188 THE DOG IN DISEASE. 



the chest-wall. As the dog is an excitable animal, he must 

 be quieted and soothed a little when the pulse is being 

 taken or the heart examined, especially by a stranger. 

 In all cases it must be ascertained that the pulse is not 

 merely transiently affected as the result of temporary 

 excitement from the very process of examination or other- 

 wise. 



The variations natural to the different positions of the 

 body are not to be forgotten. 



The pulse at birth is very rapid, 130 to 160 ; for the 

 first three months, 120 to 140 ; at from the sixth to the 

 ninth month, 90 to 110 ; after one year, TO to 90. It will 

 be understood that these are only rough estimates, so wide 

 are the variations with age, sex, breed, position, tempera- 

 ment, etc. 



A merely rapid pulse, with no elevation of tempera- 

 ture or other unfavorable symptoms, is not of great sig- 

 nificance usually. It is to be borne in mind, too, that 

 when an adult dog is quietly sleeping the pulse may be 

 very slow indeed, 40 to 50. 



The author desires to draw special attention to a feat- 

 ure of the pulse of the dog to which reference is seldom 

 made. After puppyhood the pulse is subject to a sort of 

 normal irregularity i. e., with each expiration the pulse 

 is slower and stronger, and the beats uneven a condition 

 of things, in fact, which in man or any other animal would 

 be a certain sign of disease in the large proportion of cases. 

 The phenomenon in question is never shown decidedly 

 in a young puppy, and it is never absent in a matured 

 dog, so that it constitutes in some measure an indication 

 of age. By the inexperienced these peculiarities might 



