176 BREEDING. 



1. The male and female each furnish their quota towards the 

 original germ of the offspring ; but the female, over and above 

 this, nourishes it until it is born, and consequently may be sup- 

 posed to have more influence upon its formation than the male. 



2. Natural conformation is transmitted by both parents as a 

 general law, and likewise any acquired or accidental variation. 

 It may therefore be said that, on both sides, " like produces like." 



3. In proportion to the purity of the breed, will it be transmit- 

 ted unchanged to the offspring. Thus a greyhound bitch of pure 

 blood put to a mongrel, will produce puppies more nearly resem- 

 bling her shape than that of the father. 



4. Breeding in-and-in is not injurious to the dog, as may be 

 proved both from theory and practice. Indeed it appears, on the 

 contrary, to be very advantageous in many well-marked instances 

 of the greyhound, which have of late years appeared in public. 



5. As every dog is a compound animal, made up of a sire and 

 dam, and also their sires and dams, etc. ; so, unless there is much 

 breeding in and-in, it may be said that it is impossible to foretell 

 with absolute certainty what particular result will be elicited. 



6. The tirst impregnation appears to produce some effect upon 

 the next and subsequent ones. It is therefore necessary to take 

 care that the effect of the cross in question is not neutralized by 

 a prior and bad impregnation. This fact has been so fully estab- 

 lished by Sir John Sebright and others, that it is needless to go 

 into its proofs. 



By these general laws on the subject of breeding, we must be 

 guided in the selection of the dog and bitch from which a litter is 

 to be obtained, always taking care that both are as far as possible 

 remarkable, not only for the bodily shape, but for the qualities of 

 the brain and nervous system, which are desired. Thus, in breed- 

 ing the pointer, select a good-looking sire and dam by all means, 

 but also ascertain that tliey w^ere good in the field ; that is, that 

 they possessed good noses, worked well, were stout, and if they 

 were also perfectly broken, so much the better. So, again, in 

 breeding hounds, care must be taken that the animals chosen are 

 shaped as a hound should be ; but they should also have as many 



