introduction to the water. On a cold, windy day when the waves are rolling in, the puppy is always apprehensive of danger and the chill of the water is not encouraging. On a quiet, warm, sunshiny day everything looks inviting, and if in addition the banks are sandy, smooth and shelving, so that the youngster can wade out a distance before the water is deep enough to cause him any uneasiness, there will be little difficulty about his entering the water. Most of the books written on this subject say that the puppy should be encouraged to enter the water. This is a mistake, for a puppy learns by experience. If you take him to the water and try to impress upon him the fact that there is nothing to fear, the chances are that you will simply add to his belief that there is something to fear. If you have a good dog with you, devote all your time to throwing out objects for him to retrieve and pay no attention to the puppy; your unconcern and the actions of the trained dog will make a stronger impression on him than anything you can say and he will forget his fears much quicker than if you make a fuss over him.

A person who is fond of swimming can practice another method that usually produces success. When you go swimming take the young dog with you, but leave him on the bank when you go in the water and do not pay any attention to him. He will be greatly concerned at being left on the bank and in many instances will attempt to follow you. If he does not, after a few moments approach within a few feet of the bank where the puppy can wade, and call him. If after two or three lessons he does not come willingly, he should be carried out a short distance and then gently lowered into the water, supporting him carefully with your hand, being careful to keep his head out of the water, and as he starts to swim to shore go with him; after he arrives at the bank allow him to frisk around and shake himself and recover his spirits, and then take him out again and repeat the trip. If you are careful with him his natural fears will soon be overcome.

Terriers, if taken to a stream that is frequented by water rats, will usually go promptly to hunting them, and in their enthusiasm entirely forget any dislike they entertained toward the water. Wading a shallow stream and walking on as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do will generally result in the puppy following you.

Another method is to wait until the puppy is hungry and then walk along close to or partially in the water and from time to time give the puppy a tidbit of boiled liver or a small piece of meat. The pupil in his eagerness to satisfy his hunger will now and then step into the water without noticing it and gradually you can wade through water two or three inches deep and the young dog will follow you and forget his fears.


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The methods explained will overcome most dogs' prejudice and timidity, but in training dogs one thing must never be lost sight of, and that is, that what will work well with one dog will not do with another. There are numerous methods that can be resorted to, and ultimate success depends almost entirely upon the patience and good judgment of the trainer, who above all things must not attempt to accomplish too much at one lesson, and must remember that what the pupil does not learn one day can be taught on the next. Some dogs which at first are so nervous and timid that they will venture into the water barely sufficient to wet their forefeet and others which are afraid to go even as far as that can by care and patience be made brave and reliable retrievers.

RETRIEVING FROM THE WATER.

After a dog's natural fears and prejudices against water have been replaced by a fondness for that element, his lessons in retrieving can be taken up. The objects selected for him to retrieve must float easily and by of a size and weight suited to the dog's strength and ability.

If a wooden ball is used it should not be so large as to be difficult for the dog to grasp, nor so small as to be in danger of slipping too far back in the mouth and being swallowed. A stick about ten inches long and a trifle thicker than a broom handle answers very well for spaniels, setters or collies, and one a trifle smaller is suitable for the working terriers. Wrapping the stick with cloth with the idea that it will make the pupil soft-mouthed is a mistake; it has a contrary effect, for a dog will show more inclination to mouth a covered stick than he would one not so encumbered. A light wooden ball is a good thing to work with and has the advantage of being easily carried in the pocket. A stick or ball that is painted white is more easily seen, as dark objects are difficult to see on the water, and the dog's range of vision, while swimming, with his eyes only a few inches above the water, is naturally limited.

For a dog's first lesson in retrieving from the water take him to a lake or stream with shelving banks and a shallow bottom; begin by letting him retrieve the stick or ball he is accustomed to retrieving from the shore close to the water, then throw it into the water a few inches, close to the shore, so that he can reach out and pick it up by barely wetting his feet. If he retrieves all right continue the lesson, but be particularly careful in increasing the distance you throw it out, and do not attempt to do too much in one lesson; in fact, you will be doing very well if you succeed in getting your pupil to wade into water two or three inches deep at first. The next day you can throw it into deeper water, and can increase the distance from day to day until he will dash into water that reaches to his shoulders. Then comes the most difficult lesson, and that is to gel him to go into water so deep that he will be obliged to swim. The chances are that when you throw the stick out into deep water he will dash out after it, but as soon as the water gets beyond his depth will turn around and come back. In these lessons it is advisable to tie a light piece of cord to the stick, so that it can, if necessary, be pulled into shore; if the puppy


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returns without the stick draw it in and show it to the youngster and praise him just as if he had retrieved it, but let this end the lesson for that day, and on the next day begin by throwing the stick out just as far as he can wade, and then a bit farther, and some day he will gather courage and make a grab for the stick, even if it does take him off his feet, and will bring it back. After he once takes to going over his depth to retrieve, it is an easy matter to increase the distance you throw the stick until he will go after it, no matter how far you may throw it. Be careful, however, not to overtask his strength and never continue the lessons after he shows signs of being tired or displays a lack of interest.

After a young dog takes to the water promptly and swims boldly, attention can be given to the way in which he retrieves. Some dogs will only partially retrieve and when they come out of the water with the object either drop it into shallow water or on the very edge of the stream, seemingly with the impression that they have completed their task: others, after they leave the water, race up and down the bank and frisk around with the float in their mouth. These faults can be overcome by backing away from the dog as soon as he leaves the water, and as he sees you retiring he will be in a hurry to get to you.

After several weeks' practice in fetching a dog should become so perfect as to jump in and fetch any object you may throw for him, and then can be taught to retrieve objects that are pointed out to him. In teaching this, at first tie a string to some well-known object with which the dog has practiced, and when he is not looking throw it out a few feet from the bank, then take a walk along the shore, come up to the float as if by accident and point it out to your dog and tell him to fetch. If he does not do so, draw it in slowly by the string and call his attention to what you are doing and encourage him to pick up the stick; if he refrains from picking it up, show it to him after you get it out of the water and throw it out again. Practice this lesson day after day, and after he will fetch the stick that he has been accustomed to work with, vary it with other articles, so that he will go in after anything you point out to him, and if he is of a water-loving breed and naturally courageous, he will in time, when walking out with you along a river, be constantly looking for some floating article that he can retrieve. Whenever he retrieves anything in this way be sure and praise him for his act and give him the impression that you value the article he has brought you, carrying it along with you until you get an opportunity to throw it away without him seeing you do so.

As he gets older and stronger he can be sent after larger objects, and by first accustoming him to plunge in from a surface about on a level with the water and gradually increasing the distance he can be taught to jump boldly from a high bank.

LIFE-SAVING DOGS.

To be an efficient life-saver a dog must be a rapid, powerful swimmer, so as to get to a drowning person in the shortest possible time, and must be strong enough to


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either afford support on the water or drag the person ashore. The only breeds which fully answer these requirements are Newfoundlands, St. Bernards and the Irish spaniels, but at critical moments collies, setters, and, in fact, nearly all the breeds with the exception of the small terriers and spaniels, are capable of rendering valuable assistance to persons in distress.

In training a dog with especial reference to life-saving, he should be taught to jump promptly into the water from any reasonable distance and should be worked at retrieving large objects that are pointed out to him in the water. After the dog is fully grown and has had plenty of experience in retrieving large objects, an effigy of a man should be made out of canvas, painted and stuffed with cork and placed in the water. After showing it to the dog order him to fetch it out; go to the edge of the water with the dog and assist him in landing the dummy. The effigy can be gradually weighted until it is as heavy as a man. Later on get some man who is a good swimmer to go into the water dressed in old clothes and pretend he is drowning, then send your dog in to help him out. A continuation of these lessons and daily practice will develop a dog into a reliable life-saver.

FETCHING A BOAT.

A boat that has not been securely fastened frequently drifts out of reach. A dog, if of large size, can be taught to bring it back to shore, providing the boat's painter is floating in the water, and in an occurrence of this kind it usually is. This is taught by attaching a good-sized piece of light wood to a boat's painter and ordering the dog to retrieve the float; he will drag it in and with it the boat. This lesson can be repeated until he becomes expert in handling a boat under these conditions, and then he can be taught to go after the floating rope without the attachment of the float.

DIVING.

Dogs are taught to dive on the same principles that they are taught to retrieve, which is by encouraging them to pick objects out of the shallow water and then gradually inducing them to go deeper and deeper. The first lesson must be given in water that is shallow, clear and warm enough not to be uncomfortable. Wait until the dog is hungry and then drop a piece of cheese in a bucket or large bowl containing two or three inches of water. Gradually increase the depth of water until the pupil will plunge his head under the water without hesitation.

After he will go after a piece of meat or cheese, substitute for it a small wooden ball weighted with lead, so that it will sink, and painted white, so that it can be easily seen, gradually increasing the depth of the water. When you begin working in water more than a foot deep it is a good idea to attach a string to the ball, so that you can recover it in case your pupil fails to do so. A medium-sized, well bleached beef bone is a good thing for a dog to retrieve, or a stone sewed up in a


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piece of calico will answer the purpose, but it is not advisable to have a dog retrieve stones, as they wear down his teeth and make him hard-mouthed.


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TRICK DOGS.

THE performing of tricks, while not a necessary part of a dog's education, is an accomplishment that affords an owner and his friends a great deal of amusement and adds materially to the value of a dog. All dogs can be taught tricks, but some breeds have a special aptitude in that direction. At the head of the list of trick dogs is the poodle, as he takes to the performance of tricks as if it were second nature, and he is the main reliance of all showmen. Newfoundlands, St. Bernards and Great Danes learn easily, while the collies and spaniels are very intelligent; the terriers are apt pupils and among the toy dogs the black and tans and schipperkes are highly spoken of. In selecting the tricks that are to be taught a dog, the owner must show some discretion and no attempt should be made to teach dogs tricks that are not within their powers. As an illustration a big St. Bernard or Great Dane is sadly out of place attempting to sit up, walk on his hind legs or dance. They are physically incapable of doing so and their attempts are out of keeping with the dignity which is their principal charm. They can, however, with perfect propriety, be taught to fetch and carry, jump, shake hands or speak. Spaniels are particularly apt at fetching and carrying, collies learn to count and speak readily, and the terriers have a wide sphere of possibilities.

Dogs which are to be taught tricks must have their education begun early in life, so that the playfulness of puppyhood can be taken advantage of, for as dogs mature they take on a sedateness that increases the difficulty of teaching them to assume unnatural positions, whereas, with a puppy a trick can be made more or less a matter of play and he will enjoy going through with it.

In the general education of a puppy very little punishment should be given and in trick training no punishment at all. A dog can be forced to do certain things, but if forced he generally acts so slow and sulky that it detracts from his performance, whereas, if he is coaxed into doing them and performs because he likes to, he will go through with his act with an enthusiasm and snap that is most attractive. For these reasons you must not get excited while educating your young dog nor speak loud, nor cuff and whip him, but should by frequent good-natured repetition of the same performance persuade and coax him to assume certain attitudes or do certain things, and when he has done so, praise him; he will then know that you appreciate what he has done. It is also advisable to reward him with a tidbit of meat or cheese.


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SHAKE HANDS.

The first trick that is generally taught a dog is to shake hands, and there are very few boys who do not teach their pets this simple trick. In most cases it is so easily accomplished that the amateur trainer does not know exactly how it was done, for if you take hold of a dog's paw and say "paw" or "shake" and repeat the performance often enough and at odd times, it will be the most natural thing for a dog to place his paw in your hand as soon as you extend it and he hears the word

"paw," to which he has become accustomed. If during the training you always take hold of the right paw, this paw will always be the one he will give you, but he can be taught to give you the le ft paw by taking it when you make the request. You can make the performance more interesting by saying "shake hands" when you want the right paw and when you want the left paw say "left paw." This gives your audience the impression that your pupil understands that it is customary to shake hands with the right hand and that he also possesses a left paw, in fact that is what he actually learns. Should your pupil offer you the left paw when you ask to "shake hands," repeat your command distinctly, and when he sees, after a moment or two, that you are not going to take the paw he offers, he will put it down and in all probability offer you the other paw, which

is the one you want. You should take it promptly and hold it for a minute, then pat him on the head and impress on him that he has pleased you.

This trick of shaking hands can also be varied by asking the dog to show you his pulse, or the trick can be farther elaborated by saying to your dog when you want to show him off to friends or acquaintances: "Jack, old man, you are not looking well this morning; come here and let me feel your pulse," and by putting a little emphasis on the word "pulse" the dog will come up to you and offer you his paw, and if you take it with an air of gravity it will impress your audience with your dog's talent. Some dogs, after sufficient practice at this trick, get so that they continually offer their paw to everyone who will take it, and a case is recorded of a half-grown puppy of one of the larger breeds which was so accustomed to offering his paw that one day when a strange cat made its appearance on the premises the puppy made a rush at the intruder with every appearance of hostility, but when near the cat habit gained a mastery over instinct, and the puppy held out his paw as usual, and did not pitch onto the cat until after she struck his extended paw with her claws.

SITTING UP.


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This trick is easily taught small dogs, but should not be included in a big dog's education, as it is difficult for them to preserve their balance. The act of sitting up forms the groundwork for many other tricks. To teach a dog to sit up have as a reward a small piece of meat, and set your pupil on his haunches in a corner, so

that he cannot fall either backward or sideways and has very little or no balancing to do. Keep him from pitching forward by holding one hand under his chin and with the other hand, hold the reward above his nose and keep repeating distinctly and deliberately, "sit up." Do not make him sit up too long at any one time, but repeat the lesson frequently and reward him often.

During his first lesson he will require considerable assistance from your hand to prevent him from pitching forward, but as he gets control of the balancing muscles and understands what you want, he will depend less and less upon your hand to keep him in position and you can gradually render him less assistance until you will only have to keep one hand in position two or three inches from his neck or chin, so as to be ready to prevent him pitching forward; later on you can withdraw this hand entirely and simply hold the tidbit just above

the level of his head.

By constant practice he will sit up well after you set him up; then he should be set up against the wall, so as to afford him a support for his back only, and after he has been well schooled at this and can keep his position easily, practice him against chair legs, cushions or other objects that afford him less and less assistance, until finally he learns to preserve his balance and sits up without anything to lean against.

During all these lessons the words "sit up" have been impressed upon his mind by frequent repetition, and now comes the final lesson to teach him to sit up as soon as he hears the words, and the chances are, if he has been diligently drilled, it will be necessary only to call him out in the room, show him a small piece of meat, hold it up a suitable distance from the floor, say "sit up" and he will do so, when he should be given the tid-bit while still in position. The only necessity to perfection is


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to practice him several times a day until he will sit up at the word and without being shown a reward; that can be given him after he has obeyed.

You have now a foundation for many other tricks. He can be taught to beg by moving your hand up and down just in front of his paws, which he will move in unison with yours. He can be taught to salute by bringing one paw up to the side of his head, or to hold a wooden pipe in his mouth, or to wear a cap on his head or other articles of wearing apparel. In teaching a dog to submit to being dressed up, do not attempt to get him to wear too many things at once; try him at first with a cap and after he becomes accustomed to that you can put on a coat and gradually accustom him to the other articles. For a time it will probably be necessary to hold these things on him.

SHUTTING THE DOOR.

This trick can be taught dogs of all sizes, but small dogs should not be asked to close large or heavy doors. In teaching this trick select a door that swings easily on its hinges; drive a nail in it at such a distance above the floor that the pupil can just reach it by standing on his hindlegs with his forefeet resting against the door. Open the door a few inches, place a small piece of meat on the nail and call your pupil's attention to it, saying "Shut the door." In reaching for the dainty the dog will place his forefeet on the door and this will close it. If preferable the tid-bit can be balanced on the door handle, and shutting the door will jar it to the floor, when he should be allowed to eat it and be petted and praised. After he has done this a few times you can advance him in his lessons by placing the meat in position while he is in another room, then call him in and say "Shut the door," directing him toward it, and if he does not go, show him the morsel and encourage him to get it. In time he will understand the order and will close any door that is shown to him.

Finally, teach him to close the door without having any reward in sight, but after he shuts it in response to your command reward him with a dainty. In the first lessons you need not be particular about having the door closed tight, but later on insist upon its being done before any reward is given.

OPENING THE DOOR.

Dogs can be taught easily to open swinging doors, but opening fastened doors is a much more difficult act, and is possible only with those that have the easiest and simplest latches.

To teach a dog to open a swinging door call his attention to it and push it open at the bottom. Do this a number of times every day for several days, then go through the door, closing it after you, and leave your pupil on the other side; call him and he will soon learn to push the door open in order to reach you.


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To teach a dog to open a latch, hold the dog up to it and push it back with his paw, and continue to give him practice in this way until he will push it back without your assistance.

TRUST AND PAID FOR.

This is an old trick that affords as much entertainment as anything a dog can do, is easily taught and can be elaborated on and presented in several different forms.

To teach this trick call your dog to you, allowing him to stand up or sit down on his haunches, as he desires, and hold his head steady with one hand, while you balance a piece of meat or sugar on his nose. Say to him, "On trust, on trust," steadying his head with one hand and holding up a threatening finger with the other and repeating the words, "On trust, on trust;" then release his head, saying "paid for," and give him a little chuck under the chin, that will cause him to toss the morsel up and catch it. Of course, in his earlier attempts he will not be able to catch the morsel, but he should be allowed to eat the dainty after it strikes the floor. Continuous repetition of this performance will produce e fficiency, when you may refrain from holding his head and he will balance the tidbit on his nose until you give him the words "Paid for."

He can be taught also to hold the morsel between his teeth and not to swallow it until told to do so. This trick can be made more impressive by holding a conversation with your dog. For instance, you might say: "Jack, old man, here is a very nice piece of meat, but it is 'on trust.' " Slightly emphasize the word "trust" and then go on and say: "I am glad you dislike to eat things on trust, but this I have just learned has been 'paid for,'" emphasizing the words "paid for."

Your dog can also be taught to toss the morsel on hearing a certain number. To teach this, balance it on his nose and hold his head while you count plainly and deliberately, one, two, three, and then chuck him under the chin. Until he has had a great deal of practice he will toss it up as promptly at one, two, four, as he will at one, two, three, but he must be drilled until he will not toss it until he hears "three," and it will make it easier for him if you slightly emphasize the "three." In time you can use many combinations of figures and he will wait until he hears the emphasized "three." In working him do not make him wait too long before you say "three," and allow him to eat the dainty.


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WALKING ERECT.

Standing and walking on the hind legs are tricks that put an abnormal strain upon the muscles of the back and hind legs and most dogs require considerable practice before they gain sufficient control of those muscles to balance themselves in this unnatural position.

A dog should first be taught to sit up and after he will do this well, hold a small piece of meat just above his nose and say "Up," when he will elevate himself just a trifle to get it, and should be allowed to eat it. Give him daily practice at this, making him reach a little higher from day to day until he can balance himself on his hind feet. Do not keep him at these lessons too long at any one time, as they are very fatiguing, and you must give the muscles plenty of time in which to grow strong, so that he can sustain himself more easily. After he can stand up he should be taught to walk by slowly moving the meat from

him, and he will be induced to take first one step and then another toward it. Reward him frequently by letting him have the dainty and be careful not to tire him.


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DANCING.

After a dog can stand erect and walk on his hind legs he can be taught to dance, which consists simply in hopping around on the hind legs and at short intervals turning around. The simplest method of teaching this trick is to attach a piece of meat to a switch, four or five feet long; hold the meat in tempting proximity to the dog's nose, and so high that he will stand on his hind legs to get to it, and then slowly move it around and he will follow after it any way that you may select. Do not keep him at it too long and reward him frequently, so as to keep up his enthusiasm. In the early lessons he simply follows the switch because he wants the reward attached to the end of it, but later he will follow around if he is rewarded after doing so, and by continued practice will do so at command and for an occasional reward. He then can be accustomed to dancing when dressed up in fantastic apparel.

JUMPING.

To teach a dog to jump, with your right hand hold a cane just high enough above the ground so that your pupil can easily step over it, and in your left hand hold a piece of meat just in front of him, so that he will have to step over the stick to get it. As the dog grows older and understands what you want him to do, you can raise the stick a few inches at a time, so that he will be obliged eventually to jump over it to obtain the reward. Occasionally refrain from rewarding him, and thus

accustom him to jumping without a reward.

After a dog will jump over a stick he can be taught to jump over your extended foot or through a hoop or your arms; in fact, a small dog can be taught to jump through your arms much more easily than over a stick, as all you have to do is to throw a tidbit on the ground and hold your arms in front of him so that he will have to walk through them to gain the reward, gradually elevating your arms so that he will

be obliged to jump before you allow him to pass. Always encourage your dog by saying "Hip" whenever he jumps.


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JUMPING THE ROPE.

After a dog has learned to leap he can be taught to jump the rope, but this will require considerable practice. In the beginning tie one end of the rope to some stationary object a few inches from the ground and hold the other end with your hand, drawing the rope taut close to the ground; accustom your pupil to jumping over it while it is at rest, and don't forget to use the word "Hip' or "Hoop-la" each time he jumps. When he does this satisfactorily you can give the rope a slight swaying motion and at the proper moment give him the word "Hip," and if the rope is not swinging too fast or far he will in all probability jump over it. After he will do this all that remains to be done is to gradually swing the rope farther and faster until he learns to jump the rope satisfactorily. A dog which will jump the rope standing on four legs is doing well, but it is possible to teach him to do so while standing on his hind legs ; this is, however, a very difficult feat and puts considerable strain on the dog's muscles, and it is not always advisable to force a dog to do it.

SPEAKING.

All breeds and sizes of dogs can be taught easily to speak, and the way to go about it is to call your dog, show him a morsel of meat and say "Speak." He will not understand what you mean and will probably at first jump for it, and then sit down on his haunches and eye it attentively ; finally, he will get impatient and utter a sharp bark, which is what you have been waiting for, and the instant he does so reward him with the meat. A dog which is slow in barking can be encouraged to do so by your imitating a bark, as the chances are he will reply to it, and if you reward him he will learn to bark as soon as he hears the word "speak."

After a dog has been taught to bark once, you can teach him to bark any number of times, for when he has learned to expect a reward after barking once and you do not give it to him he is apt to bark again or until you give him a signal to stop. Dogs are very observing and the signal to stop barking can be so slight that your friends will not detect it, such as a movement of the foot or hand, a dropping of the eyelids or a shifting of your gaze, and if you keep up a running fire of conversation and address your dog as if he were a human being his performance will be much more impressive and perplexing. As an illustration, if you are exhibiting your dog to an audience and want him to speak, don't simply say "speak," but address him something like this: "Now, Jack, all the ladies and gentlemen present are very anxious to hear you speak." Put a slight emphasis on the word "speak" and your dog will catch it, but it will appear to the audience as if the dog understood the entire sentence and not only the one word "speak." Of course, when training the young dog you should use only the word "speak," and that distinctly and free from other words, so as not to confuse him.


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DEAD DOG.

Place a dog on his back or side or in any position you may select, threaten him with your forefinger and say "dead" or any word that you may select, rather sharply, and he will not change his position. After he will stay in the position in which you have placed him, it is only a question of practice when you can call to him and say "dead," and he will lie down and stretch out in the position that you have accustomed him to taking.

BRINGING HIS TAIL.

While in play dogs frequently grasp their tails in their mouths. While frolicking with a dog, if you take hold of his tail he will probably seize your hand, and if you dexterously slip his tail in his mouth he will grab it. These facts suggested the trick of "Bringing his tail." It is a rather difficult feat to accomplish, but it is possible for any amateur to teach it to his dog providing the dog has a long enough tail and the trainer sufficient patience. The trick is very amusing, for when the dog has his tail in his mouth he can only advance crab-fashion or sideways, with a tendency to go around in a circle without making much advance.

The first step in teaching this trick is to praise the dog when he first gets his tail in his mouth, and after he has held it for a few moments bid him to let go and reward him. Should he relinquish his hold before you order him to do so, speak sharply to him and begin all over again. When he learns to hold his tail until ordered to relinquish it the first part of the trick has beer l taught, and you can begin to teach him to bring it to you. To do this, step back a few feet from the dog in the direction he can most easily advance, and call him. If he releases his hold of his tail to come to you, scold him and replace the tail in his mouth, but when he comes without letting go he should be rewarded. Gradually increase the distance you require him to carry his tail, but this task is so difficult that he should not be asked to go more than ten or twelve feet. In beginning the trick, when you place his tail in his mouth say "Bring me your tail," so as to accustom him to the order. In time you will not have to place his tail in his mouth, but merely hold it for him to grasp, and after still further practice he will seize it at the word without your assisting him.

CLIMBING A LADDER.

To teach a dog to climb a ladder provide a ladder about six feet long with flat bars placed so close together that the dog can easily step from one round to the next. Stand at the side of the ladder, call your dog to you and hold a tidbit just above the first round of the ladder and in tempting proximity to his nose, and encourage him to climb the ladder round by round until he reaches the top. After he learns to follow the tidbit up the ladder you can in later lessons place it on the top round and he will climb after it. He then can be taught to climb the ladder simply by your


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motioning to him to do so, and after he reaches the top you can reward him. He can be worked next with two ladders hinged at the top, and after ascending one ladder can be taught to go down the other. It is quite likely that after ascending one he will want to jump down, but must be p revented from doing so, and if necessary, reprimanded by a slap or threatened with a switch and forced to obey. He can be taught to sit up at the top of the ladder, and if two dogs have been worked together, one dog, after he gets to the top where the ladders join, can be taught to turn half around and form an arch of his body, and the other dog can be taught to go up one ladder, under the arch formed by the first dog's belly and down the other. There are a number of other feats that can be taught dogs which will work on ladders, most of them being very simple and never failing to amuse an audience.

SNEEZING.

Occasionally a dog will be found which as a result of peculiarly created nostrils and careful training can be taught to sneeze. This is accomplished by tickling the nose with a feather. At first he will snap at it, but if it be kept up and his olfactory organs are susceptible he will commence to sneeze; he will not like the feather very well and in course of time his imagination will foreshadow its effects and he will begin to sneeze as soon as it is pointed in close proximity to his nose. By repeating this operation at odd times the dog can be taught to sneeze very creditably when you point your finger at his nose and give him the word "Sneeze," and finally will do so simply at command. When he sneezes he should be rewarded with a tidbit.

SINGING.

A dog which will howl with some regard to time is said to be singing. It is not to be expected that he will produce any melody or do anything but repeat in a mechanical way a series of whines and barks. He can be taught to do this in the following manner. Keep him without food, and the most natural thing for him to do is to whine, but if he does not do so imitate a whine yourself, and under these conditions most dogs will attempt to imitate the noise you make and will, to a certain degree, reach the pitch and style of noise made by you, whether it be a howl, whine or bark, and in time, by constant practice, a dog will learn to follow your tones quite accurately. Exercise him every day over a regular scale or on some simple tune and he will learn in time to go through it without prompting, so that if you will announce to your audience beforehand the tune they are to expect they will be able to recognize it.

STANDING ON FORELEGS.

This is a most difficult trick to teach, as the position of standing on the front feet alone with the head down and the hind legs elevated is an unnatural one, and it


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will be a long time before the dog learns to balance himself. To teach this trick provide yourself with a light cane or a stick, about two feet long. Hold the stick in your right hand and place it under the dog's stomach, raising his hindquarters with the stick and at the same time placing your left hand on his head, so as to prevent his moving away, thereby forcing him to retain his reversed position; as the dog rises into position the stick should be gradually moved back from his belly until it supports only his hind feet. Repeat this operation at successive lessons until the dog understands what is expected of him and learns to balance himself with but very little assistance or support from the stick, and finally with none at all. Eventually he will learn to take the position at the order, "on your head," without assistance from the hand or switch.

After a dog can balance himself on his forefeet he can be taught easily to take a few steps by standing in front and calling him to you, and as he gains confidence and experience can be made to walk quite a distance.


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GUARD AND WATCH DOGS.

It is highly important that a guard dog should possess sufficient sagacity and intelligence to enable him to discern between friends and foes and distinguish harmless visitors from questionable characters. If the dog is simply expected to give notice by barking at the approach of strangers one of the small breeds will

prove most desirable, for they, as a rule, are more wide-awake and active than the larger breeds.

For alertness terriers cannot be surpassed. Bull terriers and collies also make splendid watchdogs, but are inclined to go farther than merely giving alarm, and are always willing to take the driving away of tramps and strangers into their own hands.

If the dog is expected to protect property without human assistance one of the large breeds, such as the Great Danes, mastiffs or St. Bernards, should be selected, as their size is most impressive and arouses the fears of intruders.

The bulldog's reputation for ferocity makes him a valuable watch-dog and protector, and there are few people who will attempt to take liberties with either the property or person protected by a bulldog, and the tramp or rogue who will ignore a terrier or small dog and run the risk of evading a mastiff or St. Bernard will flee at the sight of a bulldog.

Watchdogs are taught solely by experience. They should be encouraged to bark at tramps or rough characters, and scolded if they bark at well-behaved and well-dressed strangers or people in company with some member of the household. A watch-dog will get a very good idea of what is expected of him by training him to guard different articles and not allowing anyone but his owner, a member of the family or someone with whom he is well acquainted to take them from him. By giving him different articles to guard he will learn gradually to extend his protection over everything in the household.

Guard dogs should not be kept chained any more than is necessary, and their kennels must be warm and comfortable in winter and cool and shady in summer, and they should be well fed and have an unfailing supply of water. Be sure and give them a run night and morning, but at other times they should be encouraged to stay at home.


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PERSONAL GUARD.

All dogs are so thoroughly devoted to their masters that they require no lessons or instructions to protect their person. A timid lap dog will work itself into a frenzy of passion if you attempt to strike its mistress, and the larger breeds of dogs have no hesitation in resolutely hurling themselves at anyone that threatens their owners. If you are out much at night your dog will soon learn to exercise a protection over you and he can be encouraged to do so by making him walk close at your side when passing strangers and lonely places.


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DISEASES OF DOGS.

It is possible for the average dog owner to become proficient in the treatment of the diseases to which a dog is inherent, provided he is gifted with ordinary intelligence and powers of observation, coupled with sufficient interest in the subject to inform himself as to the general appearance, actions and habits of the dog in health, so as to be able to promptly recognize any changes in temperament, body and habits that take place in disease.

DETERMINING THE DISEASE.

Before making an examination of the dog obtain a full history of the case if possible. A safe diagnosis can sometimes be made simply on a history of the case, confirmed by characteristic symptoms. The liability to certain diseases at certain ages or under certain conditions must also be considered.

The greatest mortality among dogs occurs during puppyhood or early youth, and nine-tenths of the funerals in dogdom are due to worms and distemper.

Never be in a hurry about giving a dog medicine ; be sure you know what ails him and arrive at a diagnosis by eliminating diseases not indicated by the symptoms and history of the case.

First decide whether the patient is suffering from worms. If a young dog, from two months to a year old, which has never been treated for worms, the fact that all dogs have worms will strengthen the opinion that it has them, and if the patient has the symptoms treat for them. If, on the contrary, the dog has none of the symptoms, or has been treated for worms, we must look for some other disease.

If the patient is from four months to a year old, and is cutting his teeth, or has been at a dog show or associated with dogs which have, and acts listless and out of sorts a few days afterward, your suspicions should be directed toward distemper if it has never had the disease, and by studying the symptoms you can arrive at a positive opinion and treat accordingly.

If your patient is an aged dog and has had distemper, and for no accountable cause is slowly going off in flesh and refuses to fatten no matter how much he eats; and if his breath is foul, his bowels are irregular, and he seems all out of sorts and run down, indigestion should be suspected, due either to

poor food, a weakness of the stomach's digestive glands or irritation set up by worms; possibly a tapeworm.


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The condition of a sick dog's bowels should always be considered. Constipation and diarrhea are common ailments that are responsible for much ill health. Besides the character and frequency of passages, both diseases are accompanied by straining, and in some cases colicky pains.

When a dog comes out of the kennel in the morning, stiff, sore and barely able to move, is all humped up (see illustration), and the history of the case shows that he was given either a hard run the day before, jumped into a pool while heated, became chilled by a cold rain, or slept in a draught o r on a bed of wet straw, rheumatism should be diagnosed. When the animal is found sitting on his haunches, his forelegs braced apart so as to expand the chest, his breathing accelerated and the membranes of the eye dark and congested, and the history of the case is the same as that last given, pneumonia is indicated.

If pressure upon the walls between the ribs causes him to flinch and groan, the pleura or membrane surrounding the lungs is affected and we have pleurisy.

If the small veins of the eye show a yellowish tinge, it is an indication of a disordered liver and the treatment for jaundice should be administered.

If a dog has been in good health and is suddenly taken sick, exhibiting violent symptoms of pain and great distress, with attempts to vomit or a rigidity of the muscles, poison should be suspected; particularly if he has been allowed to run about freely, or other dogs in the neighborhood have been similarly affected.

CARE—DIET----NURSING.

Absolute cleanliness, an unfailing supply of fresh air, a suitable temperature, plenty of fresh water, general comfort, and last, but not least, companionship, are needed by a sick dog. Locking a dog in a darkened room or stall, or an unaccustomed change, will work havoc with a sick dog. He wants to see his master, relies upon his companionship and turns to him as if to a God, with a sublime confidence in his master's ability to help him in his difficulty. A word of approbation is often worth more than drugs, and he will frequently eat and take nourishment simply to please his master.

Dogs have sensitive stomachs, and often refuse to eat as a result of indigestion. This is nature's method of working a cure in such cases.


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If the dog is down with some febrile disorder that is rapidly weakening him it is important that he take some nourishment, and, necessarily, it must be of the lightest and most sustaining character. Medical practitioners and trained nurses have brought the dietary of the sick room to a perfection that the canine practitioner can study with good results. There are a number of predigested foods easy of preparation, nourishing and sustaining. Milk, mutton broth, gelatine and raw eggs are valuable foods. Boiled rice is easy of digestion. Raw beef or mutton, minced or chopped fine, fed a few teaspoonfuls at a time, will act in many cases as a tonic to an exhausted stomach, and should be resorted to, as there is always danger of a disordered stomach rebelling against long-continued liquid food. A few teaspoonfuls of brandy or port wine will frequently cause the stomach to retain food that would otherwise be rejected. It is best given in the form of an eggnog and fed a few teaspoonfuls at a time.

A dog will eat small quantities of food offered from his master's hand, which he will refuse from a dish. Do not allow food to remain before him after he has declined to eat. Remove it at once and offer it at some future time.

DISTEMPER.

This most dreaded of all diseases of the dog generally develops in the first year of life at a period approaching maturity or is associated with the cutting of the permanent teeth. The disease has been compared to typhoid fever in man, but really resembles measles, as both are infectious infantile disorders transmitted through similar channels, and one attack successfully overcome renders immunity from a second. For a great many years distemper was thought to be the result of kenneling in damp, cold or poorly ventilated buildings, defective drainage, exposure, general neglect, improper or putrescent food, and other anti-hygienic conditions. This is a mistake, as distemper, like many other diseases, is due to a specific germ of remarkable vitality, and unless the germ is present distemper never exists. The unhygienic conditions previously mentioned simply favor its propagation and dissemination, as dogs living in an unhealthy atmosphere have low powers of resistance.

There are innumerable channels through which a dog may be infected with distemper. The germ is of remarkable vitality and is conveyed through the air or on a person's clothes, or a dog which has already had the disease can convey the germ to a well dog. The use of kennel, feeding dishes or shipping crates that have been used previously by an affected animal is a common mode of inoculation. Dog shows are active mediums for the spread of the disease and when portable benching is used it is highly important that it should be thoroughly cleansed and disinfected.

The germ of distemper attacks dogs in different ways, but the most familiar form is that in which the membranes of the eyes and nasal passages are affected, the principal symptom being a catarrhal discharge. Any attack of this kind is usually


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preceded by listlessness and lack of appetite. The patient avoids the light and courts solitude; all the symptoms of a common cold then manifest themselves, as sneezing and a dry, husky cough. Complications, however, frequently develop early in the disease and result in the death of the animal. The symptoms mentioned are those of the catarrhal form, and a great many people have an idea that this is the only form in which distemper appears, and that a dog does not have the disease unless there is a discharge from the nose. This is a mistake, for in seme cases the virus attacks the intestines alone and in others the liver or the bronchial tubes. The action of the virus that is least understood, and in which the symptoms are most commonly ascribed to some other cause, is when it is concentrated upon the brain and nervous system. In this form the animal dies from collapse or develops epileptic spasms and convulsions with other symptoms that are ascribed to worms, and accordingly the puppy is doped without avail, for in these cases death ensues in a few hours or the patient lingers along for a week, and a post-mortem reveals neither worms nor any other exciting cause, and from the absence of all catarrhal symptoms distemper is not suspected.

In the treatment of this disease most breeders and owners make the mistake of neglecting the premonitory symptoms and do not begin to treat or properly care for the patient until the disease is fully developed. As previously stated, the disease develops slowly. First the dog is off his feed, then the cough develops, and presuming that the dog is otherwise well and the cough will pass off in a day or two, the patient is allowed usually to occupy his usual quarters, sleep out of doors and exercise in all kinds of weather, or dismissed from the mind until the eyes show a suspicious stickiness or the nose discharges a purulent mucus. The owner always should be on the lookout for distemper, and when a dog, at the distemper age, which has never had the disease presents a suspicious symptom, should lose no time in placing him in good, warm, dry, comfortable quarters and keeping him there until he has entirely recovered. If the dog is an inmate of a kennel to keep him company give him as a kennel mate some dog which has had the disease. The prime factor in handling this and other diseases is good care and nursing. The patient's bedding must be changed frequently, discharges from the nose and eyes carefully sponged away, and the appetite catered to and highly nutritious and easily digested foods given, such as beef tea and mutton broth thickened with well boiled rice, oatmeal, bread or dog biscuit. The feeding and drinking dishes must be kept scrupulously clean, as dirty pans will nauseate a sick animal and destroy what little appetite it may have. Scraped raw beef is very nutritious and can be mixed with gelatin, and a dog will frequently eat this when it will refuse everything else. If the appetite fails completely a dog can be tempted sometimes to eat from a spoon, and in some cases it has been found advisable to force nourishment on the patient in the way of beef tea mixed with raw egg, and in cases of great weakness stimulants should be administered in the form of milk punches.

Treatment: The fact that this disease is due to a specific germ has been clearly established by careful scientific investigation, and fortunately science has discovered a specific that practically will cure all cases of distemper if properly


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administered and the patient is given good care and nursing. This remedy, Dent's Distemperine, has been tested so thoroughly and under such a diversity of conditions that the foremost veterinaries and breeders recognize it as a specific. Its discovery was the result of experiments conducted by veterinarians connected with the United States Department of Agriculture, and it was not offered to the public until after a great public test was conducted through the American Field and other papers, in which it cured ninetyeight per cent of the cases in which it was used. It is easily administered, no danger is connected with its use and there is no excuse for the loss of a valuable dog from distemper when a cure can be so easily effected.

There are a number of imitations of Dent's Distemperine on the market that are absolutely worthless, and should be avoided, so always insist upon your dealer supplying you with the genuine Dent's Distemperine, and in using it follow closely the directions accompanying each package.

A number of complications are liable to develop from or follow a case of distemper, but they all result from the germ of distemper, and Distemperine will successfully combat most of them. Vomiting can be prevented by carefully selecting those foods that the stomach digests most easily, but if the stomach refuses to retain even the most digestible of these give from two to four drops of Schell's strength of hydrocyanic acid combined with from two to eight grains of pepsin.

Diarrhea must not be checked unless it is very severe and the discharges are tinged with blood. In such cases give Dent's Diarrhoea Tablets and feed a gruel made of toasted wheat flour and milk. The tannate or sub-gallate of bismuth is useful in these cases in doses of from ten to forty grains, and one dose gives satisfactory results; if it does not, from five to ten grains of chalk with from five to twenty grains of ether or laudanum should be administered in a little milk or soup.

Epileptic fits and derangements of the nervous system are difficult to treat during the course of the disease. If they are caused by cutting the teeth, lance the gums; if due to worms the system is generally too debilitated to stand the drugs necessary to remove them. If, however, the convulsions are severe, frequent and exhausting, they can be relieved by giving Dent's Cure for Fits or the bromide of potash in doses of from five to twenty grains four or five times a day, either in a capsule or watery solution. If the excitement is extreme the bromide can be combined with from three to ten grains of chloral. The latter drug should be mixed with mucilage to prevent its irritating the throat.

In conclusion, the owner should be cautioned again against exposing the dog to the cold during the course of the disease or convalescence. In some cases, after a few days' treatment, a marked improvement will be observed in the patient's condition, and the caretaker, correspondingly elated and encouraged by a spring-like day, particularly if the weather has been damp and stormy, will admit the puppy to the kennel yard for a breath of fresh air. The puppy, after blinking in the sun and stretching, often will select some damp spot on which the sun strikes and


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curl up for a nap. A few moments' exposure under these conditions are sufficient to induce serious conditions, and the next morning all the symptoms are present or the labored breathing indicates a fatal congestion of the lungs.

WORMS.

Until a very recent period, worms were thought to be of a spontaneous origin, brought about by the influence of heat upon decaying vegetable matter, and it was and still is freely asserted that puppies are born with worms inherited from the mother in some mysterious manner while still in utero. This has been conclusively proven an error and in the minds of all scientists there is no question about worms springing from individual eggs and having a complete life history of their own.

The principal species with which dog owners have to contend are round worms and tapeworms. The first named commonly infest puppies and consequently are most dreaded by breeders. In shape and size these worms resemble common angleworms, but in color are lighter, being almost white or only a pale pink. In adult dogs these worms, when full grown, are from three to seven inches long; in puppies they are about half that length, and as thick as common white string. Round worms live in the small intestines, sometimes coiled in such masses as to obstruct the passage, and occasionally they wander into the stomach or are passed by the bowels.

It is easy to understand that when one dog in a kennel is infected with worms, millions of eggs will be passed with the feces. These are scattered all over the floors, bedding, feeding and drinking pans. They get on the dog's coat, are licked off and swallowed and in numbers of ways gain entrance to the digestive tracts of other dogs, where they soon hatch out and in ten days are fully developed. This rapid development accounts for the popular belief that puppies are born with worms, for breeders who have held post-mortems on puppies scarcely ten days old and have found in their stomachs fully developed round worms could account for their presence in no other way. They overlooked the fact that the prospective mother, confined in a kennel infested with worms, would get these eggs attached to her coat, belly and breasts, and the young, as soon as born, would take these eggs into their stomachs with the first mouthfuls of milk.

Symptoms: Worms are responsible for so much sickness and so many symptoms that it is practically impossible to mention all of them, but their presence can safely be suspected in all dogs which have not been recently treated for them, as well as in cases where the patient is run down, unthrifty and out of sorts.

Other symptoms are a hot, dry nose, weak, watery eyes, pale lips and gums, foul breath, mean hacking cough and a red, scurfy, pimply or irritated condition of the skin and harsh, dry, staring coat that is constantly being shed. Wormy dogs sometimes have a depraved appetite and will eat dirt and rubbish. Some days they are ravenously hungry—the next day they will not eat at all; their sleep is disturbed by dreams and intestinal rumbling, the urine is high colored and frequently passed,


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bowels irregular, stomach easily unsettled, watery mucus is frequently vomited and the mouth is hot. sticky and full of ropy saliva. Puppies which are full of worms bloat easily and are pot-bellied. After feeding their stomachs distend disproportionately to the amount of food consumed. Their bodies are also subject to scaly eruptions and their bowels to colicky pains; they do not grow as rapidly as healthy puppies should and instead of playing with each other they curl up and sleep hour after hour; they get thinner, weaker and more lifeless from day to day and if they do not waste away or die in fits and convulsions with frothing at the mouth and champing of the jaws, grow up coarse-jointed, rickety and misshapen. Puppies with worms are also liable to paralysis of their rear limbs and on removal of the worms the puppies regain control of the affected parts.

Prevention: The prevention of worms is a subject of importance to every breeder. There should be a continuous fight kept up against fleas and dirt. Use Dent's Germicide or some other good disinfectant freely, dash buckets of boiling water over the floors and walls and whitewash the kennels frequently. Change the bedding twice a week and burn all old straw, litter and dirt.

Treat your puppies at two, four and six months old for worms. Treat all brood bitches for worms and give them a bath ten days before whelping, so as to cleanse their coats of any eggs that may be attached to breasts or coats. The mixing of a teaspoonful of powdered charcoal with a dog's food once a day will tend to keep the intestines clear of the mucus where the eggs find a most hospitable home.

Treatment: Many different drugs are recommended for the expulsion of worms, and some of the prescriptions handed down by the old school of horse doctors and dog men are more to be dreaded than the worms, as it is an unfortunate fact that about as many dogs are killed by medicine as by worms. Worm remedies or prescriptions containing areca-nut, santonine, calomel, turpentine and drugs of similar action should never be used. As an illustration, areca-nut is a violent irritant and is only a little less severe than powdered glass. Santonine is a dangerous poison that frequently causes fits and convulsions. Calomel acts on the liver and not on the worms; while turpentine severely irritates the kidneys. The safest and most effectual vermifuge for round worms is Dent's Vermifuge. It can be obtained from all reliable druggists in either liquid or capsule form and will be found as economical to use and more reliable than anything the druggist can prepare. The capsules are of soft, elastic gelatin, the dose is accurately regulated and they are easily administered.

TAPEWORMS.

As their name indicates, tapeworms are made up of flat joints, or sections, half an inch or less in length, that resemble pieces of white tape. These sections will sometimes be found scattered about the kennel in the feces or hanging from the anus of an affected dog. There are a number of species of tapeworms. The head


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of the tapeworm, which is the smallest part and is scarcely larger than a thread, has a blind or sucker mouth by which it attaches itself to the intestines and through which it draws its nourishment. The tapeworm does not lay eggs, as the round worm does, but reproduces itself by the segments that form the body. These segments are smallest at the head and as they recede gradually increase in size and are replaced by new segments, until finally they become full-grown or ripe. When this stage is reached they detach themselves from the body of the worm and are passed in the feces.

The symptoms which indicate tapeworms are in some cases similar to those of round worms, but often they are indefinite. Their presence, however, may be suspected in adult dogs with voracious appetites which remain unthrifty and out of sorts, or in dogs affected with chorea, partial paralysis or nervous affections, and those which are generally out of sorts. A dog presenting these symptoms, which has been treated for round worms without results or been given tonics without improvement in his condition, should be treated for tapeworms with Dent's Tapeworm Capsules. These are easily administered, very effective and much more convenient and safer to use than the old-fashioned tapeworm remedies, such as areca-nut, powdered glass, turpentine and oil of male fern that necessitates starving and physicing the dog.

It must be understood in treating for tapeworm that if the head is not removed it will soon grow another worm, and for this reason it is sometimes necessary to repeat the treatment.

CHOREA.

Chorea is the most distressing nervous complaint dog owners are familiar with. It is due to an involuntary nervous discharge of the motor cells controlling certain muscles. The essential pathology of these more or less constant muscular twitchings has baffled all scientific investigation.

The most satisfactory theory is that the brain cells controlling a certain muscle or set of muscles are so weakened by the poison of distemper or some other cause as to induce them to send out muscular impulses without natural mental impulse or will power.

There is a form of chorea, due to a disturbed nervous system, induced by blows or injuries or due to the presence of intestinal parasites which have deranged the digestive organs. This form of chorea is generally curable. The form which follows distemper is not so amenable to treatment.

The symptoms are so prominent and characteristic that there is no mistaking the disease, and the peculiar involuntary twitching of the muscles once seen is never forgotten. The entire body may be affected; generally it is only one set of muscles, those of the foreleg or of the neck and shoulders, in which case the head bobs up and down in a most helpless manner. Where the hindlegs are affected the dog will


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suddenly drop one of the limbs from the hip downward, as if there were an entire loss of strength and power. This is particularly noticeable if it attempts to jump on a chair or table, for after one or two attempts it falls on its side or in a heap, completely helpless.

The top of the head is often affected and twitches and throbs in a most peculiar manner, and the jerking is commonly observable about the muscles of the eyelids, lips and face. In severe cases of chorea the general health is affected, and the animal shows signs of suffering, probably due to anxiety and appreciation of its helplessness. In mild cases it does not affect the animal's general health and some field dogs have it all their lives without affecting their usefulness. The owner, however, is annoyed by the constant muscular movements and is always anxious to effect a cure. Some cases are quiet during sleep, others are worse.

Treatment.—The disease occurs in the best regulated kennels, but dogs properly treated for distemper with Dent's Distemperine are less liable to the disease than those which are doped with old-fashioned remedies.

In a case of chorea the first thing to do is to look after the animal's general health. See that the bowels act promptly, and this is accomplished best by dieting and the feeding of foods possessing laxative properties and not by resorting to physics. If there is the slightest suspicion of worms, treat for them, as they torment the nervous system beyond all measure and are the cause of many attacks.

If there is a tendency to constipation use well-boiled oatmeal, mutton broths with stale bread, beef, well boiled, or raw lean beef, chopped. Give Dent's Pepsinated Condition Pills after each meal to assist the stomach in the process of digestion. If there is much debility and weakness give emulsion of codliver oil in doses of from one teaspoonful to two or three teaspoonfuls three times a day.

This disease is so slow in yielding to medicine that many valuable dogs are given up as incurable which could be cured if their owners only would persist in the treatment and not be discouraged too easily. For the great majority of cases Dent's Chorea Remedy is the most successful treatment that can be recommended. It is easily administered and adapted to dogs of all ages and sizes and has cured many apparently hopeless cases. Of course, if administered at the first appearance of the disease, the chances for recovery are much greater than in old or neglected cases.

COUGHS.

In themselves, coughs, no matter of what character, are not a disease, but simply an evidence of some other derangement of the system. To decide what particular disease is indicated by the cough is, in some cases, very difficult, for in many cases annoying coughs are the only symptoms that animals otherwise in the best of health present. It is quite important that all coughs be given attention, for the


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first symptom of many dangerous diseases is a simple cough that, if treated in time, might prevent a serious illness.

Causes.—Most coughs are associated with some derangement of the respiratory organs and air passages. They may be produced, however, by a small bone or other hard substance sticking in the throat. Worms are responsible for some coughs through reflex actions, as well as by inducing accumulations of mucus.

Symptoms.—Coughs vary in character, as do the diseases of which, in many cases, they are the most prominent symptom. The cough of distemper has a peculiar husky, hollow sound. It loosens as the secretions of mucus become abundant and the huskiness disappears. It is sometimes accompanied by sniffling, retching and vomiting. In the case of common colds the cough is slight and generally soft and moist. In laryngitis or sore throat the cough is hoarse, brassy, and can be induced by slightly choking the upper part of the throat. It is accompanied by more or less pain in swallowing and in some cases difficulty in breathing. In cases of acute bronchitis the cough at first is short, dry and dull. It soon becomes easier and looser and can be excited by pressure on the chest. In chronic bronchitis the cough is hacking and persistent and continues week after week without change in character severity. In pneumonia the cough is at first short, dry and intermittent. Later it becomes more frequent and the matter brought up is of a reddish tint like iron rust. This is considered diagnostic of the disease. In pleurisy the cough is short, dry, hacking and very painful. In asthma the cough is wheezy, the breathing jerky and the entire appearance is that of suffocation.

Treatment.—All coughs do not yield to the same treatment. Most of the chronic coughs following colds, distemper, pneumonia and bronchitis can be cured by Dent's Distemperine. Dogs afflicted with hacking, gagging stomach coughs should first be treated for worms with Dent's Vermifuge and then have their systems toned up by a course of treatment with Dent's Pepsinated Condition Pills.

DISEASES OF THE EYE.

Some affections of the eye arise from debility, others are due to injuries. Ingrowing lashes or the presence of irritating bodies are common causes.

Symptoms.—Increased sensitiveness to the light; dimness of the eyeball; an excessive flow of tears from the eyes, running down over the cheeks; from the corner of the eye a discharge which thickens and becomes purulent, gluing together the swollen lids. Sometimes at the roots of the hair at the edge of the lids there appear small pustules; these break and discharge matter that dries into crusts, matting the hair, gluing the lids together and destroying the lashes.

Treatment.—Do not expose the animal unnecessarily to the light; bathe the eye every hour with warm water to which Dent's Germicide has been added, one-half teaspoonful to the pint of water; soften and remove all accumulations of the discharge by inserting a small wedge-shaped piece of sponge between the lids.


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Restrict the diet, give Dent's Blood Purifying Pills three times a day, and use Dent's Eye Lotion several times a day until all inflammation subsides, and the eye becomes clear and bright.

GOITER.

Bronchocele and Goiter are terms applied to enlargements of the thyroid glands that are located in the neck on each side of the windpipe about half way down to the chest. The cause of these enlargements is not known; some appear overnight, others are slower about developing. Generally they are free from redness or pain and to the touch are soft and elastic. Occasionally they are very hot and painful and increase in size so rapidly as to interfere with breathing and the patient dies from suffocation. This affection is very common among puppies and is not unusual among old dogs. They are unsightly affairs, dangerous in some cases, and should be removed.

Treatment.—Dent's Goiter Cure consists of both internal and external treatment, is easily applied and will practically cure all of the cases on which it is used.

INDIGESTION.

Dogs have powerful organs of digestion, but the heavy task they put upon them in the way of gorging upon all kinds of food, the recklessness they show in swallowing stones, coal, dust and bones, and the carelessness of owners in feeding frequently result in a loss of tone and power of the dog's stomach, and render it unable to perform its important function in the process of digestion, and the food eaten, instead of being made fit for the nourishment of the body, acts as a heavy load and irritant to the stomach and produces characteristic symptoms, as well as disorders and diseases of the bowels, such as diarrhea or constipation.

Symptoms.—The appetite is irregular, wholesome food is refused or eaten mincingly and slobbered about, and a preference is shown for garbage and indigestible matter. There is generally considerable thirst, and the food taken into the stomach is frequently vomited in a more or less altered condition and mixed with slime and mucus. If it remains in the stomach it ferments and generates gas, which distends the abdomen and causes pain and uneasiness. The breath is foul and offensive, the gums inflamed, the tongue coated and the bowels deranged. The animal is dull, listless and generally out of sorts.

Treatment.—Carefully regulating the diet and attention to sanitary conditions will effect a cure in ordinary attacks. If there is much pain and systemic disturbance, remedies must be administered. If the stomach is full and there is gaseous distension, vomiting can be induced by giving two teaspoonfuls of the wine of ipecac as a first dose, and a teaspoonful every ten minutes thereafter until the stomach is emptied. On the contrary, if severe vomiting exists, ten or fifteen grains of the subnitrate of bismuth may be given to settle the stomach. If there is a state


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of constipation or diarrhea the remedies that are recommended for such conditions should be administered. The patient should be fed an easily digested diet, such as raw lean beef chopped fine, gelatine, meat soups and stale whole wheat bread, boiled rice and fresh milk, and be given one of Dent's Pepsinated Condition Pills three times a day, as they assist in the digestion of foods and stimulate and tone up the organs of digestion.

CONSTIPATION.

Constipation is an ailment common to all dogs and is due generally either to neglect or ignorance upon the part of the owner. Regular exercise and discrimination in feeding will keep any dog's bowels in good condition, and thereby determine the condition of the animal, for biliousness, disorders of the liver and kidneys and the attendant conditions of foul breath, loss of appetite, languor, rough coat and general unthriftiness are frequently due to the fact that there has been absorbed into the system certain poisonous products thrown off by the refuse matter that has for several days been lodged in the large intestine.

Causes.—The fecal matter in the intestines becomes hard, dry and lumpy, unless there is an unfailing supply of water for drinking purposes. Confinement in restricted quarters or chaining brings about a state of the nervous system that manifests itself by costiveness. If proper opportunity is not given dogs to relieve themselves fecal matter accumulates in the lower bowels and brings about paralysis of that part. A concentrated diet, like one of all meat, has not sufficient residue to properly stimulate the bowels. Wheat flour is constipating. Graham flour, oat and corn meal are not, but on account of the excessive residue will, if continued too long, overtax the bowels. Vegetables, such as cabbages, greens and onions, have a laxative action on the bowels on account of certain medicinal elements, as well as the large amount of water they contain.

Symptoms.—Continued straining and the passage of hard, dry, lumpy matter, congested eyes, loss of appetite, coated tongue, offensive breath and a listless, out-of-sorts appearance. As the feces get pressed into the lower bowels in a compact mass, colicky pains occur and the belly becomes hard and distended.

Treatment.—The first thing to do is to unload the bowels, not by strong purgatives that will only complicate matters, but by an injection either of soapsuds or a teaspoonful of glycerine. A dose of olive oil should then be given to clear out and lubricate the intestines. After this, if the patient is fat, overfed and his trouble due largely to a lack of exercise, Dent's Laxative Pills may be given, the dose being from one-half pill for a small dog to three for a large one, at night.

In all cases the cure must be looked for through a change in the diet and system of management. See that your dog's supply of fresh water is unfailing and that he is exercised daily. If he has been fed largely on meat and wheat bread, feed with the meat a quantity of freshly chopped cabbage, spinach, dandelions or beet tops. Substitute oatmeal, cornmeal or graham bread for the wheat flour. By a variation


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of these different foods and giving a course of treatment with Dent's Pepsinated Condition Pills, that will tone up the dog's system, his habits will become regular and his general health and appearance improved.

DIARRHEA.

This disease, of common occurrence among young puppies and old, overfed dogs, refers to abnormal changes in the character and frequency of the passages of the bowels. In this disorder, the membranes of the bowels are not diseased, but simply pass off matter that irritates them. When the bowels themselves become inflamed and ulcerated the disorder is known as dysentery, and it is obvious that a simple attack of diarrhea, if not properly attended to, is liable to run into the much more serious case of dysentery.

Causes.—Errors in diet and indigestion are the common causes. The eating of decayed and irritating food, often brought about by leaving stale food over from one meal to another, foul water and injuries caused by blows or kicks will bring on this disorder. The retained excretions of constipation also throw off poisons that will unduly stimulate the bowels. A severe chilling and cold that forces the blood to the intestines will also set up diarrhea. Worms are a common cause, and among puppies changes in the milk of the nursing mother or the abrupt change to cow's milk are frequent causes. Diarrhea is also brought on by the injudicious use of salts, calomel and other drugs.

Symptoms.—These are of course e/ident and indicate the severity of the attack by their character and frequency. In an acute attack, vomiting of offensive matter accompanies the loose, watery discharge from the bowels. Blood is sometimes present as a result of piles or a congestion of the membranes, as well as small amounts of mucus. In a simple attack of diarrhea, the general health suffers but little, but if not checked, the weakness becomes excessive, and among puppies the mortality is high.

Treatment.—As the disease is simply nature's effort to throw off irritating matter, it should be assisted by giving a dose of olive oil that will empty the intestines. The diet should then be attended to. Feed milk, three parts, mixed with lime water, one part, and a milk porridge made by browning wheat flour and then mixing it with milk. Raw eggs are nourishing and soothing. They can be given alone or mixed with beef broth. Bismuth, in doses of from ten to thirty grains, three or four times a day, is sometimes useful, but generally all that will be necessary to do is to attend to the diet as previously described and give Dent's Diarrhea Pills, as they have a soothing action on the intestines and will check the discharge and regulate the bowels. Where worms are the cause, and their presence is always to be suspected, particularly if the nature of the discharge is variable, sometimes lumpy and covered by mucus, froth and small air bubbles, their expulsion must be accomplished by suitable vermifuges.


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Diarrhea in young puppies can generally be cured by changing the diet. Feed less milk, and for it substitute beef tea or wheat bread soaked in blood gravy. If there is much pain, give five or ten drops of paregoric. Precipitated chalk, in doses of one-fourth teaspoonful for small puppies and one-half teaspoonful for puppies of two months and over, is a harmless and useful remedy in these cases, and the dose may be repeated every two or three hours.

MANGE.

This disease, like itch in man, is due to the presence of a small insect which burrows or tunnels through the skin in all directions and draws its nourishment from it. In the canals formed, the female deposits her eggs, which hatch out in about two weeks. The young then continue the burrowing operations of their parents, occasioning the most intolerable itching. Mange is a local affection, but the uneasiness and loss of sleep caused the animal by the continued scratching and biting, in its efforts to allay the pain and itching, have a very debilitating effect upon the system and transform the healthy, sleek-coated pet into one of the most loathsome and pitiful of objects in a comparatively short time. The disease generally makes its appearance first at the elbows, under the forelegs, on the chest, forehead, base of the ears, or root of the tail, and then spreads all over the body.

Causes.—This affection, the commonest of all skin diseases, is invariably the result of contact with a dog or some other animal similarly affected, or is contracted by occupying the yard, kennel or shipping crate of an animal so affected.

Treatment.—In the treatment of mange and all other skin diseases, absolute cleanliness must be insisted upon. Upon a dog showing signs of having this affection, it should be immediately removed from its quarters, the bedding burned, and the entire kennel washed and disinfected with a solution of Dent's Germicide. The dog's entire body should then be washed in lukewarm water, to which Dent's Germicide has been added in the proportion of two tablespoonfuls to the quart of water, using Dent's Shampoo to soften and break up all scabs and scales. Apply Dent's Mange Cure to all affected parts, and in bad cases all over the body. Repeat the application every day for four or five days, then wash clean with lukewarm water and Dent's Germicide, as previously described. Repeat the application for another week or ten days, and again wash, and the skin will be in a healthy condition.

Dent's Blood Purifying and Cooling Pills should be given three times a day, so as to thoroughly cleanse the system. If the patient is a small house pet, Dent's Skin Cure can be used instead of the mange cure, as it is especially prepared for such cases, being colorless, odorless, and does not stain. It is very soothing to the skin, stimulates the growth of the hair and is in every way a desirable and satisfactory cure.


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ECZEMA.

Similar in appearance to mange, but different in its origin, this disease is due to an impure condition of the system, and not to a burrowing parasite.

Causes.—Lack of exercise; dirty, damp kennels; a too-heating diet; fleas, lice and local irritation; indigestion and neglect.

Symptoms.—The belly, elbows, inside of thighs and back of the forelegs are the parts first affected; the hair sacks or follicles are principally the seat of the disease. These become inflamed, and when the animal affected is white the hair at the roots has a reddish, rusty look.

If prompt means are not taken to check the disease, the inflammation runs on rapidly, the entire skin and subcutaneous tissue are involved and the hair drops out from the affected follicles; purulent matter now exudes and pustules form, that break open, and the matter from them runs together and forms scabs, that crack open and bleed, and the animal becomes an exceedingly pitiful and loathsome object, and emits a very disagreeable odor.

This disease, while it is not nearly so contagious as sarcoptic mange, is unfortunately more difficult to cure.

Treatment.—To insure a radical cure of this disease, internal treatment is of fully as much consequence as external applications, and in obstinate cases both must be persevered in for some time. To cleanse the system and purify the blood, Dent's Blood Purifying Pills should be given three times a day, the skin carefully washed, and the Mange or Skin Cure applied as in mange.

FITS.

Fits and convulsions are of commoner occurrence in dogs than in other domestic animals because the nervous organization of the dog is more highly developed and in every way more sensitive.

Causes.—These are various, such as excitement, worms, teething, exhaustion, overheating, indigestion and epilepsy.

Symptoms.—Fits, as a rule, come on suddenly; a slight quivering of the muscles of the face, an anxious look around, a few staggering steps, and the animal falls upon its side and loses consciousness ; the face becomes distorted; the limbs work violently, and there is a continual champing of the jaws as well as a frothy mucus coming from the mouth, and the head, limbs and body jerk violently; the convulsions gradually become less and less, though sometimes the animal comes out of them suddenly and appears dazed and scared, and will then attempt to hide in some out-of-the-way place. Fits usually last from five to fifteen minutes, sometimes following each other until death brings relief.


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Treatment.—During the convulsions, the body should be kept warm and the head cold—by applying ice to it or bathing it in cold water. Give Dent's Cure for Fits, which will relieve the patient, after which the cause should be sought and removed. If from worms, use Dent's Vermifuge ; if due to teething, remove the milk teeth, when loose, and lance the gums where the second teeth are attempting to force their way through; if the result of indigestion or a weak stomach, apply the remedies suggested for the cure of indigestion.

WARTS.

The condition of the system that gives rise to warts is not well understood, and they appear upon the healthiest dogs quite as readily as upon those which are debilitated or unthrifty. The lips, gums, tongue and entire mucous membrane of the mouth are frequently affected. Their appearance is objectionable and it is advisable to remove them.

A few scattering warts can be clipped off with a pair of sharp, curved surgeon's scissors, and the stumps touched with nitrate of silver to check the bleeding.

Touching with a hot iron is one of the safest and surest methods of removing warts, and the pain occasioned by this operation is not severe.

When there are a large number of warts and the mucous membrane is covered with them, or they appear in large bunches, they are not so easily disposed of. Too many of them must not be removed 'at any one time, no matter by what means, or severe inflammation will be set up, that may be extremely difficult to control. Therefore in these cases clip off only a few at a time and then sponge the mouth with a solution of Den't Germicide one part to water one hundred parts.

Large warts may be removed by ligating them with a silk cord or catgut close to the skin.

The perverted state of the skin which gives rise to warts can generally be corrected by using Dent's Blood Purifying and Cooling Pills, and it is advisable to give all warty dogs a course of treatment with them, so that there will not be a recurrence of the excrescences.

CANKER OF THE EAR.

The ear is the most complicated structure in the body and subject to a variety of disorders, the largest number of which are generally considered under the one head of canker—a most painful disease that if neglected will result in deafness.

Water dogs are most frequently affected, not only by water gaining entrance to the ear, but by the shocks to the system following the exposure they undergo, bringing on an unsettled condition of the digestive system, skin and blood.


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Thorns, injuries, pulling the dog's ears, accumulation of wax and foreign substances entering the ear are also responsible to a degree for these ailments. Attention to the dog's general health and condition, judicious selection of food and the treatment of all intestinal disorders, with attention to all those details that will keep the blood pure and the stomach healthy, will be found the real secret for the prevention as well as cure of affections of the ear.

There is also a condition of the ear confounded with canker in which the edges of the ear become hot, dry and scaly and the roots of the hair are covered with a whitish scurf. The dog is continually shaking his head or scratching at his ears to relieve the irritation. These cases should be treated for what they are, that is, a form of eczema, and the scurf is the eggs of lice. The ears should be washed carefully with Dent's Dog Soap and soaked in warm water until all scurf and scales are removed, then carefully dried and Dent's Mange Cure applied to the affected parts.

In another class of cases, as a result of injuries or inflammation, the entire flap of the ear becomes greatly swollen, very feverish and tender and a quantity of fluid forms between the cartilage and the skin of the ear. These cases are difficult to treat. The swellings are lanced easily and the fluid drawn off, but the ear fills up again in the course of a few hours. The best treatment is to insert on the inside of the flap a section of tape, from above downward, which will keep the wound open until the discharge ceases, when it can be withdrawn and the openings treated by dusting iodoform over them twice a day.

When the membrane lining the external passage of the ear is inflamed and otherwise affected we have external canker of the ear. At first there is a redness and slight swelling, which is seldom noticed, or no importance is attached to it. The dog will shake his head and show uneasiness. This is followed by ulceration and suppuration, a black, offensive discharge develops, which may extend both ways. Sometimes it runs back into the head and involves the eardrum and the small bones of the ear, producing internal canker, but more often it runs outward and involves the outer passages, and we have external canker. The ear will be found red and swollen, the exudation dries and forms scabs, pus is generally present and there are numbers of bright red spots on the inside of the flaps and along the ear passage. The dog holds his head un one side and shakes it violently as though to get something out of it, and will slide along the floor on his ear or dig at it with his paw. The flaps of the ear become bruised and ulcerated and the tips become cracked and split and are very sore.

Treatment.—The general health should be attended to first. If the disease is chronic, but the animal's digestion is good, cod-liver oil emulsion four times a day is useful. If the system is deranged and the blood is out of order, and in most cases it is, it is highly important that the system be thoroughly cleansed and the blood cooled and purified by giving Dent's Blood Purifying Pills three times a day. If the dog is troubled with worms, take measures to secure their expulsion.


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Cleanliness of the parts is, of course, important, but too much washing and neglecting to dry the ear properly will retard healing. The ear should be washed carefully with lukewarm water and Castile soap, and, if necessary, use a small syringe to soften and remove all hardened wax. After washing, dry the ear carefully and do not wash again until it is necessary to do so from an accumulation of wax or purulent discharges. It must be borne in mind that too much washing at this stage is very harmful. The ear should be carefully dried with soft cotton, and Dent's Canker Lotion injected into the ear passage three times a day.

If the outer passages and flap of the ear are affected apply Dent's Skin Cure twice a day.

In treating canker of the ear have an assistant take the dog between his knees and turn the head to one side, so that Dent's Canker Lotion can be carefully and slowly injected into the ear.

POISONS.

The first thing to be done to save a poisoned animal's life, is to empty the stomach by giving, if possible, one-eight grain of Apomorphia to a small dog, and one-quarter grain to a large dog; or, if a hypodermic syringe is available, inject under the skin from three to eight minims of a one-to fifty solution of Apomorphia, Wine of Ipecac is a very good emetic; a teaspoonful should be given every ten minutes, until the animal vomits; or drench the dog with lukewarm water containing from ten to sixty grains of Sulphate of Zinc, or three grains of Tartar Emetic; after these act give milk and eggs, flour and water, starch and milk.

Arsenical Poisoning:

There is excessive thirst, vomiting, and a discharge of frothy saliva; the belly is hot, tender and swollen; breathing labored and painful; the animal will not move and looses muscular control.

Treatment: Give an emetic followed bv Hydrated Sesquioxide of Iron, a tablespoonful every half hour.

Strychnine Poisoning:

The animal's head, limbs, and various sets of muscles twitch and jerk convulsively; the back is arched; eyes rolled in the head; the legs drawn together, and the animal utters sharp cries of distress, and sometimes foams at the mouth.

Treatment: Give an emetic, preferably of Apomorphia, and as soon as this acts, give large quantities of butter, fat, or olive oil, and two-grain doses of Chloral Hydrate every fifteen or twenty minutes, until fifty or sixty grains have been given.


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Kennel Management

If possible to avoid it, a puppy or aged dog should never be kept chained; such manner of restraining a dog is a source of constant worry and irritation. It sours a dog's temper and, if he is at all vicious, his bad temper is made worse. Young dogs frequently grow out at the elbows and out of shape generally, from standing habitually in strained attitudes, if kept chained. It is much better to enclose the space allowed him, even if it is small, and give him the freedom of his limbs.

Any building that is dry, sweet, clean and free from draughts will serve admirably for a kennel house, if the dogs have ample grounds to exercise in. In the city, where a large number of dogs are confined in a small space sometimes, a cement floor is necessary to prevent the absorption of urine. A board floor is very objectionable. It is better to have none if a cement floor cannot be afforded. Benches about two feet wide, with a board nailed to the outer edge to hold the bedding in place, can be fastened to the wall for sleeping accommodations. Ample opportunity to exercise is of the first importance, and to this end a yard should be enclosed, even if it is a small one. A fence about seven feet high, made of slats nailed on perpendicularly with inch spaces between them and a twelve inch board nailed along the bottom, makes a good fence. The framework is placed on the outside to prevent giving any foothold in jumping or climbing, and it is also an advantage if the fence inclines slightly inward. This kind of fence affords light and ventilation if the yard is small, and is sufficient to prevent any average dog from escaping. If the dogs attempt to dig under the fence, boards placed on the ground in single width twelve inches from the fence and secured with stakes will generally discourage the digging. Stakes driven firmly into a hole where the dogs have dug, then filled with dirt, will prevent them from renewing their efforts. If a dog jumps a fence which is not quite high enough to restrain him, a single barbed fence wire, drawn tightly on the inside parallel with the fence about eighteen inches from the ground and the same distance from the fence, will balk his attempts. It forces him to stand close to the fence or too far from it to make a successful jump, if he dares to attempt it.

When a large number of dogs are kept together, a large yard is indispensable to good health and development. The most precise hygienic precautions are necessary to maintain healthfulness. If a stream of water runs through the grounds or can be provided, it is a valuable accession to the dog's health and comfort.

Whitewashing the kennels inside and out, two or three times in summer, adds to the sanitary advantages and keeps down vermin. A small portion of carbolic acid, mixed with the whitewash, is beneficial. Keep the kennel clean, sweet and free from vermin. Change the bedding once a week at least, and oftener in damp or rainy weather. Sound, clean straw makes a good bedding, but as it affords good harbor for fleas, it is objectionable for summer use. In warm weather, a piece of carpet placed on the dog's bench is a good, cool, comfortable bed.


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Persian insect powder worked into the coat will kill fleas. The dog is placed on a large newspaper while being sprinkled, and after the fleas drop off, on it, they can be burnt. Many will recover if this precaution is neglected.

There is comparatively little trouble to keep a few dogs healthy if the kennels are cleaned regularly every day, and due cleanliness observed in feeding and watering. If they are neglected, mange and other diseases are. induced and fleas multiply. These pests multiply rapidly in the South, and constant attention is necessary to keep them within limits. If neglected, they become unendurable; they will jump on any moving object; a walk in the kennel yard is sufficient to get a number on one's clothing and in this manner they are carried into the house, where they multiply again; thus they become interesting.

If large numbers of dogs are kept together, particularly in towns or cities, it seems to be an impossibility to keep them in good health, even with the greatest care. Epidemics will break out without any apparent cause, puppies will grow up sickly or misshapen, and there will be a general appearance of unthriftiness.

These remarks are more for the purpose of giving information as to management than the construction of kennels. To the average dog owner, any spare outbuilding usually serves as a kennel. To the sportsman who desires a kennel built in elaborate style, the services of an architect are necessary.

A noisy kennel of dogs is an intolerable annoyance, particularly in a town or city. Neighbors justly complain about the disturbing noises. The fault is easily corrected. Every time there is a chorus of barking or howling, apply the whip freely, at the same time repeat the order, Hush. The owner can soon distinguish each dog by the tone of his voice, and if any particular one keeps up the barking, apply the punishment to him. They will soon learn to understand the order, and will keep quiet.

FEEDING.

Table scraps make an excellent dog food if not too highly seasoned. Buttermilk or clabbered milk makes a valuable addition to the regular food, whether given regularly or occasionally.

When two or more dogs are kept together, the table scraps may be insufficient in quantity for their needs, hence it is necessary to specially prepare food for them. Most cooks think that any unsound material, ill-prepared, is good enough for a dog, and these mistaken ideas are frequently the source of great vexation, particularly when on a hunting trip in a strange place. For food, none other than sound meat and vegetables should be used, and they should be as cleanly and thoroughly cooked as if for the owner's own table. Beef, mutton, or tripe, boiled with cabbage, scraps of bread, or stale wheat bread, loaves of which can be bought cheaply in the cities and a small proportion of onions, turnips or other vegetables, all seasoned with a little salt, make an excellent item. The onions can


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be fed occasionally in small quantities and are said to possess some vermifugal properties. Sheepheads are cheap and nutritious, and are much relished by dogs. To prepare them, split them lengthwise into quarters and boil until the flesh can be easily removed from the bones. Corn bread or thoroughly cooked mush may be mixed with the meat and broth. The soft bones and cartilage of the heads can be given them occasionally to satisfy their craving for bones. Corn bread or mush should be thoroughly cooked and if the meal is old, it is a very good article of food if fed with a proper proportion of meat.

Some of the patent prepared foods have a great deal of merit. They are clean, compact, nutritious and very convenient for use in traveling, or when on a hunting trip where the necessary food cannot be obtained or prepared without great inconvenience. Spratt's Patent Dog Cakes are undoubtedly superior to all others for this purpose, and all dogs thrive well on them. Nicely prepared home dishes are good for regular food. Rice, liver, potatoes and turnips the author does not value much as an article of food. Raw meat is good occasionally, but it is better cooked. A dog will eat raw meat a few times, but will sooner or later reject it unless he is very hungry or is worked hard in the field. If a dog is not overfed, he will eat cooked meat regularly and thrive on it. Sour or hot food is wholly unfit for a dog. The feeding dishes should be kept sweet and clean by washing thoroughly after being used. Keep a plentiful supply of pure, good water in the kennel constantly.

It is a grave mistake to give a dog hard bones for any purpose. The dog will persistently gnaw them and all the wear is directly on the ends of the front teeth, and by frequent use on hard bones, they are worn down to a level with the gums. Sometimes the teeth are broken. Thus by the carelessness or mistaken kindness of an owner, the dog may suffer an irreparable injury by the loss of teeth. Soft bones, or ones that the dog can crush easily, such as the ribs and backbones of sheep, etc., are very efficacious in keeping the dog's teeth clean without injurious consequences.

The teeth, digestive organs and instincts of the dog denote that he is a carnivorous animal. Still, if raw meat is fed to him regularly, he soon tires of it, or prepares it in his own way by burying it a certain length of time. It is asserted by excellent authority that the dog buries meat simply because he is not hungry. If so, why does he bury it at all ? The author's experience has been contrary to this view. Dogs working at the hardest kind of work on the prairies, chicken shooting, would eat sparingly of raw meat or refuse it, if fed on it regularly, but would eat cooked meat ravenously, or would eat meat which they had buried. Neither the wild nor the domesticated dog select the firmest parts of their prey from choice. Parts of the viscera are selected first. Cattle which die in the fields, if devoured by dogs, are found to be eaten as above described. Probably burying the meat for awhile renders it more digestible, having a similar effect to that in keeping game for a length of time to bring out the game flavor, so much prized by epicures.

For working dogs, the author is no believer in the benefits of vegetable food. As a matter of economy it may be advisable; as a matter of correct feeding, it is not in


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place. The dog will never eat vegetables from choice although he will do so from necessity. If the meat and vegetables are imperfectly mixed, he picks out the meat first and if it is in sufficient quantity to satisfy his hunger, he will reject the rest. If he is fed on meat or a generous proportion of meat, he requires but a somparatively small proportion of food to keep in good condition; if fed on vegetables, he is forced to eat more and oftener to supply the demands of his system. While such feeding may not show such injurious effects when idle, when at work the consequences may be serious, as violent bowel diseases are likely to be induced.

When several dogs are fed together, it is necessary to watch them until they are done feeding if the owner cares to keep them in proper condition. Unless he does so, there will be fighting and bullying, the weak or timid ones will not get sufficient food, and the gluttonous ones will get too much ; in fact, will often eat far beyond their requirements out of pure jealousy. Timid dogs, by being bullied constantly in kennel, show the ill effects of it in field work. It is better to feed the timid or weak by themselves. Some dogs of good dispositions ordinarily are extremely ill-natured and quarrelsome when fed in company. A quarrelsome dog is easily broken of his vicious habit. Watch him closely when he is feeding and at his first growl give him a severe cut with the whip. If he should begin a fight, give him a sound thrashing and withhold his meal for that time. If this is persisted in, he will soon learn to eat as peaceably as the gentlest. No crowding or bullying should be tolerated. Force every dog to attend strictly to supplying his own needs without interfering with the others. A little care in the beginning will soon establish good behavior.

Puppies in training, and aged dogs at work, require a larger proportion of meat in their food than when idle. The former, not being matured, req'uire food twice a day, a light meal in the morning, a full one at night. One good meal at night is sufficient for mature dogs. The proper quantity can be easily determined—when the dog can eat no more, the quantity is sufficient. Let him eat all that he can.

The author believes that cooked meat alone is good enough for dogs at work, although there are sportsmen of sound judgment and extensive experience who differ from him. Still it seems strange that a carnivorous animal should be fed on vegetables and that a herbivorous animal should not be fed on meat—the question of economy is the sole reason.

In hard work, a dog will perform better on one good meal given at night than on two. At one time, the author believed that the dog ought to have two meals each day, morning and night respectively; and his dogs were fed accordingly. During two chicken seasons in the Northwest —in 1881 and 1882, his dogs, so fed, suffered from a severe and persistent diarrhea which was fatal in two instances, one each season. The prescriptions laid down in the books were unavailable in checking it, for the cause still remained. The trouble was ascribed to the change of water, the climate, etc. It was also conjectured that possibly some of the sloughs or streams might be impregnated with alkali, but not a suspicion was entertained that the feeding was wrong. It consisted of corn bread broken to pieces and mixed with the flesh and broth of old prairie chickens or beef boiled soft. The dogs were


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fond of it and ate heartily night and morning. The owner of some of the dogs, including the sick ones, was shooting with the author at that time, and one of his most valuable dogs died from diarrhea, notwithstanding the greatest care and best medical treatment were given. Nearly all the remaining dogs were more or less affected and unfit for work, one belonging to the owner aforementioned being in a critical condition. We left the chicken country sooner than was our intention, thinking that the section was unhealthy for the dogs. On the return trip South the owner of the sick dog and the author separated in Chicago, the home of the former. The sick dog was fed on a strictly meat diet in accordance with the advice of a veterinarian and soon recovered. The veterinarian gave it as his opinion that the whole trouble and loss was caused by overfeeding, which undoubtedly was correct. If a dog's stomach is loaded in the morning before being started to work, digestion ceases while he is working, thus he carries a mass of undigested food in his stomach for hours. There are dogs which exhibit no unpleasant results from it, however; with others it induces indigestion and an inflammatory state of the bowels which terminates in a violent diarrhea. Since then the author has been on the prairies of the Northwest and the hunting grounds of the South many times, and has not had a sick dog from a disease that could be attributed to feeding; but the dogs were fed but once a day.

In summer, when a dog is not working, a small proportion of meat in his food may be sufficient to keep him in good health. An effort should be made to give as much variety in a vegetable diet as possible, for dogs differ greatly in constitution; and their powers of assimilation when fed on vegetable food also differ, although the difference is not observable when they are fed on meat.

As for meat injuring a dog's nose, the idea is one that has no particular origin aside from fancy, and is cherished without reason. Occasionally an author does homage to the venerable delusion by repeating it as a fact; yet why it is so has never been explained. It is one of the strangest fallacies that the natural food of the dog should injure the organ of scent, and stranger still is this belief when there is absolutely no evidence to sustain it. It would be quite as reasonable to assert that eating grass would injure the eyesight of a horse. The dog's scenting powers aid him in finding his prey and thereby his animal wants for food are supplied; when he has fed to satiety, whether on meat or other food, his functional powers of scent are dulled for the time being; when the dog's stomach is full the keen powers of scent are not required, it being borne in mind that such powers are for the dog's benefit in gaining a food supply, and not to find birds specially for a gentleman to shoot at.

Aside from this phenomenon as observable in the dog, there are analogous ones peculiar to man. Nearly every person can remember instances of being able to keenly scent the odors of cooking dinners, sometimes at long distances, before dining, and the almost total absence of any perception of odors after dining. This applies to the sense of taste as well, a full stomach sensibly affecting it and diminishing its delicacy.


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The health of the dog is directly dependent on proper feeding, yet the owner's method is too frequently founded on sentiment instead of knowledge; for, taking himself as a standard, he measures the needs of the dog for food by his own, hence he feeds too often. Herbivorous animals need and consume large quantities of vegetable food, and require it often; the herbi-carnivorous require less food and less frequently; and the carnivorous require the least of all. It is unwise to permit a dog to accumulate fat. He is in the best health and condition when lean, active and hard; but this should not be confounded with poor, skinny and underfed. He can only be kept in proper condition by wholesome feeding, cleanly sleeping quarters, and plenty of exercise, the latter being indispensable. If so cared for, medicine will not be required except in rare instances, and then for diseases which could not be averted by care. The less medicine that is given, the better for the dog. Nine-tenths of the medicine given would be undoubtedly unnecessary if proper care were observed in feeding and in hygiene.

EXERCISING.

Exercising, properly given, is of the utmost importance in keeping the dog in good health and the highest degree of physical development, both during puppyhood and maturity. Being naturally a nervous, restless animal, he, when free to do so, is constantly in motion during his waking hours. When left to his own volition he takes ample exercise; so much, in fact, that he keeps excessively lean notwithstanding that he may be well fed.

Domestication, however, except in comparatively few instances, imposes many restraints which are hurtful to the dog's best health, and always are opposed to his best physical condition. In the cities, the dog from necessity is usually kept in confinement, often kept on a chain, and at best having but irregular and brief intervals for exercise at such times as the inclination or convenience of his master permits. Unlike many other domesticated animals, the dog soon becomes, in many ways, unpleasantly affected by confinement,—he accumulates fat rapidly, becomes soft in flesh, thick in wind, often suffers from indigestion and excessive nervousness, frets a great deal, and is incapable of prolonged exertion. Obesity being unnatural, he is predisposed to disease, and rarely lives to an ordinary old age if kept constantly under such artificial conditions.

A farm is the best place for raising a puppy if the care, food supply, etc., are ordinarily good. He then can have full liberty, and consequently takes plenty of exercise. Incidentally he picks up a great deal of useful knowledge and grows vigorously. Without opportunity the dog never becomes waywise. The city dog, from the artificial restraints to which he is subjected, besides being insufficiently exercised, has no opportunity to learn anything. If taken into the country, every living thing excites consternation or astonishment, or if an animal flees, it excites his desire to chase and kill. A cow or horse is a curiosity and source of apprehension, for he knows not whether it is wild or tame, dangerous or gentle; tame chickens about the yard are chased and killed, he having had no opportunity


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to learn what was tame or wild; all places and things are alike to him; he will run into the parlor, jump on the bed or chase sheep with equal impartiality, yet the sportsman may thoughtlessly wonder why his dog behaves so badly. He should consider that a dog cannot have a knowledge of anything if kept on a chain constantly. The stimulus of high spirits is so great that a dog learns very little if given his freedom at long intervals, all his time being devoted to expending the charge of superabundant vitality.

When exercising puppies in the fields, running them in packs should be always avoided. It is well known that objectionable habits formed in puppyhood often remain permanently fixed through life. The handler can be unconsciously developing traits and habits, which may be decidedly troublesome and hurtful at a later period when the puppy is in actual training. Amongst the faults which should be guarded against, none are more hurtful or more easily acquired than one dog or more following a leader while exercising. Some of the slower ones will invariably follow a self-confident, faster one; and from observing his success, what began as a matter of curiosity ends in a confirmed habit, one of the most pernicious. Every dog, to be of full value, must hunt independently,—no hunting in packs is admissible. Such puppies as do not range independently should be run alone. If the habit of constantly following another dog, eagerly watching and playing for an opportunity to back, is formed, it will assert itself in actual work, and is incurable. Such a dog is worthless when hunting with a companion, although he may work well alone. On the other hand, the puppy which, from timidity, deficient energy or poor judgment, does not range well, may be benefited by running with a good ranger to lead him out in his exercise runs, so that he may have an incentive to range from the success in finding rabbits, birds, etc.; yet it should not be continued longer than is necessary if he shows undue deference. Thus it will be observed that a great deal of good can be done, by judicious management in exercising, to shape the puppy's habits with a view to actual field work, and this without restraining his freedom in any manner. By regular exercise he naturally outgrows the exhilaration and excitement caused by the feeling of freedom, and learns the meaning of all the different objects he comes in contact with. At this stage, any undesirable acts, such as chasing chickens or sheep, can be easily corrected. He has no means of knowing whether sheep, chickens, rabbits or birds are property or otherwise, or that it is not right to hunt all of them. He simply learns by experience that certain animals are not to be hunted. At first he hunts all because it is his nature to hunt them, and not from any vicious motive. If he kills a chicken or sheep, whip him properly for it as a matter of correction ; and not as punishment for a crime. The chicken may be worth a few cents, and the sheep a few dollars. It is no great matter to pay for them if the young dog should do a little damage. Remember that it will probably give you more pleasure and value in his working years than the value of awhole flock of sheep, and all the reward he will expect is your table scraps, approbation, and a place to sleep. One error can be excused in view of a thousand services.

Let the puppies frolic as much as they please. The experience and physical development gained while chasing butterflies and frolicking with each other is


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beneficial and appropriate to their age. As in the child, the youthful carelessness, curiosity, and playfulness are not in nature purposeless. The unthinking condemn all these characteristics as frivolous whether in the child or puppy, yet without this natural desire, this curiosity to understand things, but a small part of the vast information which is necessary would ever be learned. It is folly for man to set his judgment against the laws of nature, for she makes no mistakes.

When a trait is observed to be uniformly present in a species, it is safe to assume that it has a useful purpose, even if that purpose is not subservient to the direct use of man. Let the puppy have his frolics without restraint. He will abandon them in due time as he matures and learns better objects of amusement. Remember that the toys of life are the realities of the present, whether it is the butterfly of the dog, the top of the boy, or the premier hammerless of the man.

Puppies which are highly nervous or excitable need restraining in their exercise, otherwise they may have fits or suffer from the effects of exhaustion in the act of exercising.

RAISING PUPPIES.

If puppies are weakly at birth, or if they have not inherited a good constitution, all expectations of superior stock may be abandoned. Weakly puppies will require constant care and attention, will be frequently ailing, and a large percentage will die, notwithstanding all the care exerted to save them. The care necessary to raising puppies must commence before their birth. If the sire and dam are in perfect health and vigor, the presumption is that the puppies will likewise be strong and healthy. No trouble will be experienced in raising healthy puppies if they have good food and a proper kennel. When puppies are naturally extremely difficult to raise, it is a sign that there is want of constitutional vigor in the ancestry, or faulty conditions of life. Puppies which are constitutionally sound and have a healthy dam require very simple treatment, namely, feed them properly, give good sleeping quarters and let them alone. Refrain from giving them medicine unnecessarily. Dosing for every imaginary or trifling ill does much more harm than good. More puppies die every year from the ignorant administration of medicines than from almost any other cause. Sometimes a dozen different kinds are given for an imaginary ailment by an owner who does not know anything about either disease or medicine. The healthiest dogs alive are the country dogs which receive no medicine from birth to death. Undoubtedly a few die from want of it, but many more are saved from not being subjected to ignorant treatment; but the country dog rarely requires medicines, for he rarely is sick.

When the puppies are three weeks old, or a few days less, begin to feed small quantities of cow's milk. They will eat but little at first, but after two or three attempts they will eat it greedily. To teach them to lap it, touch the tip of their noses to it, then let them lick off the milk which adheres. It is better to scald the milk. Raw milk affects many puppies and aged dogs unpleasantly. The quantity


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should be just sufficient to fill them comfortably; it can be increased gradually day by day, according to their requirements, until they are weaned, at which time they are accustomed to the change of food, and there is no unpleasant effect on their digestive organs. After weaning, keep them away from the dam. Sometimes she will wean them herself, and will not permit them to nurse afterward; but some dams are so devoted that they will let the puppies nurse long after it is necessary. The early feeding relieves the dam of an excessive drain on her system at a time when the wants of her puppies are importunate, difficult to satisfy, and when she is much reduced by maternal cares.

Just enough bedding should be given to insure comfort to the bitch and puppies, no more or less. If there is too much, there is always danger that the puppies may be smothered, particularly if the dam is young, or careless, or awkward, or if she repeatedly changes her position from solicitude for the comfort and care of her offspring. At times, in the first few days, she should be taken out and gently exercised if she will not leave her puppies of her own free will. Sound, dry straw, with the heads of grain or husks cut off, is good bedding. In summer a piece of carpet or bagging is ample. Sawdust is unfit for bedding for puppies while the bitch is suckling them. Puppies get it in their mouths while nursing, and the dam's teats, being often wet with milk, gather a great deal which adheres to them between times. Necessarily the puppies must swallow some of it, and undoubtedly it has ill effects. For puppies which hare been weaned, or aged dogs, it makes a very good bedding if used in a kennel free from dampness. Any wet places in it should be regularly removed. It retains wet a long time, and in this respect is inferior to straw.

Exercise the bitch during pregnancy, not enough to fatigue her much, but simply to keep her in good condition. Very little exercise will suffice during the last few days of pregnancy.

After the puppies are weaned, those which are constitutionally sound require only the simplest treatment, namely feed them well, give them plenty of room, and keep their kennel clean.

Shortly before or after weaning, mix a small proportion of solid food with the milk. Tender meat well cooked and cut into very small pieces and small pieces of bread mixed with it, makes a good food. Milk should be an important part of the diet for several weeks. The solid food can be slightly increased from day to day, and in a few weeks they may be fed the same food as aged dogs. A generous proportion of meat may be given during puppyhood without fear of ruining their scenting powers or inducing distemper. It is the natural food of the dog, therefore the best, yet it should be borne in mind that too much can be given as well as too little. Overfeeding and enforced idleness from confinement may produce indigestion and constipation. If the puppies have freedom, they will take all the exercise that they need.

A few puppies raised together will thrive nicely if healthy. But kennels which contain large numbers commonly have many delicate puppies if they are raised


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together. This is more particularly true of large kennels in the cities. No matter what care is exercised for their welfare they do not thrive well, and large numbers die of disease. It is much better to send pregnant bitches out to the country, one here and there, with friends who like dogs, and let the puppies reach the training age before taking them away. Many of the large kennels follow this plan.

Puppies which are constitutionally healthy may become rickety, stunted in growth, wormy and worthless by mismanagement and neglect. Damp, filthy kennels, improper food, poor water and close confinement will destroy the healthy growth and best development of any puppy.

If the owner desires to raise all the puppies, the ones above the number the bitch can suckle can be raised by a foster mother which can be arranged for some weeks previous to the birth of the puppies. The breed is immaterial. Bitches of mild temper can be easily induced to adopt strange puppies. But the better way is to remove all the puppies of the foster mother with some of their bedding and put the other puppies with them for several hours. If the puppies are brought to her together, there will not be sufficient difference in the scent to attract her attention, and the gratification of having the extra flow of milk drawn will soothe her. Or they may be raised on a bottle, but it is very troublesome, and the results are uncertain.

When four or five months old they can be accustomed to the report of light cartridges. Also they can be taught their names at a very early age. A name of one syllable, easily pronounced, is the most desirable for use in the field. Nothing is sillier than a long, stilty title for a field dog. It is a mistake to be continually frightening puppies or chasing them about with a whip for trifling misdemeanors when they are at liberty about the house. By running away, hiding and learning cunning ways of evading punishment, they are getting a thorough training in undesirable traits that will entail a great deal of unnecessary labor to correct when the field training begins, and sometimes this unconscious preliminary training in cunning tricks may last through life. While these undesirable traits are not intentionally cultivated as a training, they are nonetheless a training. While attempting one object, several other and undesirable ones are accomplished. For such puppies as are troublesome about the house, the owner will do well to provide a yard and exercise them regularly. Such is better than a liberty which educates them in cunning, evasion and distrustfulness.

BROOD BITCHES.

Bitches usually come in season in puppyhood, when it is extremely injurious to breed them. It is not advisable to breed them at a less age than eighteen months or two years old; if bred at an earlier age the constitution is permanently injured. Even when matured, a bitch ought not to breed more than alternate years if the owner desires to preserve her field qualities unimpaired. Frequent breeding is an enormous drain on the vitality of the strongest bitches, and unfavorably affects their powers. Their vigor, endurance, wide range and dashing speed are supplanted by listlessness and languid effort. A bitch, during some weeks


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succeeding the weaning of her puppies, is unfit for any prolonged fieldwork. These weeks are required for recuperation. This exhausted condition may not be so noticeable after the firs't litter if the bitch is strong, mature and healthy, but if bred often, it is certain to break down her constitution—she will be a wreck so far as field work is concerned at an age when she should be in her prime.

Hunting the bitch when she is heavy in whelp is unquestionably injurious if carried beyond what is needed for exercise. If hunted with a view to impress the pointing instinct on the progeny the breeder essays an unnecessary task. It would be quite as sensible to encourage the dam at the same period to lap milk so that the puppies would inherit the same quality; if the puppies under the circumstances should point well or lap milk, it might be as correct to assume that they would have done so without any antenatal attentions. The instincts are fixed in the breed for its own benefit; moreover, you do not care to have a puppy point when it is one or two or three months old. Such precocity is useless. To work a bitch when she is heavy in whelp is to invite injury from accidents possible from her awkwardness—instances have occurred where such work caused abortions—moreover, the work is then the severest of toils, and, if for no other reason than common kindness, hard work should be avoided. The fact that she will work when required is no reason that she ought to do so.

Bitches usually come in season about twice a year, the interval, however, varying a great deal with respect to different bitches, and not infrequently are irregular in the same individual. As a general rule, the intervals are from six to eight months. Only by noting the length of the interval between the periods of any particular individual can the future periods be timed with an approximate degree of certainty.

If it is not desired to breed the bitch, she must be securely housed when in season, to guard against the possible service of vagrant dogs. Too many precautions cannot be taken in this respect. For the same reason it is better to exercise her on a chain or in a securely enclosed yard. The period lasts about three weeks, the bitch accepting the dog about the tenth or twelfth day. If a pregnant bitch is fed and exercised properly, she requires no medicines at any time and rarely needs any assistance at whelping.

The best time of year to breed is February and March in the South; or if for the field trial competitions it is better to have them whelped immediately after January 1. If whelped during these months they can be trained during the following winter; furthermore, they have sufficient age the following year to compete in the puppy stakes of the different field trial associations under the most favorable circumstances of age and experience, the age limit being January 1 of the year prior to that in which the trials are run; thus a puppy can run as a puppy in two successive years. In the North the winters are too severe for early breeding, unless good kennels and artificial warmth are supplied. A temperature of from 500 to 650 Fahr. should be maintained. In any event, spring is better for raising puppies. They are much less troublesome, and have sufficient growth and vitality to resist the cold of the ensuing winter.


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A bitch should never be permitted to nurse over six or eight puppies; delicate bitches should raise less. It is much better to raise a small number well than to raise more and half feed them, for then they grow weakly and stunted, and sometimes never outgrow it. Often as many or more will reach maturity of the smaller number, from being better fed.

Bitches which are excessively fat often miss breeding when served, or if they do breed, the litter may be few in number, and weakly; in fact, any unnatural conditions are likely to produce injurious results. It is a fact well known to scientists, that the procreative powers of animals are severely affected by unnatural conditions, the carnivorous animals being the most susceptible to them. Many wild animals, when tamed, will not breed in confinement, and many that will breed freely under certain favorable conditions of domestication will show greatly impaired powers of reproduction under unfavorable circumstances. Such owners as keep their stock excessively fat, closely confined in foul kennels and poorly fed cannot hope to breed healthy progeny. In the generality of cases, the care of the puppies is considered as being of the first importance, yet taking care that they are whelped with strong constitutions is the first consideration. The astonishing vitality of cur puppies when apparently neglected, is due to the excellence of their constitutions inherited from healthy parents which were healthy simply from the natural condition of their lives.

BREEDING.

Of the many fallacies which cluster about every subject pertaining to the training, pathology and breeding of dogs, by far the greater number are associated with the latter. The fallacy and fiction are cherished and perpetuated with as much care as if they were the soundest of principles.

While theoretically, with respect to dogs, there is a science of breeding, practically it is empirical. This state of the "science" is due to natural causes and loose methods, namely:

(1) The first principles of reproduction and transmission of qualities and parental forms are wholly unknown.

(2) Of the multitude of breeders, so called, only a very small percentage of the number owns the necessary number of specimens to breed from, or have had any adequate experience.

(3) Every "breeder," save a few rare exceptions, has his own individual experience and ideas as the data for his "science," frequently the data being a miscellaneous lot of trashy literature from "breeders" of his own class, with his own individual whims added; consequently there are almost as many distinct theories as there are breeders.


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There are a few, a very few, good breeders of dogs in America, and it is hardly necessary to add these are men of very comprehensive experience, good judgment, and owners of large kennels.

The common qualifications for a breeder are very simple. First, he buys a dog with as good or as fashionable a pedigree as he can afford; next he buys one or two bitches with pedigrees, or vice versa. Forthwith he announces himself as a breeder of dogs, and his pretensions are duly recognized. There are thousands of such breeders, all differing more or less in their ideas from each other, all invoking the name of science, yet not one in one hundred could tell what constitutes the " science" of breeding. Often, with an experience that could be summed up in three lines, the amateur breeder has theories which could not be summed up in three volumes. While a man has an indubitable right to breed as he pleases, the results cannot be forecast with any certainty from a limited and variable succession of efforts—the only point at issue herein raised is that such is not scientific, as will be more fully shown hereinafter.-

It requires a long time for the theoretical knowledge of any special subject to become general, and then there are but few individuals who have the necessary tastes and peculiarities of mind to fit them as specialists. In the inceptive stages of any science, there is always a great deal of error mixed with fact.

The rapid multiplication of breeders is of recent origin. Breeding is conducted simplv as a business, in most instances with a view to get the largest returns in the shortest possible time; hence breeding setters and pointers, as now established, is, for a science, very irregular in its results with respect to type, working capabilities, functional powers, etc., a natural consequence to distinct individual effort and multitudinous theories. As a matter of fact, there are but a few simple principles in breeding that can be applied successfully by man, namely, by selecting the best specimens, those of good form, purity of blood, good constitution and working capabilities, generation after generation; the forms and capabilities can be thus improved by selection; but to accomplish this, the breeder must have devoted his time and attention to it through a term of years. Simply mating a dog and bitch on bloodlines alone as data is the commonest kind of breeding, and the results are purely speculative; yet such is the " science" most in vogue.

However, notwithstanding the generality of empirical breeding, progressive improvement is being made slowly and surely by a few kennels in the vast multitude. In time, the more general and progressive knowledge, and the tendency to larger and larger kennels, will be accompanied by a more critical observance of important elementary principles which are wholly ignored by the average breeder, under the loose methods which obtain at present. Not till the bulk of the breeding is centered in large kennels will general improvement be attained. Several minor contributory causes have helped to give general breeding an artificial impetus, namely, the increased and constantly increasing financial value of the dog, the rapid multiplication of sportsmen coincident with improvements in firearms, a


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liberal sporting press, and a more general knowledge of game resorts, the implicit faith of sportsmen at large in the value of pedigree alone without attaching sufficient importance to other equally essential properties—these have developed a large class of small breeders whose efforts are chiefly directed to breeding catchy pedigrees regardless of the grade of the dog they relate to, provided that they can successfully meet the wants of the market. So long as there is a public demand for a certain thing, whether it is wholly or partially a humbug, just so certain will there be a supply; and until sportsmen are more exacting in their requirements, there is but little hope that the present means of supplying them will undergo much change.

To show the importance which a real scientist attached tothe science of breeding, the following extract from the chapter on Variation under Domestication, in the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin, the eminent naturalist, is pertinent to the case. The learned author says: " If selection consisted merely in separating some very distinct variety and breeding from it, the principle would be so obvious as hardly to be worth notice; but its importance consists in the great effect produced by the accumulation, in one direction, during successive generations, of differences absolutely inappreciable by an uneducated eye—dilferences which I, for one, have vainly attempted to appreciate. Not one man in a thousand has accuracy of eye and judgment sufficient to become an eminent breeder. If gifted with these qualities, and he studies his subject for years and devotes his lifetime to it with indomitable perseverance, he will succeed, and may make great improvements; if he wants any of these qualities, he will assuredly fail. Few would readily believe in the natural capacity and years of practice requisite to become a skillful pigeon fancier." Taking any one of these qualities singly as a standard, how many of the small breeders would qualify?

Assuming that a man has the judgment and experience, it is necessary that he should have a large number of animals to select from if he makes progressive, or approximately uniform, improvement. The following, from the same chapter as the foregoing extract, is worthy of the most serious thought: '' A high degree of variation is obviously favorable, as freely giving the materials for selection to work on; not that mere individual differences are not amply sufficient, with extreme care, to allow of the accumulation of a large amount of modification in almost any direction. But as variations manifestly useful or pleasing to man appear only occasionally, the chance of their appearance will be much increased by a large number of individuals being kept. Hence number is of the highest importance to success. On this principle, Marshall formerly remarked, with respect to the sheep of parts of Yorkshire, 'As they generally belong to poor people, and are mostly in small lots, they never can be improved.' On the other hand, nurserymen, from keeping large stocks of the same plant, are generally far more successful than amateurs in raising new and valuable varieties. A large number of individuals of an animal or plant can be reared only when the conditions for its propagation are favorable. When the individuals are scanty, all will be allowed to breed, whatever their quality may be, but this will effectually prevent selection."


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This paragraph by one of the greatest, if not the greatest naturalist of modern times, contains the true principles of breeding in a wonderfully concise form; and the principles which he enunciates are sustained by the known conditions and results of the great and small breeding establishments of the present day. The large breeding establishments of horses and cattle produce the best stock simply from their superior advantages in numbers and the consequent advantages afforded in selecting superior specimens—this superiority is sometimes ascribed to the greater number of chances from the greater number of the produce; but it should not be forgotten that by the constant selection of the best specimens and the reproduction of the best properties of the stock in the same or a higher degree of merit, there is much more in the greater success than the chance results of large numbers".

With reference to dogs, the breeding establishments are small, widely and evenly distributed, and good and poor individuals bred from, which, as remarked by Darwin, " effectually prevents selection." This is the primary cause why the same uniform degree of excellence cannot be maintained in this country as in England, notwithstanding that the best blood is imported. An importation of a few individuals, one here and there, is but a trifling contribution to general improvement. It is plain, that if a large breeding establishment of horses were split up into a hundred parts and each part isolated by different ownership, the radical change in condition would effectually prevent improvement; indeed, there would be a positive retrogression in the course of a few generations; yet what is assumed as happening in one establishment in particular has been actually intensified in the general distribution of the setter and pointer in small numbers, with the exception of a few large kennels.

The breeding rule, sometimes mistakenly called an axiom, that " like produces like," is a good one to follow within certain consanguineous limits ; for no rule is so correct but what it requires intelligence in its application. Ordinarily the science of breeding is, by sporting writers, exhausted in one paragraph, substantially as follows : " See that your dog or bitch has a good pedigree, then breed to such dog or bitch as is strong in such properties as your dog or bitch is weak in." If the experiment proves a success, it is called a "nick," and the breeder is commended for his judgment, and for a result that he was wholly incapable of knowing ; if he fails, as is frequently the case, he keeps very quiet. If a composite animal could be produced by such breeding, the progeny inheriting the desired properties of both sire and dam, the advice would be good ; but such single efforts are productive of the most indefinite results, as the vast multitude of them show. In fact, if a litter by a certain sire and dam should prove superior by such breeding, the next litter by the same parents might prove common or worthless ; there is no certainty in it. The breeder who has a large number to select from, and who can improve his animals so that he will average seven or eight good ones out of ten bred, where previously there were two or three out of ten, has made real progress. Not the one who, by isolated and irregular effort, each succeeding one differing from its predecessor, breeds an occasional good one, can justly claim any pretensions to skill in breeding.


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On the subject of inheritance, and as related to the occasional or irregular efforts of small breeders, the following excerpt is taken from the Origin of Species. The eminent scientist remarks : " The laws governing inheritance are for the most part unknown. No one can say why the same peculiarity in different individuals of the same species is sometimes inherited and sometimes not; why the child often reverts in certain traits to its grandfather or more remote ancestor; why a peculiarity is often transmitted from one sex to both sexes, or to one sex alone, more commonly but not exclusively to the like sex alone. It is a fact of some importance to us, that peculiarities appearing in the males of our domestic breeds are often transmitted, either exclusively or in a much greater degree to the males alone."

Thus, while it is not known why there is a tendency to atavism, it is essential to the success of the breeder that he has a knowledge of the fact; the tendency to reversion shows the absolute necessity of definite knowledge on the part of the breeder, either from observation or from trustworthy sources, not only of the qualities and peculiarities of the sire and dam, but also of their ancestry during at least three or four generations. Hence breeders who have owned their stock for years have plainly a decided advantage over breeders who own but one or two individuals and breed with no other consideration than a fashionable pedigree. The absurdity of this is self-evident. One dog of a certain litter might be excellent, another might be worthless; yet from the high reputation of the excellent one, many breeders would not hesitate to breed to the worthless one on account of the same blood, thus unconsciously selecting the poorest specimens instead of the best, and pursuing the poorest of methods.

The field trials afford an opportunity, not always accurate, for the public at large to learn the working capabilities of the different dogs, and the like qualities of their ancestry during several generations ; but such dogs generally command a high price for service, and are therefore patronized by comparatively few of the great multitude of breeders ; yet the related blood, regardless of other essential properties, is eagerly sought for, which in a manner prevents uniform improvement, inasmuch as the good and bad of the same blood are bred from. One set of breeders breeds from the best individuals, another set breeds from the poor individuals because they are of the same blood. The latter breeding, while it may consist of individuals of known purity of blood, is simply miscellaneous since it comprises the good, bad and indifferent, and, by selecting poor specimens on account of the greater cheapness, after a few generations there will be a decided retrogression. It must be borne in mind that the eminence of a few individuals or a few kennels is no data to judge the thousands which are bred. The good dogs are a very small percentage ; and the ones that live are not "an extremely large percentage.

There is too much variety in pointers and setters, particularly the former, for the purposes of the intelligent breeder. Families of dogs differ in many important physical characteristics, and not infrequently individuals of the same litter vary so much in physical formation and color that there is no apparent relationship. Every


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breeder has seen a well-bred litter which contained a slim-built dog, long in limb, body, neck and head, a thick set dog with the collateral variations of short limbs, neck, head and body, and the rest being of intermediate types and sizes. It is evident that an excess of variation entails more difficulties in good breeding; even if the breeder selects such types as he wishes to establish, the tendency to reversion will balk his efforts unless he has control of the breeding for several generations. Notwithstanding the large number bred, there are only a few that are available for the breeder's purposes if the best are used. By continued careful selection generation after generation, the irregularities can in a great measure be bred out. Only when there are very slight differences to take advantage of is the breed near the uniformity that should prevail.

The most pernicious practice of the present general method of breeding is that of inbreeding solely on account of pedigree, the aim simply being to produce combined pedigrees that contain the largest possible list of celebrities or their relations, simply combinations of fashionable blood ; the breeder, knowing from observation or experience that such pedigree will catch the public fancy, and insure a remunerative sale for the progeny. The honored and true adage that " like produces like " is perverted to apply to such breeding, the pedigree alone being considered, and not the merits of the individuals combined with purity of blood.

Now the author, to avoid misapprehension, would explain that he firmly and unqualifiedly believes in the value of pedigree, but the excellence of the individuals of a pure strain is a true test of the excellence of the pedigree, while, on the contrary, no amount of eulogy can establish a just value to pedigree which relates to worthless dogs. The best dogs are those which, with pure blood, have the best physical, mental and other functional powers.

In the estimation of the average breeder, pedigree is the all important, and frequently the only, consideration. Notwithstanding its complexity, there is no branch to which more pretentious claims are made in theory, and less thought, reason and judicious selection applied in the conduct of it, than to breeding. All the wearisome controversies are devoted to considerations of purity of blood and the mixing of blood, just as if the result could be arrived at with the same mathematical nicety that pins and needles are manufactured. Learned remarks are made in respect to "warm blood" in a strain that may not have existed a dozen years, while dogs of the same breed, probably equally or more capable, are called "cold blooded. '

Another pernicious practice is that of breeding the dog or bitch when too young, or enervated from confinement, filthy kennels, or a constitution and physique wrecked by inbreeding. When the parents are too young and the physique and intelligence immature, besides the injury to their constitution, the real properties of the parents are not known. The bodily form of an immature animal differs greatly from his or her form when mature. During youth, most puppies display a close likeness to each other in intelligence, playfulness and vivacity; yet at maturity there are the widest variations of form and intelligence. An enthusiastic puppy may be a


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stupid aged dog. How little importance is attached to such weighty matters by the average breeder, all sportsmen know.

Dogs and bitches are often bred from when grossly fat, thick in wind, soft in tissue, indolent in disposition from enforced idleness and over-feeding, and incapable of vigorous exertion, a wholly unnatural state, as evinced by frequent sterility or small, weak litters. When several generations have been subjected to the evils of such mismanagement, the deplorable effects are still more apparent in weedy, degenerate specimens, particularly if the evils of inbreeding have been added thereto.

That inbreeding is necessary, within certain limits, to establish some peculiar characteristics and uniformity of type in a mongrel or neglected breed, is indisputable; but inbreeding as applied to the setter has been followed as a regular system by a large number of breeders, to perpetuate an old breed, so old that its origin is unknown. To improve the breed, there are a large number of purely bred individuals of distinct blood for those breeders who have not large numbers of their own to select from; hence with such ample material, there is absolutely no sound reason for inbreeding two or three families, generation after generation. One fault is the desire of the breeder to achieve notoriety at once, and the consequent necessity of novelty. Permanent success is a slow growth. Occasionally, an exceptionally good individual dog is produced by inbreeding or promiscuously breeding, and such is paraded as a living and irrefutable proof of the soundness of the theory; however, care is observed to refrain from parading the large numbers of worthless ones which were contemporaneously produced; the ones which were weak in constitution, poor in physique, rattle-headed, nervous, foolish, and the ones that died of debility. One so bred that is good individually may stamp, from the well known tendency to reversion, the characteristics of several worthless ancestors on his progeny, a good individual dog often being incapable of reproducing his own equals. It is well known that large numbers of inferior and worthless dogs are bred from "by small breeders. Every handler has more or less of the produce every year. Often the owner is ignorant of what constitutes the qualifications of a field dog, for he assures the handler that the dog cost a high figure, that he is excellently bred, and therefore has a long pedigree, and the handler is expected to make a field dog of him. In work, the dog must stand on his own capabilities, not those of his ancestors.

Generally, to sustain the value of inbreeding, the like method of some eminent breeder is cited as authority, but the whole of such system is not known or considered. The best specimens are the ones which come to the knowledge of the public; the number of poor ones is never known. A good breeder rarely uses an inbreeding cross more than once in several generations. If it is used persistently, the practice is no guarantee of permanent success—a few generations will surely show retrogression.

In the "Dogs of Great Britain and America," compiled mostly from Stonehenge, under the head of Maxims for Breeders' Use, is the following "maxim": "Breeding


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inand-in is not injurious to the dog, as may be proved both from theory and practice. Indeed, it appears on the contrary, to be very advantageous in many well-marked instances of the greyhound which have of late years appeared in public life."

This paragraph is quoted because many advocates of the in-and-in theory cite the in-and-in breeding of greyhounds in support of it; but they do not dwell on the further fact that it has been found to produce objectionable results in that dog, and has been in a great measure abandoned. Nevertheless, if it were used, there would be no useful analogy between the breeding of greyhounds and setters or pointers. The greyhound is bred for speed, and, strange as it may seem, he must not, in competition, have too much intelligence. When a hound learns to use his brains in conjunction with his heels, he is useless for public coursing; yet notwithstanding the efforts of the breeders, when the hound has a vigorous constitution he usually possesses intelligence, and, with experience, learns to run cunning. The setter is bred for many qualities in addition to speed, and a high order of intelligence is an absolute necessity. In connection with inbreeding, in the same work, is the following:

" Mr. A. Graham, who has had a long experience in inbreeding greyhounds, and was at one time so successful as to obtain the name of the ' Emperor of Coursers,' has laid down the rule that ' once in and twice out,' is the proper extent to which breeding in the greyhound should be carried, and probably the same will apply to other breeds." This is remarkable, in view of the principle laid down in the axiom aforementioned, for it is an admission that it is harmful ; yet it leads by easy gradations to the following paragraph quoted from the same chapter, viz.: "Thus I have seen, in the course of twenty years, a most valuable breed of pointers, by a persistence in avoiding any cross, become so full of excitability that they were perpetually at ' a false point,' and backing one another at the same time without game near them ; and what is worse, could not be stirred from their position. This last was from a want of mental capacity," etc. Here is a direct admission from personal knowledge, of the baneful effects of the practice. The author, from observations extending through a term of years, has noted a number of such instances, but the harmful results manifested themselves in a variety of forms, in nervous excitability, flightiness, weak constitution, and degenerated physique.

In-and-in-breeding appears to be abhorred by nature in all organisms, whether animal or vegetable. Darwin, in his remarks on the intercrossing of individuals, says : " In the first place, I have collected so large a body of facts, and made so many experiments showing, in accordance with the almost universal belief of breeders that, with animals and plants, a cross between different varieties, or with individuals of the same variety but of another strain, gives vigor and fertility to the offspring ; and on the other hand, that close inter-breeding diminishes vigor and fertility." In the same relation, in the chapter on Hybridism, he says: " Again, both with plants and animals, there is the clearest evidence that a cross between individuals of the same species, which differ to a certain extent, gives vigor and fertility to the offspring, and that close inter-breeding, continued during several


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generations between the nearest relations, if these be kept under the same conditions of life, almost always leads to decreased size, weakness or sterility."

It is hardly possible to breed for any particular improvement, without, at the same time, breeding some undesirable qualities with it. By careful selection in inbreeding, the result is a family of more uniform resemblance in color, type, etc., but, unfortunately, nervous excitement, and weak powers of mind and body accompanying it; moreover, their powers of reproduction are greatly impaired. The dogs become uncertain as stock-getters, the bitches are bred with difficulty, and the puppies are delicate, difficult to raise, or die in large numbers from their inherited weak constitutions. The prevalence of chorea, fits and nervous excitability is frequently ascribed to the highly developed state of the dogThis might have some foundation if such dogs were really superior in intelligence, constitution, or physical capabilities; but, inasmuch as they are inferior, they are in a degenerate state ; for it can hardly be reasonably claimed that a dog is highly developed when he is so constitutionally inferior that he has not the vigor of mind or body which is common to common blood. Such degeneracy is not the fault of the blood, for that is good enough as shown in instances where it is properly managed.

Now, with respect to some o f the important principles of breeding, many of them are not considered by the average breeder. The constitution of the sire and dam is rarely considered. Nearly every quality is subservient to color and pedigree. If the sire and dam are constitutionally defective, it matters not how good a pedigree they may have, they are wholly unfit for breeding stock. It is better to call such stock by its true name than to practice self-deception, and call it highly bred. Even if there is one remote ancestor which is constitutionally defective, the effects may be harmful for several generations. The superiority of well-bred animals consists in greater and more uniform capabilities and race type ; but if inferiority is exhibited there is something wrong in such breeding. When the importance of a vigorous constitution is considered, all other qualities being greatly impaired or worthless without it, it is strange that so many breeders so recklessly jeopardize or impair it by breeding from inferior specimens ; but the popular demand for a fashionable pedigree, regardless of the close consanguinity which it represents, or the merits of all the individuals in it, undoubtedly explains the looseness of methods. By observing the hardiness of the common setter or pointer, resulting from a splendid constitution, inherited from vigorous, healthy parents, a hint might be taken with much profit, and no injury to breeding. It might be said that the common setter is bred from good and bad alike. From the comparative neglect which they endure a weakly specimen has little chance to survive, and there is very little inbreeding. There are very few weakly specimens at birth, and there is an absence of mental and nervous aberrations. The cur setters or pointers do not owe their superior constitutions and intelligence to their blood; if it were so their blood would be the superior ; for when stripped of'all fancy and fiction the practical value of an animal and the uniformity of practical excellence possessed by a race over other races are what determine the question relating to superiority. Undoubtedly the evils of


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poor breeding are much aggravated by the unnatural accessory conditions of life to which the parents are subjected in what is termed high breeding.

Besides a vigorous constitution, it is necessary that the dog should have a high order of intelligence. Without it no dog can perform in first-class manner, a manner that is called level-headed, but this is in a great measure dependent on a sound constitution. Nervous dogs of peculiar crankiness are at times developed into fine field dogs by the expert training of skillful professional trainers, although even in their hands a great many prove worthless from natural mental incapacity. There is also an uncertainty about the result of training such animals, and until the dog is well matured there is a great uncertainty in the regularity of his methods afield. Even if a cranky dog does well in the hands of his trainer, it is more than probable that he will perform badly when transferred to the charge of his owner.

Thus while pure blood is indisputably a prime requisite in breeding, it can be rendered, by misuse, of less value than good mongrel blood. By selecting the best specimens it can be constantly improved, if not by the production of phenomenal performers, by the greater number of good ones in a given number; for, as before remarked, if a breeder can breed eight good ones out of ten bred, where only two or three were bred before, he certainly has made better progress than the man who breeds one phenomenon and all the rest poor or worthless. Breeding has its accidents at times, so far as the breeder is concerned ; but the accident resulting from unskillful breeding, i. e., a superior dog from culls of good blood, should be distinguished from the breeding which approximates to uniform excellence. Producing one first rate dog to a host of worthless ones is not skillful breeding. The science of breeding is not a very accurate science, but it does not admit such breeding under its title. Any cross of families of the same breed which improves the individuals of it is a good cross.

A breeder who uses good and bad specimens on account of pure blood is always groping in the dark. The result of such unions cannot be more than the uncertainty of uncertainties. From the natural law of inheritance, a litter having such ancestry may be good, or good and bad, or wholly bad. The prepotency of the worthless animals of pure blood may assert itself in the progeny quite as much as that of the good animals, a worthless animal unquestionably being as prepotent to transmit his worthlessness as a good one to transmit his qualities. Therefore, if a dog is inferior individually, but has a line of excellent ancestry, it is not wise to breed from him, for in later generations his worthlessness may reappear.

If the breeder has only one or two dogs he, of course, can only breed such as he has, but this simply shows the truth of the quotation from Darwin, to wit: " When the individuals are scanty all will be allowed to breed." While such breeding undoubtedly is all the small breeder can do, he should not labor under the delusion that he is a scientific breeder. Like produces like only when the proper conditions of likeness are observed. A worthless dog of good blood is more likely to perpetuate his own worthlessness than the excellences of some remote ancestor. Hence, as nearly all-natural qualities come from inheritance, no breeder can


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esteem himself as scientific who disregards the intelligence, constitution, working capabilities and type, to devote all his energies to a catchy pedigree. To determine the desirable qualities intelligently, the breeder must have a very extensive practical experience.

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Dogism-Amateur Dog Book