242 USEFUL INFORMATION REGARDING DOGS. 



After allowing the puppy some freedom and an outing in an enclos- 

 ure, for sufficient length of time for it to attend to nature's calls, give it 

 a bowl of boiled milk and bread broken up, or a soft-boiled egg or two. 

 Feed light for a few days, at morning, noon and night. If kept out of 

 draughts and petted, the puppy should soon get fully accustomed to his new 

 home, and the sooner it is made to feel at home by kindness and attention 

 the better it will thrive and grow, and the less will it feel the shock of the 

 change to its new quarters. 



Remember that while it may, and probably did, start clean, it may reach 

 you soiled, due to getting in its own filth in box, so this must be con- 

 sidered, and you remember that a bath, if only a sponging off, if in win- 

 ter, and on their very thorough drying, will soon very much improve its 

 appearance. Before you buy a pup, or even an adult dog, find out from 

 its seller if it has been thoroughly and successfully treated for worms, 

 and if not, attend to this promptly — (See Worms). Very few breeders, 

 however, nowadays, but do treat all their puppies for worms before sell- 

 ing or shipping — which they should do. The dog you receive may bowl or 

 cry the first night in his new home, don't be surprised if it does (you might 

 do the same under the same circumstances), but put up with this — the dog 

 is worth all the trouble or interruption it might cause you — and kindness 

 will soon cure it of this. 



Females as Pets. — In selecting a dog for a pet, the erroneous idea 

 seems to prevail to a great extent of always getting a male. Here is where 

 you often make a mistake, for if you have only one dog, a female is pref- 

 erable in many respects. In the first place, a female is more affectionate, 

 or shows it more than a male, is cleaner about the house, more obedient, and 

 less liable to run away. The objection to a female seems to be that she 

 will come in season; so she will, but this only happens once in every five 

 to seven months, and then till again in season you have no trouble. A 

 male dog is always "in season," and should there be a female that is in 

 season, even a mile away, he will find it out, and, unless chained up, or 

 gates of your yard watched very closely, your dog is gone, and then you 

 find out what he discovered long before you did. Perhaps he'll find his 

 way home again, but the chances are much against it, and you'll now have 

 the chance to offer a reward for the return of your dog. 



Perhaps you'll get him back, and perhaps you won't. If, when your 

 female comes in season, you don't care to have her around, you send her 

 to some kennel to board for a couple of weeks (as many do with me), and 

 thus save yourself, for a trifling cost all this annoyance. There must be 

 females or there wouldn't be any dogs at all. When a female first shows 

 signs, if you will make note of the first day, you'll discover a bleeding, 

 which will continue for from eight to ten days, a swelling of the vagina 

 with it. This bleeding and swelling will begin to subside at from ten to 

 twelve days, and then is when she is ready for breeding. You can't watch 

 her too closely, for they are very cute and cunning, at such times, and will 

 often fool you by slipping out, and then when ready, the first dog they 

 meet is the favored one. Such mistakes as this, due to carelessness, is what 

 produces so many curs that we see on the streets of every town or city. 

 While I love any dog, yet I love best a thoroughbred. The cur may be as 

 smart and as true and faithful as the pure bred one, but there should be 

 no curs, and would not be if people were more careful at such times. 



In case your female should get out, and served by some dog on the 

 streets, and you desire to get rid of the puppies, do so as soon as they are 

 born. Drowning is then the best way to do it. Take one pup at a time and 

 hold it in a pail of water till dead, or, you can put the whole litter in a 

 pail of water, putting a weight or stone on top of a cover that will hold 

 it down to the water. To guard against danger of a caked breast in the 

 mother, it may be advisable to allow one pup to live and nurse for a week; 

 harder on the pup to be then drowned, however. 



Another instant death is a teaspoonful of Scheele's Prussic Acid for 

 matured dogs. In giving it hold mouth open and upwards, pouring the li- 

 puid well back on the tongue. Great care is necessary in handling such a 



