PRACTICAL 
generation or so ago. A fuller knowledge 
has done much to increase the pride which 
the British people take in their canine com- 
panions, and our present population of 
dogs has never been equalled for good 
quality in any other age or any other land. 
The beginner cannot easily go wrong or 
be seriously cheated, but it is well when 
making a first purchase to take the advice 
of an expert and to be very certain of the 
dog’s pedigree, age, temper, and condi- 
tion. The approved method of buying a 
dog is to select one advertised for sale in 
the weekly journals devoted to the dog and 
dog-fancying—The Field, Our Dogs, The 
Illustrated Kennel News, and the Lady’s 
Field, offer abundant opportunities. <A 
better way still, if a dog of distinguished 
pedigree is desired, is to apply direct to a 
well-known owner of the required breed, or 
to visit one of the great annual shows, such 
as Cruft’s (held in February), Manchester 
(held in March), The Ladies’ IXennel Asso- 
ciation (Botanic Gardens, Regent’s Park, 
in June), The IXennel Club (Crystal Palace, 
in October), The Scottish JSennel Club 
(Edinburgh, in October), or Birmingham 
(December), and there choose the dog from 
the benches, buying him at his catalogue 
price. 
If you are a potential dog-owner, you 
have need to consider many things before 
you decide to establish a kennel. In the 
a place, you ought to ask yourself if 
you are worthy to keep a dog, and if you 
are cena to return his devotion with 
the care and kindness and unfailing atten- 
tion which are his due. Will you give him 
wholesome food with regularity, and a 
comfortable bed? Will you give him his 
daily exercise, and keep him clean, and 
nurse him in sickness, never be unjust 
to him, or deceive him, or forget him, or 
punish him without cause? If you are pre- 
pared to do these things, then you are 
worthy; but all people are not so, and 
there are some to whom the present writer 
would not entrust the meanest cur that ever 
was whelped. One owes a duty to one’s 
dog, and to neglect that duty is a shame 
not less than the shame of neglecting one’s 
children. 
In determining the choice of a breed it 
is to be remembered that some are better 
MANAGEMENT. 
573 
watchdogs than others, some more docile, 
some safer with children. The size of the 
breed should be relative to the accommoda- 
tion available. To have a St. Bernard or 
a Great Dane gallumphing about a small 
house is an inconvenience, and sporting 
dogs which require constant exercise and 
freedom are not suited to the confined life 
of a Bloomsbury flat. Nor are the long- 
haired breeds at their best draggling round 
in the wet, muddy streets of a city. For 
town lite the clean-legged Terrier, the 
Bulldog, the Pug, and the Schipperke are 
to be preferred. Bitches are cleaner in the 
house and more tractable than dogs. The 
idea that they are more trouble than dogs 
is a fallacy. The difficulty arises only 
twice in a twelvemonth for a few days, and 
if you are watchful there need be no mis- 
adventure. 
If only one dog, or two or three of the 
smaller kinds, be kept, there 1s no impera- 
tive need for an outdoor kennel, although 
all dogs are the better for life in the open 
air. The house-dog may be fed with meat- 
scraps from the kitchen served as an even- 
ing meal, with rodnim or a dry biscuit for 
breakfast. The duty of feeding him should 
be in the hands of one person only. When 
it is everybody’s and nobody’s duty he is 
apt to be neglected at one time and overfed 
¢ 
N= 
t i 
rn 
Soffa 
@ 
aS hi 
SPRATTS PATENT Cz 
TOY DOG KENNEL ON CASTORS FOR INDOORS. 
at another. Regularity of feeding is one 
of the secrets of successful dog-keeping. 
It ought also to be one person’s duty to see 
that he has frequent access to the yard or 
garden, that he gets plenty of clean drink- 
ing water, plenty of outdoor exercise, and 
a comfortable bed. 
For the toy and delicate breeds it is a 
good plan to have a dog-room set apart, 
with a suitable cage or basket-kennel for 
each dog. Spratt’s Toy-dog kennel and 
run (No. 171), which is mounted on castors, 
