1 8 A MANUAL OF TOY DOGS 



the skin in the under parts of the body is red, and 

 small pustules form and suppurate, after the manner of 

 chicken pox though puppy pox is not catching often 

 affect the strongest puppies ; and a pup which " teeths 

 with a rash " is generally thought by breeders to be 

 one which, if in the way of contagion, will not take 

 " distemper " very badly, if at all, though whether there 

 is any foundation for this opinion I cannot undertake 

 to say. Personally, my puppies never have distemper, 

 simply because they never have a chance ; but where 

 other dogs from the house are going to and fro to 

 shows they are almost certain, sooner or later, to bring 

 it home to the babies. Some day we shall have a 

 crusade for stamping these horrible diseases out, or dis- 

 cover prophylactics, no doubt ; at present they must be 

 looked upon as ill-luck which may never come our way. 

 The training of puppies to the house is a task which is 

 most easily accomplished by bringing them in from the 

 kitchens, or wherever they live in a general way, to some 

 sitting-room for a short time daily, and by degrees 

 teaching them that each offence is instantly followed 

 by dismissal to the garden, or out of doors. Beating 

 little dogs is useless and unkind, but a mild scolding 

 may be given and the infant be carried out by the scruff 

 of its neck. The great thing is to make this sequel 

 invariable, as dogs have a great sense of justice, and 

 soon learn that they have done wrong in this case ; 

 whereas, if they are allowed to do a thing three times 

 and beaten for it on the fourth occasion they quite fail 

 to understand the reason of the rebuke. 



Some breeds of toys are much easier to teach than 

 others ; personally, I have found Poms comparatively 

 difficult dogs to train to the house, and black-and-tan 

 terriers are seldom altogether reliable ; while fawn pugs 

 are generally averse to going out of doors in wet or very 

 cold weather ; but patience and perseverance will do it 

 in almost all cases. On the other hand, some little dogs 

 take to the house at once, and give no trouble at all from 

 the very first. A dog just off a journey, or strange to a 



