46 THE sportsman's vade meoum. 



paved or flagged, both preferable to brick, since they dry 

 quicker' and consequently there is less fear of kennel lame- 

 ness, caused by paddling on a damp floor. These courts 

 ought to run out at least ten or fifteen feet to the front, and 

 of course the partition kept up between the two. This out- 

 side court may be palisaded, but it should be at least ten 

 feet high, else the dogs are liable to break kennel ; and the 

 front of the house also at the top should be fortified, to 

 prevent their eloping that way. If possible, a stream of 

 running water should be conducted through the yards ; it 

 aids its daily washing, as well as enabling the dogs to get 

 as much pure water as they choose. When this cannot be 

 had, a trough must be daily filled for their use. Clean 

 wheat straw, removed twice a week, or shavings of pine or 

 cedar when to be had are better, must be used for their beds. 

 Always feed your dogs together in a V shaped trough, 

 raised slightly from the ground, taking care to restrain the 

 greedy and encourage the shy feeders. In a building of this 

 tort, they will be perfectly warm and comfortable. Every 

 portion of it must be daily cleaned out, and the rubbish 

 carried away. Twice a year it should be whitewashed inside 

 and out, and fumigated with sulphur, tobacco, &c. This 

 considerably helps to destroy vermin. Nothing conduces 

 more to disease than a filthy kennel, nothing vitiates a dog's 

 nose more than foetid smells. In the rear of this kennel 

 should be your boiling house, if your establishment requires 

 one. All that is required is a copper, set in brick, with a 

 chimney, to boil mush and meat in, a barrel to hold soup, 

 and a ledge or tray, three or four inches deep, to pour the 



