WASHING OF DOGS. 77 



rubbing would prove an excellent substitute for washing in many 

 cases, particularly where water proves injurious, which it some- 

 times does to delicate dogs. 



Washing of dogs is, under some circumstances, a very neces- 

 sary practice, and, when judiciously managed, is salutary also : but 

 when otherwise, it is productive of more mischief than persons are 

 aware of. There is not a more fertile source of disease to dogs 

 than suffering their coats to remain wet after washing or bathing. 

 In the first place, it subjects those who are unused to it to colds, 

 distemper, inflammations, or asthma ; and in those to whom the 

 practice is common, it is scarcely less pernicious ; for, though it 

 may not occasion immediate disease, it nevertheless, in the end, 

 frequently produces canker or mange. It may be observed, as a 

 proof of this, that dogs who often go into the water are seldom 

 without some affection of this kind. Canker, particularly, is al- 

 most confined to dogs who swim much, or who are washed often, 

 without being properly dried afterwards : it should, therefore, be 

 most attentively observed, when dogs are washed, that they are 

 also carefully dried after it. Very small dogs, for this purpose, 

 may be wrapped up in a blanket : large dogs, after being well 

 rubbed, may be permitted to run into a stable among clean straw, 

 which is a very excellent means of drying them, and, from its 

 warmth, a very safe one. It should also be remembered, that, in 

 ascertaining the proper warmth of the water for the washing of 

 dogs, the heat which appears trifling to the hand of a servant 

 always used to dabbling in suds will scald an animal unused to any 

 thing but cold water. Washing should not be repeated oftener 

 than once a week, even with the best care, for it certainly pro- 

 motes mange and canker. Rubbing the skin with a flannel and 

 dry bran is better. In slight rednesses of the skin, washing with 

 common gin will often remove them. In similar cases, yellow soap 

 well rubbed in. and then completely washed off, is also a good 

 practice. But however hurtful a too frequent system of water 

 washing may be to healthy dogs, to diseased ones both hot and 

 cold bathing are of the greatest service. — See Bathing, Class XIV. 



