The Great Dane. 331 



further says this dog must be muzzled, to prevent 

 him attacking his own species. 



Contrary to the above statement we have that 

 of Richardson, who, writing about 1848, says the 

 Great Dane is a dog of gigantic stature, standing 

 from thirty to thirty-two inches in height at the 

 shoulders, or even more. He says the ears are 

 short, and drop down very gracefully. At the 

 present time they are big, and hang down in a 

 fashion so ungainly, that until quite recently it was 

 the custom to crop them, an operation that was 

 best performed when the puppies were about three 

 weeks old, and when suckling their dam. One 

 large breeder, Mr. E. H. Adcock, followed this 

 custom successfully, and the wounds were soon 

 healed by the contact of a mother's tongue. 

 Others " cropped " their puppies when three or 

 four months old, some still later, w^hen the dog 

 was more matured, say at eight or nine months, 

 but at that time it was a nasty job, and a terribly 

 unpleasant one, to him who took it in hand. 

 Happily this cropping is illegal nowadays, and is 

 only alluded to here as one of the follies of a fast 

 passing away generation. 



Perhaps it was the custom to have these dogs 

 shorn of part of their ears that led to their, 

 comparatively speaking, non-popularisation, for it 



