General Management of the Dog. 103 



than three or four together. The whole of this part 

 should be boarded and raised 18 in. or 2 ft., with a lining 

 of board i ft. high, to keep the backs of the dogs from 

 the wall. An opening 3 ft. high and 2 ft. wide is left 

 for the dogs to go in and out, and this should be provided 

 with a wooden door, hinged at the top, and kept partly 

 open by A-shaped sides, so as to allow the dog to jump 

 up and down freely, and yet keeping the wind and rain 

 from entering. This is a \vonderful improvement on ken- 

 nel doors, which I introduced, and which ought to be gene- 

 rally adopted, as it is the only plan by which kennel beds 

 can be kept clean, and at the same time airy, without 

 admitting the rain and wind. When the bed is to be re- 

 moved, the door with its sides is lifted up, and the atten- 

 dant easily enters. 



Management of Pet Dogs. 



The food of pet dogs is almost always too heating in its 

 nature, considering that they are generally deprived of a 

 proper amount of exercise. 



I am sometimes induced for the sake of brevity to 

 recommend correspondents to diet their dogs as they do 

 their children. But unfortunately the latter are also often 

 crammed with all sorts of improper articles of food ; and 

 I should perhaps be less liable to mislead my readers if I 

 advised them to give their dogs the same kind of food 

 w^hich they would think right for the children of their ac- 

 quaintances. Theory and practice are often widely sepa- 

 rated, and many a mother is so weak as to allow her own 

 child to tease her into giving creams and pastr}', which r he 

 would, " on principle," refuse to another not holding the 

 same power over her maternal feelings. We all know how 

 well bachelors' wives and old maids' children are managed, 

 and therefore I would in a few words wind up the general 

 principles of managing pet dogs by suggesting that, if the 

 plans so often recommended by the wise virgins of this 

 world for feeding their nephews and nieces are carried out 

 in favour of pet dogs, a great improvement will be effected 

 in their heaUh and appearance. 



