176 EVERYTHING ABOUT DOGS. 



"It is curious that every man who has handled great numbers of dogs bears 

 the same testimony. 



"There is danger of blood poisoning as a result of any animal's bite; and there 

 is lock-jaw as the extreme effect of blood poisoning. But the men who have been 

 longest in charge of dogs agree that there is no rabid condition when ta bite is 

 m.ore dangerous than at any other time; and that a dog's bite at any time is no 

 more dangerous than the scratch of a cat. 



"It does seem that they ought to know. For the sake of humanity's peace of 

 mind the doctors should find out whether the experience of men who have been 

 bitten dozens of times is worth anything." 



Harry W. Lacy recently wrote in the American Siockkeeper on this subject: 

 "One would think that a man having intelligence enough to write editorials on a 

 leading daily paper would inform himself sufficiently on the subject not to make 

 surh a foolish statement as that muzzling dogs was a sure way to prfoduce 

 hydrophobia, but this is what a Boston Standard editorial said last woek: 

 Probably there is no subject about which the average newspaper writer gets off 

 more tommy rot than hydrophobia and mad dog scares. 



"These hydrophobia scares are mainly due to the sensational imagination of 

 the reporter who plays upon the nervousness of a public only too ready to shy a 

 stone at dog. and then when the scare has assumed suitable proportions and a 

 muzzling order goes forth, these writers are again the first to question its 

 advisability and play on the feeling of their readers who may own dogs, with the 

 nonsensical statement alluded to above. 



"The very rare disease called hydrophobia can only be produced through 

 inoculation with the rabial virus, and a dog might wear a muzzle to the end of 

 his natural life, and unless he was actually bitten by a rabid dog he would be 

 none the worse, though, according to his temperament, the incubus might make 

 him bad tempered, irritable, and so excite his nervous temperament as to send 

 him into a fit wherein he would probably display some of those symptoms of 

 rabies popularly, but erroneously, associated with hydrophobia. 



"If such a thing as hydrophobia really exists in a locality there is no surer 

 method to stamp it out than a general muzzling order strictly enforced. The 

 reason is obvious. This may entail hardship on individual dogs, but the good of 

 the others and the community at large demands it. 



"Speaking of hydrophobia scares we do not hesitate to say that the Pasteur 

 Institute in New York has done more to keep alive an unhealthy state of public 

 mind in regard to the disease than any other agency. The advent of new patients 

 is heralded throughout the country, and patients from distant states are treated 

 on the supposition that they have been bitten by mad dogs, but rarely is it proved 

 that the dogs were really rabid. Still they undergo the treatment, and Dr. Gibier 

 claims credit for subsequent immunity." 



Here are the ideas of Dr. H. Clay Glover, of New York City, one of the highest 

 authorities on canine diseases that we have in America: 



Dr. H. Clay Glover, interviewed on the muzzling question by a New York 

 Herald man, was asked why the muzzle was unnecessary. "Because," said Dr. 

 Glover, "it is of no possible benefit either to the dog or public. The mad dog scare, 

 which has been so long agitated, is a myth, and one calculated to do much; injury 

 by the introduction of a false hydrophobia induced by fear. During my long 

 experience in canine practice I have never seen but one case of authenticated 



