Buying a Dog 73 



was. I know, however, that if I owned her nothing would induce me to part 

 with her until I had tried her as a brood bitch. If she does not prove a 

 good one, then there is no value in a pedigree." 



It must also be very distinctly borne in mind that while it is perfectly 

 proper to buy a bitch with a pedigree which will bear such an investigation 

 as the foregoing and be approved of by an expert, it is quite a different thing 

 in a dog. No one with any knowledge of the subject will breed to a dog 

 merely on pedigree, unless as an experiment in the case of one much inbred 

 to a thoroughly tested strain. The vast majority of good dogs have 

 been bred from sires individually good; so when it comes to the purchase 

 of a dog he must be excellent as an individual, and that must take precedence 

 over pedigree, for as we have already said, a good dog makes the pedigree 

 good, and not the other way. 



Continuing with the same pedigree as the text, the fact that we find in 

 it so many of one person's breeding, and he a successful breeder, is a great 

 indorsement of it. Such a person is all the time selecting which of his 

 best to keep and getting rid of the unsuitable or what is no longer needed in 

 his kennel. By this process the quality of the breeding stock of the kennel 

 is gradually improved and becomes more reliable in producing. Type 

 becomes more consistent, and in process of time we have a strain established 

 which can be relied upon to produce good ones in greater proportion than is 

 the case in most of the rival kennels. 



Let us suppose for a moment that we are considering, for instance, 

 organising a car-line. No one in his senses would suggest that a start be 

 made with a dinky mule-car and by a series of changes finally arrive at an 

 up-to-date electric plant. Business is not conducted that way, but in view of 

 the many improvements continually being introduced into the car service 

 a most thorough investigation is made so as to avoid mistake in getting the 

 result of the best thoughts and experiments on the subject. The line when 

 it is opened is thereby furnished in the most up-to-date manner possible 

 and starts on an equal footing with the improved service of the old reorgan- 

 ised horse-cars and cable-cars. And that is just what the person intent upon 

 entering the field as a competitive breeder must do if he desires success. 



Discard all idea of beginning at the bottom with puppy purchases and 

 "champion pedigrees," but look carefully over the results of the shows and 

 note who are the men who have bred the winners. Having found that out 

 do not make the mistake of purchasing puppies, for out of the many litters 



