BEST TIME OF YEAR. 18'i 



breed from dogs or horses having the same degree of relationship 

 to their mates. At the same time, when all that can be desired is 

 obtainable without in-breeding, I should be inclined to avoid it; 

 always taking care to resort to it when it is desired to recover a 

 particular strain, which is becoming merged in some other pre- 

 dominant blood. Then by obtaining an animal bred as purely as 

 possible to the desired strain, and putting him or her to your own, 

 it may be expected that the produce will " go back " to this par- 

 ticular ancestry, and will resemble them more than any other. 



BEST TIME OF YEAR. 



The best time of the year for breeding dogs is from April to 

 September, inasmuch as in the cold of winter the puppies are apt 

 to become chilled, whereby their growth is stopped, and some 

 disease very often developed. Among public greyhounds there is 

 a particular reason for selecting an earlier period of the year, 

 because as their age is reckoned from the 1st of January, and as 

 they are wanted to run as saplings or puppies, which are defined 

 by their age, the earlier thsy are born, the more chance they have 

 in competition with their fellows of the same year. Hounds and 

 game dogs are wanted to begin work in the autumn, and as they 

 do not come to maturity until after they are a year old, they 

 should be whelped in the spring. This is more especially the case 

 with pointers and setters, which are then old enough to have their 

 education nearly completed at " pairing time," in the spring of 

 the next year, when only their breaking can properly be carried 

 on, as birds then lie like stones, and allow the dog to be reached 

 and properly kept under by his breaker. Toy dogs and all small 

 dogs, which are reared in the house, may be bred almost at any 

 time of the year ; but even they are stronger and healthier if born 

 in the summer months, because the puppies may then be supposed 

 to get more air and sun than they could do in the winter, when 

 the warmth of the fire is essential to their well-doing. 



