TREATMENT OF THE DOG IN HEALTH 125 



to the chain. If, however, after a week's experience it tugs and 

 pulls on the lead, use a slip-noose collar, which tightens as the 

 strain grows greater. Choking off its wind when it pulls hard, it 

 will soon grow weary and act rationally. Should this treatment 

 still prove inefficient, some people resort to the spike collar, which, 

 however, should be used only laif/i the greatest judgment. No one 

 ever treated his dogs more kindly than I, yet, though I never had 

 a dog upon which it became necessary to use a spike collar, still, 

 perhaps I would\\2cwQ used one rather than have my shoulder pulled 

 out of its socket by a dog which I took out for companionship. I 

 would use it only as a last resort^ and then with the utmost caution. 



Feeding. 



The dog in its wild state is nearly, if not wholly, carnivorous, 

 but when domesticated becomes omnivorous and therefore thrives 

 best on a mixed diet of bread, meat, and vegetables. Excepting 

 when training or hunting your dogs, a purely meat diet is not 

 desirable any more than it would be for a human being. While 

 its stomach has the power to digest bones, gristle, etc., through the 

 excessive secretions of gastric juices, still it is very easily deranged, 

 and when so affected it may take days for it to resume its normal 

 state ; hence expel the thought that any kind of food is " good 

 enough for a dog." 



Avoid giving very much corn-meal, as it is too heating and is 

 not possessed of much strength-giving qualities. Let the diet, 

 whether it is for a St. Bernard or a fox-terrier, be a mixture of 

 meat (boiled tripe and mutton are excellent) cooked till it is in 

 shreds, oatmeal, barley, rice, carrots, bread, potatoes, cabbage, or 

 any other vegetable added so as to make the whole thick, and 

 rendered palatable by a goodly supply of salt. Avoid giving chop, 

 steak, or fowl bones, as they are apt to splinter, and, lodging in 

 the intestines, very frequently cause death. Give plentifully of 

 large, soft bones (such as knuckles), which are easily chewed, as 

 they act as a sort of tooth-brush, and aid digestion greatly. Scraps 

 of all sorts from the table tend best to preserve the dog's health. 



For toy dogs well-cooked rice, finely chopped boiled tripe, ivarin 

 milk, and lean meat scraps from the table, mixed with vegetables, 

 should form the common diet. As these dogs are very light eaters, 

 they may be fed three times a day, care being exercised that they 

 do not overload their stomachs at any time. 



Sweets of all kinds are objectionable. Unlike the human stomach, 

 the dog's needs much rest ; so in the morning feed '' just a crumb " 

 and at night let it eat all it desires. A little flour of sulphur or 

 powdered magnesia (a quarter-teaspoonful) now and again will 



