THE GREAT DANE. 539 



squandering any cruel art on him; moreover, the consequences of this useless 

 mutilation do not cease when the ear is healed. The irritation caused by it 

 often has an injurious effect on the internal ear, and frequently deafness is the 

 result. 



Not a few dog-fanciers affirm that the exterior ear of the 

 dog, being movable, prevents the free entrance of insects, 

 dust, rain, snow, hail, etc., protects against the changes of 

 temperature, assists the animal in catching the sound- 

 waves, and thereby renders the sense, of hearing more 

 acute. 



Thus we see that the opinions of experts, as well as of 

 fanciers, differ, and are even diametrically opposite, with 

 reference to the cropping of ears. The taste for cropping, 

 however, is predominant, and we may predict a continuance 

 of the fashion, in spite of arguments and protests.* 



STANDARD OF POINTS. 



The Great Dane Club of England, whose object is the 

 breeding and improvement of the German Dogge, has 

 adopted the following standard of points, which is, a few 

 unessential differences excepted, the same as the one laid 

 down by the breeders in Germany: 



General appearance. The Great Dane is not so heavy 

 and massive as the Mastiff, nor should he too nearly 

 approach the Greyhound type. Remarkable in size and 

 very muscular, strongly though elegantly built, move- 

 ments easy and graceful; head and neck carried high; the 

 tail carried horizontally with the back, or slightly upward, 

 with a slight curl at the extremity. The minimum height 

 and weight of dogs should be thirty inches and one hun- 

 dred and twenty pounds; of bitches, twenty-eight inches 

 and one hundred pounds. Anything below this shall be 

 debarred from competition. Points: General appearance, 

 3; condition, 3; activity, 5; height, 13. 



Head. Long, the frontal-bone of the forehead slightly 



* I wish to record here a most earnest and emphatic protest against crop- 

 ping, docking, or otherwise mutilating dogs of any breed. In my judgment, 

 these practices are cruel and useless, and the taste or notion that fosters them 

 is erroneous. EDITOR. 



