EXERCISE. 97 



is very generally the cause of the changed demeanor, for 

 under it good brisk circulation and healthy organic action 

 — which promote buoyancy of spirit and contentment — 

 are simply impossible, and these happy conditions must 

 invariably give way to languor and irritability if not 

 ferocity. 



There is no reason why a sound and healthy puppy 

 should not develop well and harmoniously if he is treated 

 properly, but it is a deplorable fact that a well-proportioned 

 and symmetrically built dog is far from the rule, and espe- 

 cially among those raised in thickly settled places, where 

 dogs are often trained to the chain at the earliest possible 

 age, and long before they have reached maturity are wrung- 

 at the shoulders and dragged out of shape in consequence 

 of their constant tugging. 



It is simply the height of cruelty to keep a dog on the 

 chain or otherwise too closely confined, for not only will 

 it break him in spirit, make him dull and sullen and gnarl 

 his body, but it must undermine his constitution and bring 

 upon him a long train of evils, prominent among which 

 are indigestion, eczema, disease of the kidneys, poverty of 

 the blood, rheumatism and even convulsions. 



There is also a moral responsibility that must not be 

 lost sight of while weighing this fault. A man may say 

 that his dog is his own to do with as he likes ; and this is 

 true, yet not by any means in the widest sense, for he has 

 no more right to abuse his dog than he has to abuse his 

 child. In either instance he equally ill-treats one of God's 

 creatures and in the sight of Heaven stands convicted of 

 an outrage alike in kind if not degree. 



It must now be evident that the subject of exercise 

 deserves more attention than is usually given it, and that 

 when properly regulated it not only promotes well-bal- 

 anced growth in the muscles and bones, and sustains and 



