2Q2 THE BOOK OF THE DOG. 



to cross to get rid of certain positive defects, but the process is a perilous one, and should 

 be undertaken with caution. These are but trite maxims, yet few people obey them in 

 practice. 



Having then established the principle that there must be a sufficient degree of similarity 

 and of common descent to ensure uniformity, we have to face the question of selecting and 

 mating the individual specimens. And here I believe that an error is often made by breeders 

 who have risen a degree above the practices which I described at the outset. A favourite 

 notion is that we should correct the defects of one parent by the excessive merits of the 

 other. Now, in details this may be true enough. If we have large ears on one side we 

 must try to diminish the liability by getting small ears on the other ; so with legs and feet 

 and coat, and with peculiarities of temper. But it is a fatal error to couple two animals of 

 widely different type, as a big leggy dog with a neat compact bitch, or a light shelly bitch 

 with a coarse thick-set dog. Modify your type gradually by careful selection. No valuable 

 breed of animals was ever yet produced, as far as I know, at one bound by the combination 

 of widely differing sorts. 



As to the question of in-breeding, my own view on the subject is, never be afraid of 

 in-breeding, and never in-breed except when it is necessary. Use the most suitable dog. If 

 two dogs be equally suitable, choose that one who is least nearly related. Without a 

 certain amount of in-breeding it is impossible, as I have said before, to ensure certainty of 

 type. With reference to the precise degree of in-breeding that may be permitted, it is impos- 

 sible to lay down a general rule. The whole question was well discussed in some articles 

 which appeared several years ago in the Live Stock Journal. The writer there clearly 

 pointed out the reason why in-breeding has in domestic animals been sometimes attended with 

 disastrous results. Almost every animal has certain morbid tendencies, and once any morbid 

 tendency has established itself in a family, every consanguineous union of course tends to 

 double it. In some animals the very process which fits them for the use of man is, in itself, 

 the creation of a morbid tendency. The fattening properties of the Leicester sheep and the 

 Shorthorn ox are obtained by a certain exaggeration of one part of the system the consequent 

 disturbance of the healthy harmony of the whole. In wild animals, the process of "struggle 

 for existence" constantly tends to preserve that harmony and to redress any violation of it. 

 Hence, among wild animals in-breeding is carried to great lengths with impunity. In all kinds 

 of dogs used for field sports, artificial selection has, on the whole, adopted and perpetuated the 

 same characteristics that Nature preserves in wild animals. Hence the extent to which in- 

 breeding may be safely carried, as in the Laverack Setters. At the same time there are in all 

 strains certain inherent defects, and the inevitable tendency of in-breeding is to enhance these 

 defects ; hence, if we in-breed closely, we must select those specimens who are most free from 

 the family failings. In dogs, I am strongly of opinion that shyness is a result to be feared 

 from too close breeding. It is hardly needful to say that this shyness, which is a fatal fault 

 in a show dog, and a serious drawback to his working and companionable qualities, is wholly 

 different from timidity. One of the very best working Terriers I have ever known is so shy 

 as to be absolutely wretched in a crowded street or at a show. She is the offspring of very 

 near relations, and in her case in-breeding has not produced any bad effects in the way of 

 weediness or constitutional weakness. 



There is one more point to be noticed in the management of the brood bitch that is, the 

 age at which it is desirable to breed from her. While I believe that a bitch does not reach her 

 prime till she is over two years old, I never should object to put a bitch of ten or eleven 



