238 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 



dogs are extremely fastidious as to what they drink, far 

 more so than as to what they eat, and although thirst will 

 compel them to drink from any puddle, they suffer much 

 from doing so both in comfort and condition. 



Frequent bathing in hot weather is of inestimable utility 

 and comfort to these hot-blooded creatures, and the way in 

 which even those short-coated varieties, which are supposed 

 to be the least addicted to it, enjoy a swim, and continue 

 half immersed for hours in succession, proves the necessity 

 of it more than could be done by volumes of writing. 



No less than pure air and pure water, superadded to 

 wholesome food, exercise is needful to dogs. 



For those who live in the country, where space is of 

 little consequence, it is decidedly advisable to let the dogs 

 run at large in a court of twenty to forty feet square, in 

 which are their respective houses, in lieu of chaining each 

 to his several kennel, and where this can be done the ani- 

 mals can get along with less road work. 



Nevertheless, dogs are vastly the better in any case 

 for an hour or two of exercise daily on the road. Before 

 the shooting season commences, if they be, as they ought, 

 full in flesh and somewhat high in condition, they are 

 greatly improved by a fast run, after horses or a wagon, 

 of five, ten, or as they improve in wind and hardness, 

 twenty miles. 



Such work, particularly on hard roads, hardens their 

 feet, and renders them capable of threefold endurance; 

 expands and invigorates their breathing apparatus, hard- 

 ens their flesh, and enables them to go through double the 

 amount of labor, without the annoyance or suffering, which 



