112 THE AMERICAN HUNTING DOG 



the trying months from May to July when distem- 

 per is on every urinal tree and post. The kennel- 

 men usually shoot in an injection and also clear 

 the dog of worms just before shipping, but occa- 

 sionally they omit it or get a lot of non-active 

 serum, so your safest course is to get a hypo- 

 dermic syringe ($2.50) and a dose of fresh serum 

 (75c.) and shoot two cubic centimetres under the 

 skin of each hind leg, inside the thigh or else into 

 the folds of skin behind the fore-shoulder. This 

 will immunise him for two months and will save 

 a dog that has already been exposed to the disease 

 but has not yet come down with it. You can get 

 the outfit through your druggist. In the fall give 

 him another dose, and again next spring, when he 

 will be over a year old and much more able to 

 withstand an attack of distemper. It is a terrible 

 disease; two out of every five bird-dogs and 

 hounds that get it in puppyhood die of it; down 

 in South Carolina, where I was quail shooting this 

 year, they had a veritable scourge of it, many 

 hunters losing nine and ten dogs in two weeks' 

 time. Mongrels, because of their many out- 

 crosses, get easy cases of it; but thoroughbreds, 

 which are constitutionally weaker through in- 

 breeding and line breeding, always take it hard. 

 The first sign is a large yellow pustule or several 



