THE MANAGEMENT OF DOGS IN HEALTH. 95 



must tend to establish principles ; and then they become 

 like the compass in actual practice. The possession of a 

 compass will not make a man a mariner or explorer. On 

 the other hand, he can not become either in any worthy 

 sense without it ; so is it with underlying principles. 



In the understanding of the dog no advice can be better 

 than that of the old Greek, " Know thyself." Of all the 

 lower animals none is so like man as the dog, unless per- 

 haps the monkey ; but of the latter this is true only in a 

 certain sense. The monkey does not respond sympathetic- 

 ally to our moods and our environment like the dog. 



This idea will be the key to this book throughout, and 

 by making it so the author hopes to bring the whole sub- 

 ject mthin easier and more effective grasp of both the 

 professional and non-professional reader. 



If dogs were generally viewed as we do children of 

 different ages, their whole nature and management would 

 be better comprehended ; at least such is the view to 

 which the best study we have been able to give to animals 

 generally, and the dog in particular, for a long period has 

 led us. 



In the entire management of the dog two things must 

 ever be kept in mind — his origin from wild ancestors on 

 the one hand, and on the other the great modification 

 he has undergone during ages of association with man, in 

 consequence of which he has been assimilated to mankind 

 in numberless respects, both physically and otherwise. 



The whole problem is greatly simplified if only one 

 breed of dogs is kept, for so great are the differences in the 

 breeds as to disposition and bodily habitudes that the 

 treatment that is adapted to one does not suit another 



