526 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



As a matter of prime necessity, every dog-lover should 

 provide himself with "Ashmont's" book on dog diseases. 

 There are many works on canine disease and management, 

 but nothing approaches u Ashmont." It is so peculiarly 

 simple and plain in description that by consulting it a 

 layman can recognize what is the trouble with his dog in a 

 majority of cases, and its directions are so clear that the 

 danger of making a mistake is reduced to a minimum. 



But as the layman will sometimes be at a loss to deter- 

 mine from the symptoms what the trouble is, he should 

 call on his family physician. For instance, the non-profes- 

 sional will not be able to determine from the breathing of 

 the animal whether it has catarrh, pneumonia, or distemper. 

 The physician can determine whether it be either of the 

 former, thus reducing the elements in doubt to narrow lim- 

 its. If your physician is a snob, he may be affronted by being 

 asked to examine a dumb animal, but if he is a man of 

 standing, he will do it for you with pleasure. 



One of the most-distinguished surgeons of America once 

 operated on a puppy for me, opening a deep-seated abscess 

 with as much care and skill as though the President of 

 the United States were his patient. The late Dr. E. Dyer, 

 one of our most-distinguished oculists, and a most thorough 

 surgeon and physician, who would not go out of his 

 specialty for a man, would cut his office hours short to 

 attend his friend's dog in an urgent case. What such 

 men are willing to do ought not to be objectionable to the 

 man of lesser fame. As a rule, the veterinarian knows 

 little of canine diseases; and as the symptoms and diseases 

 of dogs approach much more nearly those of the human 

 subject than they do to those of horses, cattle, etc., without 

 special training in canine diseases the veterinarian is not 

 as well prepared to treat them as is the regular physi- 

 cian. 



It must be remembered, however, that when you avail 

 yourself of the kind assistance of your physician you 

 must not insist on paying for it. That terra incognita to 

 the layman, "professional etiquette," has among its mani- 



