and nine times out of ten you will have made no mistake, for 

 very quickly the affinity that led you to making the choice will 

 have developed and both dog and owner will be more than sat- 

 isfied. If you are looking for a bench specimen it will be wiser 

 to take a good judge, whom you trust, and let him pick for 

 you, for no book can teach the fine points of a breed. Would- 

 be puchasers, owing to living in a distant city, cannot always 

 exercise this choice, and must depend upon this duty being 

 performed by a friend or rely entirely on the honesty and 

 judgment of the parties who offer the dog for sale. Here 

 again rises the importance of dealing with a reputable kennel, 

 one whose prestige, already secured through honest and reliable 

 methods, would prove a certain guarantee of satisfactory 

 treatment. 



It is a safe statement to make that a Boston Terrier who has 

 had distemper is worth double at eight months old what one is 

 who has the disease in anticipation. Like scarlet fever among 

 children, distemper is very liable to prove disastrous to the dog, 

 even though it is not actually fatal. Deafness is one of the 

 sequels to be dreaded; chorea, similar in its manifestations to 

 St. Vitus dance; partial or total blindness, various skin diseases 

 and other after effects, any of which might very properly 

 prompt you to put the dog out of his misery often follow this 

 dreaded illness. When selecting a dog, unles you have perfect 

 confidence in the seller, try and verify his statement if he states 

 that the dog really has had this disease. Unfortunately, how- 

 ever, distemper will sometimes afflict the dog twice, and 

 although the second attack is not generally as severe, still in ex- 

 ceptional cases it is very acute and more likely to become asso- 

 ciated with pneumonia, with which complication it is generally 

 fatal. These second attacks naturally tend to discredit the 

 statement of the seller, therefore it is best, when possible, to 

 have his claim investigated and confirmed. The seller labors 

 under another disadvantage, for if the dog is taken sick a month 

 or so after being sold, and a veterinary, well-posted on horses 

 and cattle, but never having had any experience with Boston 

 Terriers, is called in, at once proceeds on general principles to 

 proclaim the dreaded fact that the dog has distemper, when in 

 reality he has only a slight cold or his digestion is for the time 

 being somewhat impaired. You will need not only the best 

 "vet." you can obtain, but one who is thoroughly honest and 

 above the contemptible practices of some who adorn (?) that 



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