Buying a Dog 75 
“gasp at any price over about twenty dollars. To get a dog capable of win- 
ning at New York in any of the fashionable breeds there would be little 
chance of succeeding for less than five hundred dollars, while in some 
breeds that amount would not be sufficient. Others not so fashionable are 
not so expensive. When it comes to a dog capable of winning at shows 
where the tip-toppers are not competitors the price suggested may be halved 
or even quartered and a very satisfactory dog obtained. The reason being 
that we have so few shows here that a dog of the first class sent on circuit 
stops all others from winning; and as it is the winners that cost money, the 
price of such dogs double up quickly compared with those they can surely 
defeat. 
The large majority of buyers are, however, in search of a puppy to 
bring up as a pet or house dog, and the main consideration is good health 
and an absence of any disfigurement. If it is of a large breed, then the largest- 
and best-boned one is the likeliest to hold the lead in size, providing he is 
properly reared. Heads grow longer and thinner in foreface as puppies 
develop, and as that is wanted in but few breeds a head with plenty of bulk 
before the eyes is recommended as the one likeliest to fill out without weak- 
ness. The size of the ears is in many breeds an important point. Where 
the ears are erect, then the smaller and neater the better. If not to be 
carried fully erect the very small ear is to be avoided, for a small-eared 
collie, for instance, is most likely to get them fully erect eventually. So 
much depends upon the breed that the selection is to be made from, that 
general directions can hardly be given upon many points; and if the buyer 
has no personal knowledge to guide him the better plan will be to place 
himself in the hands of the vendor, and if there is any difference in price 
between the puppies accept that as the guide and take the high-priced one, 
for the man who fixed the prices has had every opportunity to form the best 
judgment as to the choicest. 
It is far too prevalent an idea that to do business with a dog-dealer is 
to invite oneself to be robbed. We have had personal knowledge of a 
very large number of those who make a business of buying and selling dogs, 
and have investigated officially and personally many cases of alleged fraud 
on their part, and in the majority of cases found not the slightest reason for 
the charges made. In others, where there was a conflict of testimony we 
have always found the dealer more willing to make an honorable settlement 
than the buyer, and in the few cases of positive swindling the American 
