EXERCISE. 107 



appreciating this very evident fact they will not be likely 

 to turn their dogs into the kennels after a hard run with- 

 out rubbing them down and drying them as they would 

 their horses after a like experience. Nor will they fail to 

 have an eye to their feet, realizing as they must that a 

 splinter or bit of glass may have been taken up or a cut 

 received, in which event serious trouble might result 

 were the accident not discovered early. 



A word here as to dogs much used in the stud. They 

 should not work in the field nor be allowed in other ways 

 to exert themselves violently, but should be kept at home 

 most of the time, in large yards, and when taken out be 

 given long, slow, steady exercise. Their special duty is a 

 tax upon their energies, and if required to perform it 

 often, high health and vigor cannot be maintained unless 

 every precaution is observed. 



The first step is to prevent muscular strain — as that 

 occurring in hard runs — which means a wasteful expendi- 

 ture of vitality. Such exercise, by the way, is considered 

 by many breeders not only harmless but absolutely essen- 

 tial to good development of the muscles. But this is an 

 absurdity, pure and simple, for it is upon the duration and 

 number of movements, not upon their intensity, that the 

 development of a muscle depends. For instance the man 

 who exercises for ten minutes with dumb-bells weighing 

 two pounds each and puts them up thirty times a minute 

 will develop the muscles worked far more quickly than he 

 who uses ten-pound dumb-bells for the same period and 

 puts them up only eight or ten times a minute. More- 

 over, were both beginners the former would likely gain and 

 the latter lose strength, and the loss would be attributable 

 to the muscular strains. 



Obviously, therefore, hard and fast work is not only not 

 necessary to muscular development and strength but 



