24 THE DOG IN HEALTH. 



most rapid and effective educators of the general public 

 and the greatest stimulus to high-class breeding. But of 

 these again. 



The dog, like most quadrupeds, may very naturally be 

 considered as made up of the following sections or regions 

 of the body : Head, neck, chest, shoulders, back, loins, 

 quarters, tail, legs, and feet. Manifestly each of these is 

 capable of subdivision, and the extent to which this is done 

 in the different standards is very variable. 



Unless standards are drawn up merely by caprice, we 

 are entitled to ask what should be kept in mind in per- 

 forming such a task ? It seems to us that within the limits 

 that Nature allows, the following should be the aims : 



Primarily, the dogs of the breed in question should 

 have such a form as is best suited to the purpose for which 

 the animal is intended. Let this once be lost sight of, and 

 breeders are at sea without rudder or compass. 



The relative size and proportion of parts should be 

 such as are consistent ; no decided weakness anywhere ; for 

 in an animal, as in a chain, the strength of the whole is 

 practically determined by that of the weakest part, and it 

 is just this balance of parts, which Nature looks after so 

 well in wild animals, that the breeder who is a specialist 

 may be tempted to disregard. To illustrate What mat- 

 ters it that a dog shall have the most perfect form in every 

 other part if his head is so small that it can not contain 

 the necessary amount of brain for the purposes of his 

 work, or his loin so weak that if he has galloping work 

 to do he must soon tire, etc. ? 



But a dog may be usefully and strongly built without 

 those refinements of proportion that we recognize in high- 



