412 The Management and Diseases of the Dog. 



Again the ears are full of expression. Alarm, excite- 

 ment, joy, watchfulness, are each denoted by their different 

 attitudes ; remove them, and the beauty of the countenance 

 is lost. 



I shall not take up space in this book, which is devoted 

 to worthier, and I trust more interesting subjects, in 

 describing the manner and time of operating. If any of 

 my readers are desirous of obtaining such information,. I 

 refer them to those works wherein it is mentioned. 



ROUNDING. 

 This may be termed cropping in another form, arid unless 

 absolutely necessary, as in the extension of cartilaginous 

 disease in canker, it is equally to be condemned with the 

 former. That it is a prevention of canker is purely imagi- 

 nary. Such an idea is on a par with cutting off a leg to 

 prevent its being broken. True, the part that is removed 

 cannot become diseased, but what is left can, and is very 

 likely to, after such unwise measures. And then, as 

 Mayhew has it, " the wretched beast is rounded a second' 

 time," and so on until he has little or no ear left. The 

 operation is generally performed with a rounded iron, but 

 however done, it is cruel and unnecessary. 



TAILING. 

 This also is a dictate of fashion ; shortening this append- 

 age is not necessarily a cruel operation. It should always 

 be performed, when intended, a few days after birth, while 

 the parts are tender, easily and instantaneously removed 

 and with but little haemorrhage or subsequent disturbance 

 to the animal. Drawing tha tendons is not requisite 

 except when a fine or tapering tail is required, and then it 

 decidedly has that effect. For dividing the tail and then 

 drawing it, a. pair of the ordinary flat-nosed sharp-edged 

 pincers are best adapted, and avoids the otherwise filthy 

 habit of biting the required length off. 



