S DISKASKS or DOOS. 



I would particularly impress on all who own dogs — especially young 

 owners — that it is not only to their interest, hut it is their duty, to 

 be true masters, ruling with firmness and kindness, and providing 

 for aU the wants of the animal in lodging, food, and exercise on 

 principles of common sense ; for thus only can health be maintained. 

 If a dog have not proper food provided at proper times, but ia 

 allowed to be the scavenger of the yard and the street, what wonder 

 if he become loathsome and diseased, a nuisance to his owner and 

 everyone else ? If, on the other hand, he be pampered, petted, and 

 stufiFed with tit-bits and sweet cakes, he will lose all kindliness of 

 disposition (the great charm of a companion dog), and become a 

 morose, peevish, snappish misanthrope, that your friends may praise, 

 but dare not pat ; he will lose all beauty of form, all sprightliness 

 and elasticity of action, and become an unshapely, asthmatical lump 

 of obesity, to whom the slightest physical exertion is a trouble. 

 Ladies, who are the great offenders in this way, should remember 

 that dogs are never so healthy and happy as when in good working 

 condition — that is, when they can take a good gallop without 

 puffing. 



AGE, TO DETEHBIZITE. — In the dog there is no trust- 

 worthy indication of age, as in the case of horses and cattle. The 

 age of puppies can, however, be determined by the Teeth (which 

 tee). In grown dogs the teeth are not by any means a certain index, 

 for in some they remain white and entire until a considerable age 

 has been attained, whilst in others, from disease, they are covered 

 with a yellow deposit very early in Ufe. The natural wear and tear 

 is governed by accident, the sort of work the dog has been used to, 

 and also to some extent by the kind of food he has generally had. 

 For instance, dogs that are fed largely upon bones invariably have 

 the teeth worn prematurely ; while in dogs which have been foolishly 

 allowed to retrieve hard substances, such as stones, the teeth are of 

 very little guide in the determination of age. Speaking generally, 

 however, after the third or fourth year the dog's teeth begin to show 

 a deposit of tartar, and become yellow in comparison with the 

 beautiful white enamel of the perfect ones. Moreover, the teeth at 

 that age are somewhat worn at the points, and are not so even as 

 they were, say, at two years. Again, once the teeth begin to decay 

 in a comparatively young dog, such an animal soon exhibits signs of 

 ago. The advisability, therefore, of keeping the teeth free from 

 tartar deposits will at once be seen. Persons accustomed to have 

 dogs constantly about them can generally give a pretty shrewd 

 guess as to age, but the most acute observers are often wide of the 

 mark, so much do individual animals differ in the indications of age 



