FEEDING. 145 



to contend with, and, no matter how carefully trained it is, these waste products 

 eventually limit their performance. 



"A dog's wind may be all right, he is ready to go and wants to go, but if the 

 production of these waste products is too rapid for their removal by the kidneys 

 and other organs, they remain in 'the system and partially paralyze the nerves 

 controlling the muscles and they refuse to act. 



"The fat or muscle-making possibilities of various foods and the animal's 

 actual condition can be . studied very intelligently by the use, after exercise or 

 work, of a small clinical thermometer. When the maximum amount of work 

 short of actual exhaustion produces the minimum degree of heat as registered 

 by the thermometer, the animal is in the best condition and the foods that will 

 afford these results are the foods to be adopted, and the foods that produce the 

 largest amount, of heat for a given 'amount of work are to be avoided, as a 

 general working system. 



"It can be laid down that the quantity of meat can be reduced during the 

 close season and increased during the working season to almost an all-meat diet 

 with satisfactory results. Oatmeal and unbolted wheat flour are the most desirable 

 of grains. Wheat flour, rye or barley shorts should be baked as bread pones and 

 allowed to cool and afterward broken up and softened with meat liquor, soup 

 or milk Cornmeal is a popular food with trainers, probably on account of its 

 price, ease of obtaining and preparing, but it is a fat producer and not a 

 muscle builder. No horse, trainer would feed it to a 'thoroughbred when condi- 

 tioning him for a race, and while trainers may feel satisfied with the way their 

 dogs thrive, I am sure they would be capable of greater muscular effort if fed 

 on one of the other grains. 



"A very good way of preparing food for a string of dogs is to purchase a 

 few sheeps' heads, a couple of beeves' heads, or a liver or two, or twenty or 

 'thirty pounds of chucks or neck pieces chopped fine. Boil the heads in a kettle 

 until they are thoroughly cooked, and the meat can easily be scraped from the 

 bones. This meat should then be chopped or shredded into small pieces and 

 mixed with from three to six times its weight of whole wheat flour, rye or corn 

 meal, softened and worked up with the soup liquor. To this may be added 

 enough Mark molasses to slightly sweeten the whole and then it is to be thor- 

 oughly baked over a slow fire and afterward allowed to not only cool, but par- 

 tially dry, in which condition it will keep indefinitely. When it is to be fed, 

 break it u,p into pieces, and feed dry or soften it with meat or vegetable soup. 

 This food can also be improved by adding vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, 

 beets, onions or cabbage, in the proportion of one pound of vegetables to from 

 five to ten pounds of meat and grain. 



"The sportsman owning only one or two dogs, who will condition his dogs 

 on food prepared in this way, and who will carry with him a sufficient quantity 

 to provide for his dogs while on a hunting trip, will be amply repaid by their 

 superior condition, and he will never go back to the makeshift diet of table 

 scraps that is too often resorted to. 



"Dog biscuits* simplify the feeding problem and the professional trainer or 

 sportsman who uses them as a staple diet. can go on an extended hunting trip 

 or even to remote sections of the country, where there are no conveniences for 

 preparing food, and feel sure of his dog having a properly balanced ration. The 

 ordinary dog biscuit contains only a small proportion of meat, hardly sufficient 

 for a dog during the close season. When hunting or training it is advisable to 



