CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



he must be carefully taught when young, and for 

 this purpose his master requires to employ a 

 judicious mixture of severity and gentleness. He 

 must be made fully aware that he must do as he 

 is bid : that if he do not, he will be punished, but 

 that if he obey, he will be rewarded. Thus he will 

 soon learn to comprehend the meaning of a look, 

 a sign, or a word, and will act accordingly. As 

 very few persons take the trouble to teach 

 domestic dogs either one line of conduct or 

 another, we see on all occasions instances of the 

 natural consequences of such neglect 



Breeding. 



The best dogs are produced from parents not 

 less than two years old, to which age a valuable 

 bitch should be reserved. All who are interested 

 in preserving the breed of their dogs should on 

 no account suffer a cross. In every instance, let 

 the male and female be of the true breed designed, 

 not mixed or deteriorated. If a slight alteration 

 of character be desirable, a cross of the English 

 bull-dog will be found useful by giving determina- 

 tion. Breed always from the healthiest and best- 

 shaped animals. Mongrel breeds are good for 

 nothing. 



Whelps, at a month old, are generally deprived 

 of their dew-claws. With some varieties it is also 

 the custom to shorten the ears and tail, with a 

 view of improving their appearance ; but it is 

 questionable if any breed can be improved in 

 aspect by such treatment, and certainly no pure 

 and well-formed variety can benefit by such 

 mutilations. 



Feeding. 



Some of the most troublesome traits in the dog's 

 behaviour arise from mismanagement in feeding. 

 If a dog be half-hungered, he cannot be blamed 

 for watching the breakfast or dinner table. We 

 advise all who indulge themselves with keeping 

 dogs, not to leave their feeding to the chance 

 scraps of either the kitchen or the parlour. Give 

 the dog his own regular meals, and with food 

 suitable to his wants or the duty he has to 

 perform. The food should be chiefly flesh of 

 some kind, boiled and cold ; if given raw, it has 

 a tendency to foster ferocity of disposition, and 

 will cause the animal to be offensive in smell 

 No pet-dog, especially, should ever be allowed to 

 eat raw meat Any common pieces of flesh or 

 tripe will answer for dog's meat Some persons 

 give liver, which is decidedly bad ; it relaxes the 

 bowels, and is otherwise objectionable. Besides 

 the piece of boiled meat considered necessary, 

 give dogs a few bones from the dinner-table ; they 

 are fond of these, and they are useful in cleaning 

 and preserving their teeth, and keeping their 

 bowels in order. If the dogs will take it, they 

 should also be given a little farinaceous food, as 

 morsels of bread or a little oatmeal porridge with 

 milk. 



The nature of the dog leads him to feed well 

 and seldom. One meal a day, therefore, in the 

 morning or forenoon, is enough. He, however, 

 requires to drink frequently ; and it is a leading 

 rule, in keeping a dog, to have at all times a pan 

 of clean cold water ready for his use. Change the 

 water daily, or oftener. 



For the feeding of hounds, Daniel recommends 

 that flesh should be alternated with a diet of 



691 



oatmeal porridge made with broth in which meat 

 has been boiled. Greens boiled in their food 

 are also proper. 



Lodging Kennel Treatment 



Dogs require to be lodged in a dry situation, at 

 a moderate temperature. Those kept for watch- 

 ing the outside of premises should be provided 

 with a comfortable house of wood, bedded with 

 clean straw, and sheltered from cutting winds. 

 Damp is seriously injurious to dogs. It produces 

 rheumatisms, which shew themselves by lameness 

 in the shoulders, and other disorders detrimental 

 to their usefulness. The best kennels are paved 

 with tiles or stone, but on the floors there are 

 raised benches, littered with straw in winter, on 

 which the dogs repose. The straw should be daily 

 changed, nothing being of so much consequence 

 as cleanliness, both for the sake of general health, 

 and preserving the powers of scent of the ani- 

 mals. Hounds which are properly disciplined are 

 obedient in a very extraordinary degree to the 

 orders of the huntsman. 



Health Disease. 



All dogs whatsoever, but those designed for 

 field-sports in particular, require to be kept in 

 what is called ' condition ; ' that is, neither too fat 

 nor too lean, but the body in that hardy and 

 active state that will enable the animal to perform 

 its duties. 



To keep a dog healthy, he must not only be 

 regularly fed and admitted freely to water, but be 

 allowed plenty of exercise daily in the open air, 

 and kept in a cleanly condition. If his bowels 

 appear relaxed, he is not in sound health ; and as 

 a preventive of this, let his food, as already said, 

 be substantial, and consist partly of bones ; let 

 him also have access to grass ; every proper kennel 

 has a grass-yard to which the dogs can resort. In 

 the pan of water used by house-dogs put a piece 

 of brimstone ; it slightly affects the water by lying 

 in it, and helps to keep the animals cooL 



All dogs are liable to be troubled with fleas, 

 which they get from the ground ; the skin also 

 becomes dirty, and from that or other causes 

 becomes offensive in smell. The remedy is clean- 

 liness. Every lap or house dog should be washed 

 at least once a week with soap and water. Some 

 dogs have a great dislike to washing, but it must 

 nevertheless be performed. After washing thor- 

 oughly, rub the animal dry with a hard cloth, and 

 comb and brush it If there be fleas, a small- 

 toothed comb will remove them, and they should 

 be killed as they appear. Wash and dry delicate 

 dogs before the fire. When there are symptoms 

 of diseased skin, a little sulphur and antimony is 

 recommended, mixed with the food, or done up 

 as a bolus or pill, and pushed over the throat 



Mange is a cutaneous disease in dogs, very 

 closely resembling itch in man, but more in- 

 veterate, and is hereditary as well as contagious. 

 Mr Blaine, in his Encyclopedia of Rural Sports, 

 thus speaks of this nauseous complaint : ' Of all 

 the causes which beget mange and they are not 

 few the acrid effluvium from their own secre- 

 tions is the most common ; when it is generated 

 by numbers, particularly when it is confined within 

 a limited space, it is sure to appear. Close con- 

 finement of any dog will commonly produce it 

 and most certainly so if it be at the same time fe 



