226 FEEDING 



and observation. Food and water are to the muscular system what fuel and 

 steam are to the locomotive. Muscular exertion calls for a destruction of 

 muscular elements; the destruction of muscular elements generates heat in 

 varying degrees and a large amount of effete poisonous matter that the kid- 

 neys and bowels are called upon to remove. 



"If the clog is in good condition, the muscles firm, elastic and properly 

 nurtured by a fit diet, muscular effort will, if severe, produce only the 

 minimum amount of heat and effete matter. If the animal is in poor condi- 

 tion, the muscles soft and flabby, surrounded by fat, slight exercise will 

 consume a large amount of this tissue and produce a corresponding amount 

 of heat and waste products. And it is these poisonous waste products that 

 the athlete, horse and dog have to contend with, and, no matter how carefully 

 trained it is, these waste products eventually limit their performance. 



"A dog's wind may be all right, he is ready to go and wants to go, 

 but if the production of these waste products is too rapid for their removal 

 by the kidneys and other organs, they remain in the system and partially 

 paralyze the nerves controlling the muscles and they refuse to act. 



"The fat or muscle-making possibilities of various foods and the ani- 

 mal's actual condition can be studied very intelligently by the use, after ex- 

 ercise or work, of a small clinical thermometer. When the maximum amount 

 of work short of actual exhaustion produces the minimum degree of heat 

 as registered by the thermometer, the animal is in the best condition and 

 the foods that will afford these results are the foods to be adopted, and the 

 foods that produce the largest amount of heat for a given amount of work 

 are to be avoided, as a general working system. 



"It can be laid down that the quantity of meat can be reduced during 

 the close season and increased during the working season to almost an all- 

 meat diet with satisfactory results. Oatmeal and unbolted wheat flour are 

 the most desirable of grains. Wheat dour, rye or barley shorts should 

 be baked as bread pones and allowed to cool and afterward broken up and 

 softened with meat liquor, soup or milk. Cornmeal is a popular food with 

 trainers, probably on account of its price, ease of obtaining and preparing, 

 but it is a fat producer and not a muscle builder. No horse trainer would 

 feed it to a thoroughbred when conditioning him for a race, and while 

 trainers may feel satisfied with the way their dogs thrive, I am sure they 

 would be capable of greater muscular effort if fed on one of the other grains. 

 "A very good way of preparing food for a siring of dogs is to purchase 

 a few sheeps' heads, a couple of beeves' heads, or a liver or two, or twenty 

 or thirty pounds of chucks or neck pieces chopped fine. Boil the heads in a 

 kettle until they are thoroughly cooked, and the meat can easily be scraped 

 from the bones. This meat should then be chopped or shredded into small 

 pieces and mixed with from three to six times its weight of whole wheat 

 flour, rye or corn meal, softened and worked up with soup liquor. To this 

 may be added enough black molasses to slightly sweeten the whole and 

 then it is to be thoroughly baked over a slow fire and afterward allowed 

 to not only cool, but partially dry, in which condition it will keep indefi- 

 nitely. When it is to be fed, break it up into pieces, and feed dry or soften it 

 with meat or vegetable soup. This food can also be improved by adding 

 vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, beets, onions or cabbage, in the propor- 

 tion of one pound of vegetables to from five to ten pounds of meat and 

 grain. 



"The sportsman owning only one or two dogs, who will condition his 

 dogs on food prepared in this way, and who will carry with him a suffi- 

 cient quantity to provide for his dogs while on a hunting trip, will be amply 

 repaid by their superior condition, and he will never go back to the make- 

 shift diet of table scraps that is too often resorted to. 



"Dog biscuits simplify the feeding problem and the professional trainer 

 or. sportsman who uses them as a staple diet can go on an extended hunting 

 trip or even to remote sections of the country, where there are no conven- 

 iences for preparing food, and feel sure of his dog having a properly bal- 

 anced ration. The ordinary dog biscuit contains only a small proportion of 

 meat, hardly sufficient for a dog during the close season. When hunting 



