AGE OF THE DOG. 



The age of the dog is a matter of considerable importance. 

 While the well-bred hunting-dogs, hounds, setters, and pointers, 

 and those of other races which are kept for breeding purposes, 

 have almost invariably a verified and registered pedigree, which 

 is stereotyped on the end of the owner's tongue, with the date 

 of the animal's birth, yet there are large numbers of dogs, es- 

 pecially of the races which are kept for house-dogs and pets, 

 which, from their appearance, are of undoubted good breeding, 

 but which, from change of owners by sale, theft, or in the many 

 other ways peculiar to dogs, lose their records. In view of the 

 great prices which these animals sometimes bring, it becomes 

 needful to at least approximately determine their age, and to 

 estimate the number of years which they still have to live and 

 will be of use to their owners. The smaller races of dogs usually 

 live to a greater age than the larger. The mastiff, St. Bernard, 

 and Great Dane rarely exceed the age of ten years ; the hound, 

 setter, and pointer may live two or three years longer ; and the 

 terriers have been known to live to seventeen, nineteen, and 

 twenty-two years of age. 



DENTITION. 



Temporary, 



Formula 



Permanent, 



The dog has forty-two teeth, — twenty in the upper jaw and 

 twenty-two in the lower. They are divided, like those of the 

 other animals, into incisors, tasks, and molars, the latter again 

 subdivided into premolars and post-molars. 

 (194) 



