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CHAPTER LXVI. 

 BREEDING AND WHELPING. 



" For every longing dainc select 

 Some happy paramour ; to him alone 

 In leagues connubial join. Consider well 

 His lineage ; what his fathers did of old, 

 Chiefs of the pack, and first to climb the "ock, 

 Or plunge into the deep, or tread the brake 



With thorn sharp-pointed, plashed, and briars 



inwoven. 

 Observe with care his shape, sort, colour, size. 

 Nor will sagacious huntsmen less regard 

 His inward habits." 



SOMERVILE. 



THE modern practice of dog-breeding 

 in Great Britain lias readied a con- 

 dition wiiicli may be esteemed as an 

 art. At no other time, and in no other 

 country, have the various canine types been 

 kept more rigidly distinct or brought to 

 a higher level c^f perfection. Formerly 

 dog-owners — apart from the keepers of 

 packs of hounds — paid scant attention to 

 the differentiation of breeds and the con- 

 servation of type, and they considered it 

 no serious breach of duty to ignore the 

 principles of scientific selection, and thus 

 contribute to the multiplication of mon- 

 grels. Discriminate breeding was rare, 

 and if a Bulldog should mate himself with 

 a Greyhound, or a Spaniel with a Terrier, 

 the alliance was regarded merely as an in- 

 convenience that brought about the inevit- 

 able nuisance of another litter of plebeian 

 puppies to divert tiie attentions of the 

 dairymaid from her buttermaking or the 

 stable boy from his work among the horses. 

 So careless were owners in preventing the 

 promiscuous mingling of alien breeds that 

 it is little short of surprising so many of our 

 canine types have been preserved in their 

 integrity. Even at the present time there 

 are people who wantonly permit their pure- 

 bred dogs to form misalliances, and con- 

 sider that no harm is done. But happily 

 this inattention is rapidly giving place to 

 a sense of responsibility, with the result 

 that it is becoming more and more uncom- 

 mon to meet a dog in the streets who does 

 not bear resemblance to a recognisable 

 breed. 



The elimination of the nondescript cur 



is no doubt largely due to the work of the 

 homes for lost dogs that are instituted in 

 most of our great towns. Every year some 

 26,000 homeless and ownerless canines are 

 picked up by the police in the streets of 

 London, and during the forty-five years 

 which have elapsed since the Dogs' Home 

 at Battersea was established, as many as 

 800,000 dogs have passed through the 

 books, a few to be reclaimed or bought, 

 the great majority to be put to death. A 

 very large proportion of these have been 

 veritable mongrels, not worth the value 

 of their licences — diseased and maimed 

 curs, or bitches in whelp, turned ruth- 

 lessly adrift to be consigned to the 

 oblivion of the lethal chamber, where the 

 thoroughbred seldom finds its w'ay. And 

 if as many as 500 undesirables are de- 

 stroyed every week at one such institution, 

 'tis clear that the ill-bred mongrel must 

 soon altogether disappear. But the chief 

 factor in the general improvement of our 

 canine population is due to the steadily 

 growing care and pride which are bestowed 

 upon the dog, and to the scientific skill 

 with which he is being bred. 



Even the amateur dog-owner, who has no 

 thought of shows and championships, is 

 alive to the common interest of keeping the 

 breeds distinct, whilst the experienced 

 breeder of the show dog not only attends 

 to the preservation of his favourite variety, 

 but often goes so far as to keep the in- 

 dividual strains of that same variety apart. 

 The capable judge knows at a glance the 

 various strains of the same breed, and has 

 no difficulty in recognising a Jefferies Bull- 



