4 A MANUAL OF TOY DOGS 



little cheap dog, and see it through a litter before 

 embarking in a " paying " breed, as where these are 

 concerned it is useless to expect return unless a really 

 good price has been paid for valuable stock to begin 

 with. One does occasionally see such toys as Japs 

 and Poms advertised very cheaply ; and I have known 

 people who studied these advertisements with rosy 

 visions of " picking up " a bitch from an excellent 

 strain, at a guinea or two with some slight fault, 

 like a few white hairs, to cheapen her of breeding show 

 stock from her and making a little fortune. Chances 

 like this seldom come in the way of the novice. The 

 best start a would-be breeder who is without any ex- 

 perience can have, is by placing herself in the hands 

 of some one who has been successful, buying a young 

 bitch which comes of a winning strain, though it may 

 possess some fault, at a fair price which will not be 

 a small one and taking the breeder's advice as to 

 mating, etc. Or it is by no means a bad plan to buy a 

 brace of unrelated young puppies and rear them. Of 

 this, more in the chapter on breeding. 



To buy imported or pedigreeless small toys for breed- 

 ing is a complete lottery. Foreign breeders are extremely 

 careless with regard to their strains, and purity of blood 

 can never be depended on. Another point which must 

 be insisted upon in relation to profitable toy breeding 

 is the necessity for health in the kennel. I say kennel 

 because it is a useful word, but am far from suggesting 

 that toys of any kind should be kept in the way under- 

 stood by " having a kennel " among larger dogs. The 

 breeder who succeeds best is invariably the one who keeps 

 one or two, or even four or five, pet bitches, running 

 about the house enjoying full liberty and all the happi- 

 ness of personal favourites, with, it may be, a dog also 

 of the party. The breeder who is most troubled with 

 skin complaints, distemper, lengthy vet's bills, and all 

 the expenses, such as sick diet, which eat up profits, is 

 the one who has built or fitted " kennels," no matter 

 at what expense, and filled them with dogs. 



