26 BULLETIN 260, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



with some person, and wherever conditions call for it should be kept 

 in leash. When away from home the dog should be muzzled with a 

 reliable metal muzzle, not with a strap muzzle that would be cruel to 

 the dog if tight enough to be effective and which is usually so loose as 

 merely to give a false sense of security, since it permits the dog to bite. 

 In regard to laws requiring muzzling and other restraints, 

 Schroeder x has made the following interesting comment : 



The reason why laws of this nature have not been made is due to the active 

 fight against them by a small, greatly interested minority that opposes a tardy, 

 disinterested majority. The minority fights hard for a privilege it has long 

 enjoyed and abused, that of allowing dogs to be at large without restraint at 

 all times, and the majority has never half realized that this privilege is costing 

 a high price in the destruction of property and in horrible agony and namerous 

 deaths. * * * The dog owner who knows what rabies is from experience, 

 if he has the proper consideration for his own welfare and that of his dogs, 

 will be among the first to demand a movement for its suppression, even if this 

 should place restrictions on the freedom of his own dogs. His interest is 

 greatest because he has the most at stake and is himself most seriously and 

 frequently exposed to the infection. 



As means or adjuncts for attaining the conditions outlined here, 

 numerous measures have been suggested and, to some extent, practiced 

 in this country. Some of these measures are cited in a paper by 

 Stimson, 2 and a very good summary has been given by him. Among 

 the possible measures are, of course, the imposition of a license on all 

 dogs, dogs so licensed to wear an official tag with at least a registered 

 serial number on it, and possibly with the owner's name and address 

 also. Any dog not so licensed should be taken up by an adequate 

 impounding force and humanely killed. Dogs so licensed should be 

 taken up when found astray in violation of ordinances requiring 

 muzzling or imposing other restrictions. -Rabies should be made a 

 reportable disease everywhere, and prompt and thorough measures 

 taken for its eradication, to be followed by quarantine against unre- 

 stricted importation of dogs into clean areas. Castration and spaying 

 are. recommended as aids in keeping a dog at home. They also serve 

 to stop the promiscuous breeding which serves to add recruits to the 

 vast army of worthless and vagrant dogs. Dr. Arbuckle, in recom- 

 mending castration, says that it does not diminish the animal's value 

 as a hunting dog. 



Protection from the dangers of improperly controlled dogs depends 

 primarily on the education of the public and the development of an 

 educated public sentiment. With public sentiment behind it any re- 



1 Some observations on rabies. By E. C. Schroeder. Bureau of Animal Industry Circu- 

 lar 120. 1908. 



2 Facts and problems of rabies. By A. M. Stimson. Hygienic Laboratory Bulletin 65, 

 1910. 



