PREFACE. 



Stonehenge, Shaw, and others have at various times written 

 exhaustive treatises on the dog, its care in health and sickness ; 

 and while there is no question but that they are invaluable to the 

 owners of large kennels, I consider that they are too complex for 

 the novice who owns but one or two dogs. They use very largely 

 technical terms not thoroughly understood by the layman, while 

 certain treatments prescribed are quite impracticable except where 

 one has a kennel-man. Besides, I think not one of the above- 

 named writers has ever told the fiovice what to avoid in selecting 

 a puppy or a grown dog, or what good points to insist upon. Rec- 

 ognizing all these facts, and recalhng how I strove twenty years- 

 ago to find some work that would aid me in my search for know- 

 ledge of the dog, I have concluded to write a short treatise con- 

 cerning its origin, uses, and all things pertaining to it, that will aid 

 the reader in learning its good points, and bad ones too, the proper 

 scale of "points" that go to make up the perfect specimen, the 

 treatment in health and sickness, and such other data as may be 

 of value to him. Experience as a successful breeder and owner, 

 and having won many prizes largely through " condition," confirms 

 me in the belief that I may perhaps be able to help a fancier in 

 purchasing the proper kind of dog, or, if he already has one, to 

 aid him in keeping it in healthy to know its value, and how tct 

 properly show it (if he is so inclined), so that its faults may be hid- 

 den to the greatest degree, while its good points may become more 

 pronounced. 



Perfection does not exist in either man or beast, so we will strive 

 to select that specimen which has the fewest and least noticeable 

 faults, remembering always that in the large breeds there are ten 

 good little ones where there is one good large one. 



If this work shall have aided any lover of the dog in any di- 

 rection desired, it shall have done its work. If it shall have failed, 

 the public will surely be lenient in its criticism of 



The Author. 



