258 Forty Years Beagling 



"If you possess a champion dog, take my advice, 

 do not be tempted to stud him too much, or you 

 may kill the goose who lays eggs of gold. One bitch 

 a week is about as much as any dog can do, to have 

 good stock and retain his constitution. Feed your 

 dog very well when at stud, and give him occasion- 

 ally a light iron tonic, the phosphate of iron is as 

 good as anything else. If he begins to get thin, 

 stop his studding and give him a month's rest, tonics 

 and cod-liver oil. It is not the actual studding, per- 

 haps, that reduces him in flesh, but dogs are the 

 most sensitive of all animals, and very often fret 

 and worry, and refuse food during the time of the 

 bitch's visit, and sometimes for days thereafter. 



"If a bitch misses to a dog, the fault may be the 

 dog's, or it may be hers. The dog at the time of the 

 visit may have been a little out of sorts. At all 

 events, the custom in a case of this sort is, that the 

 bitch shall come free to the dog when next in sea- 

 son. 



"A good champion dog of a fashionable breed 

 is very valuable property. If, however, you pos- 

 sess valuable dogs, always try to have yourself the 

 very best bitches of the same breed that you can 

 procure. You will find it a very profitable invest- 

 ment, for you will have no difficulty in selling the 

 offspring at a remunerative price." 



