

4 THE DOGS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 



flesh, imported from abroad, being mixed with the meal before it is baked. I have 

 tried those of Spratt and Co. with great advantage on pointers and setters, when 

 containing not more than ten per cent, of meat ; but a larger proportion I have 

 found much too heating, causing loss of nose, and a tendency to eruption. They 

 should be given whole and dry, not soaked, the dogs breaking them up easily with 

 their teeth ; and they appear to agree much better in this way than when soaked. 

 Two or three times a week, whatever may be the kind of meal or biscuit used, some 

 green vegetables, well boiled, should be given in addition, by which means the blood 

 is kept cool, the coat blooming, and the nose cool and moist. Messrs. Spratt and 

 Co. add a certain quantity of dates to their biscuits for the same purposes, but they 

 are not sufficient for any length of time to supersede the necessity for green food 

 in the case of kennelled dogs, who cannot get at ^ grass, which instinct prompts 

 those at liberty to bite off and swallow. The number of biscuits required for a 

 pointer or setter daily averages from 3 to 3|, but some gross feeders are sufficiently 

 nourished with 2|, and others demand as many as 4| or even 5. 



Last year (1881) Messrs. Spratt introduced beetroot into their biscuits with 

 excellent effect, not only on the health of the dogs fed on them, but also on the 

 appetite for them of delicate or petted dogs. I find by experience that the most 

 fastidious feeder will eat them dry, and strongly recommend this improvement to 

 my readers. 



For large dogs, Calvert's carbolic acid wash, diluted with thirty or forty times 

 its bulk of water, and used as a wash, forms the best application for fleas and 

 ticks, and it is also useful as a vermin- destroying wash for the kennel walls and 

 fittings, followed by lime-wash when dry. If preferred, the application described 

 for pet dogs may be employed, or a small quantity of benzine collas may be 

 rubbed in along the back. 



CHAPTER II. 

 HOUSE MANAGEMENT OF PET DOGS. 



ET DOGS require a different treatment, to understand which it will be 

 better to begin at the beginning. We will suppose that a puppy six 

 weeks old, and of a breed not exceeding 151b. weight, is presented to 

 one of our readers What is to be done ? First of all, if the weather 

 is not decidedly warm, let it be provided with a warm basket lined with 

 some woollen material, which must be kept scrupulously clean. The little animal 

 must on no account be permitted to have the opportunity of lying upon a stone 

 floor, which is a fertile source of disease ; bare wood, however, is better than caipet, 

 and oilcloth superior to either on the score of cleanliness. In the winter season the 



