450 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 20, 1889. 



whose fur was clipped so as to give him the appearance of a 

 miniature lion, stood as quiet and dignified among the 

 people as if he understood each word addressed to him. tak- 

 ing the evidences of appreciation as matters of course which 

 he had every right to expect. Soon I understood what it all 

 ment. Romeo "belonged to Mrs. C. F. Kress, of Washington 

 street, Johnstown. Last Friday, the day the flood gates of 

 the South Kork reservoir broke loose, that lady went to the 

 house of her sister, Mrs. A. C. Kress, on Main street, taking 

 the dog with her. While there the awfully disastrous 

 waters came sweeping down upou them from Couemaugh 

 so that all the people in the house were compelled to get 

 upon the roof. There were seven in the party, and Romeo 

 made a good eighth. But soou the terrible waves and float- 

 ing debris raised horrible havoc with the buildings. Sud- 

 denly a big wave dashed upon the roof. Mrs. C. F. Kress 

 was knocked off her place of refuge and rapidly floated along 

 with the wild stream. No human being attempted to jump 

 after her or make any effort for her rescue, because the 

 surging flood had already dragged her beyond all human 

 reach. But Romeo, the lady's dog, forgetful of his own 

 danger, had apparently been expecting what was coming. 

 The water had no more than closed above the sinking lady 

 when the dog jumped after her, and when her dress appeared 

 again above the surface he immediately grasped it between 

 his teeth. It was a heavy burdeu, but the auimal seemed to 

 make a double effort. Holding the dress in his mouth he 

 gently but firmly pushed her forward through the waters 

 toward a frame house, which was still defying the waves. 

 Romeo's noble efforts proved successful, and in a few 

 moments Mrs. Kress was able to lay hold of one of the spars 

 on the frame house and drag herself into comparative safety. 

 But alas ! it was only temporary safety. Even before the 

 woman had realized her escape the devastating waves came 

 mountain high, rushing against the frame house. This time 

 the building could not withstand. With a terrific crash 

 the wooden walls seemed to be bursting apart, and once 

 more the woman and her dog were at the mercy of the flood. 

 The noble brute, however, was not to be daunted. Again 

 he clung to his mistress very closely, not as if he were to 

 rescue her from a watery grave, but as if his whole life de- 

 pended upon her safety. Constantly swimming by her side 

 while she was borne upon the current, he contrived to keep 

 her head above water so as to prevent her drowning. For 

 over half an hour the dog battled with the waves for her 

 preservation. His noble, faithful endurance was at last 

 rewarded. He succeeded in directing his valued burden to- 

 ward Alma Hall, and here Mrs. Kress was pulled chit of the 

 water. As she reached the roof unconsciousness overcame 

 her, and during all that time Romeo, who seemed to think 

 the woman dead, barked and howled in the most frantic 

 manner. Only her returning breath pacified him, and then 

 he quietly and contentedly lay down at her feet. This was 

 the story gleaned from the people surrounding the dog, and 

 when I called to see Mrs. Kress at her sister's home she 

 verified every particular of the above." 



Allentoivn.— The tax on dogs is $1 and on bitches $2 per 

 year. There is a muzzling law in force for ninety days in the 

 year, with a penalty of *1 for infringement with costs of suit 

 for recovery. Unmuzzled dogs at large during this period 

 may be shot by any one, and shooting such dogs is enjoined 

 on the constables as a special duty. — H. W. Allison, Mayor. 



Franklin.— The mayor of*Franklin reports a license fee of 

 SI on dogs aud 82 ou bitches. Unlicensed and stray dogs are 

 shot by the police. There is no pound. 



Beaver.— Vheve is no license for dogs in our town; all dogs 

 are free, hence we have no method of destroying unlicensed 

 or stray dogs. If a dog bites any of our people a policeman 

 is sent to shoot the dog, aud he is buried, as with all other 

 dogs found dead in the streets, and at the expense of the 

 city. We have no statistics of the number of dogs in our 

 city, but their name is legion, and they are about as annoy- 

 ing as the legion we read about in disturbing nervous peo- 

 ple of their sleep with their nocturnal barking and howling 

 serenades, so that some evil-disposed, exasperated individual 

 disposes of a lot of these quietly with dog buttons.— James 

 Piper, Mayor. 



Carry— Our dog tax is $1 per year on males and .?2 on 

 females. Dogs on which no tax is paid are liable to be killed, 

 but the penalty provisions of our ordinances have been but 

 little observed^ although some dogs have been killed. Stray 

 dogs are seldom impounded, although our ordinances pro- 

 vide for that method and their destruction. We have no 

 statistics for the past year about the dog pound. — W. En. 

 MARSH, Mayor. 



Harrisburg.—We do not impose a license tax on dogs.— 

 John A. Fritchy, Mayor. 



York. — We have no ordinance licensing dogs. They roam 

 at large according to their own will, and little or no restraint 

 is put upon them. An ordinance requiring license for keep- 

 ing dogs was reported to Councils, but naught has come of 

 it yet. — D. K. Noell, Mayor. 



Oil City. — We have an ordinance that requires dogs to be 

 muzzled during the summer months, but it is very poorly 

 enforced. I also think that there is an old ordinance that 

 requires a tax of $1 on dogs and $2 on a bitch: but there was 

 such a complete failure some years ago in enforcing it, that 

 it, too, is a dead letter. — J. H. Payne, Mayor. 



Lancaster. — The only law we have on dogs in this city is 

 when they are ordered to be shut up for thirty days. Pen- 

 alty, S3 for obstruction of same. During said period dogs 

 may be redeemed by their owners on payment of $1.50, and 

 if hot redeemed at expiration of said time they shall be 

 killed and buried. This is in force only when the dogs be- 

 come rabid. — J. R. M., for the Mayor. 



Erie. — The only tax we now have is one of $1 on each dog, 

 assessed by the city assessors like any other tax and collected 

 in the same way. We do not have any license system or pro- 

 vision for impounding dogs. — John C. Brady, Mayor. 



Pittsburgh. — This city imposes no fee or tax on dogs. Our 

 method of disposing of unlicensed or stray dogs is by poison- 

 ing, bet ween July 15 and Sept. 15, and the bodies are turned 

 over to the city fall master, who makes soap out of them. 

 There is no dog pound in this city.— Wm. McCallin, Mayor. 



Towanda. — We formerly collected a tax on dogs, but as 

 the county assesses a dog tax for the purpose of raising a fund 

 to pay farmers for sheep destroyed by dogs, we no longer col- 

 lect a tax on dogs.— Joseph Kingsbury, Sec.-Treas. 



Pottstown.— Dogs are taxed 50 cents each, bitches $1. 

 Strays are killed by the police when a complaint is made. 

 We have no pounds. To register a dog a fee of $1 is charged 

 by the clerk of the court, He then becomes personal prop- 

 erty, and the owner can sue for damages in case of a violent 

 death.— S. HAZLETT. 



Washington.— We have no law against dogs of any kind. 

 Should any be found dead they are passed over to scavenger 

 for burial.— W. S. Ryder, Burgess. 



Eaton.— Dogs must wear collars and be assessed $1 for 

 dogs, S3 for bitches. Collar must have on it number as 

 assigned and recorded by the officer. Every dog or bitch 

 not claimed or fed by any one is taken by our city dog 

 assessor, impounded for not less than twenty-four hours, 

 and if not called for and tax paid is shot and buried. Our 

 city dog assessor is paid 25 per cent, for each dog or bitch on 

 which the tax is collected, and 50 cents for each one killed 

 and buried.— Charles F. Chidsey, Mayor. 



Norristown. — Dogs are not allowed to run at large within 

 the borough limits after June 1 and during the summer 

 months. If found at large the officer arrests and. confines 

 them for twenty-four hours; the catcher shall kill and bury 

 them unless within that time he shall be ordered by the 

 Burgess to deliver the same to the owner thereof ; ana for 

 every dog so killed and buried the catcher shall be entitled 

 to be paid $1.— E. A. Kite, Burgess. 



Seranton. — All dogs must be muzzled between May 20 

 and Sept. 20. Our manner of disposing of unmuzzled dogs 

 at large has been to send out one of our officers (who is an 

 expert marksman)anned with a double-barreled shotgun and 

 accompanied by two other officers with a horse and wagon 

 in the early morning only. The squad take a section of 

 the city for a trip, the officer with the gun goes ahead of the 

 others and shoots all unmuzzled dogs he finds at large, the 

 others follow on, pick up the bodies and throw them into 

 the wagon, and they are finally taken to a boneyard and 

 sold for ten cents each, whicli about pays expenses. We 

 have killed this year in this way about 400 dogs, all or 

 nearly all of which were worthless cms or mongrels, the 

 officers being instructed to spare blooded or valuable dogs, 

 which are generally taken care of by their owners, but 

 which might be at large by accident. We have found this 

 plan to work well so far, and have carried it out for two 

 seasons without accidents nor many complaints, but lots of 

 commendations from many citizens, as it has been the means 

 of causing people to either muzzle or keep under control 

 their ugly curs or suffer their loss. This way of killing 

 dogs is somewhat, dangerous aud should only be done by a 

 good shot and with great care and judgment, but as our city 

 has at present no proper pound the difficulty of catching the 

 dogs and of disposing of them afterward is such that we 

 deem this to be the best way of di?posiug of them under the 

 circumstances.— B. R. Wade, Chief of Police. 



Reading. — Our ordinance- regarding the tax on dogs is a 

 dead letter as well as the method of disposing of them. The 

 tax on male dogs is $1 for first, $2 for second, $3 for third and 

 ?4 for fourth. For females, $3 for first and $5 for second. 

 For harboring unregistered dog, $5 for male, $10 for female, 

 half in each case for informer and half for city. Dogs killed 

 and buried after twenty-four hoursimpounding, with notice 

 given to owner if known. Penalty for obstructing dog 

 catchers $10, to be divided as above. Nti dogs impounded for 

 five years here. — James R. Kenney, Mayor. 



Chester.— Our register fee is si. which is good during the 

 life of the dog. The owner is liable in addition to $1 county 

 tax levied each year. We destroyed this year 97 dogs. We 

 pay the dog catcher $1 each for catching them and the man 

 who removes dead carcasses 20 cents each for taking them 

 away.— J. R. T. Coates, Mayor. 



AUoona. — We tax dogs SI and bitches-© per annum. Our 

 ordinance provides that unlicensed dogs found running at 

 large must be killed by police officers, but does not state in 

 what manner. We have no pound, The whole ordinance 

 is a dead letter and has never been enforced, like many other 

 ordinances of our city, and siuce my induction I have been 

 too busy with other reforms to do anything with this, but 

 will give it my attention ere long.— E. H. TURNER, Mayor. 



Lebanon.— Our city for the past two years imposed a $1 

 license fee on dogs. Unlicensed dogs were caught and if not 

 redeemed in twenty-four hours, killed by shooting them. 

 Law was not enforced under my predecessor and was so 

 difficult to carry out that it has been repealed. We propose 

 to enact a dog muzzling ordinance for 1880, months of June, 

 July, August, September and October, during which months 

 dogs must be muzzled, or will be seized, impounded, and if 

 not redeemed, killed. — P. Weimer, Mayor. 



Delaware. 



Wilmington. — The tax imposed on the owners of dogs is 

 $1 per annum and upon the owners cf bitches, §2. The 

 method of disposing of them is by shooting. They are 

 kept in the pound before being destroyed for 24 hours and 

 the fee to the dog catcher, paid by owners in redeeming 

 within that time, is 50 cents if the dog is registered, aud if 

 not registered a fee of 82.— Austin Harrington, Mayor. 



District of Columbia. 



The law requires that dogs be registered, and that the 

 owners be furnished with a metallic tag to be attached to 

 the dog's collar in evidence of payment. The collar is in- 

 dispensable and must have the owner's name legibly en- 

 graved on it. Dogs running at large without the tax are 

 seized and impounded and put to death at the expiration of 

 48 hours if not redeemed or sold. A dog wearing the tag 

 tax is personal property aud is so regarded in all the courts 

 in the District. The owner is responsible for all injury 

 caused by his dog, and may not let him go at large unmuz- 

 zled between May 15 and Oct. 15. 



Ohio. 



Columbus. — We have at present no ordinance licensing 

 dogs. Had one some years ago, but owners of dogs kicked 

 so much that it was repealed. Only ordinance in force is 

 in regard to vicious dogs which have to be tied up or muz- 

 zled.— P. H. Bruce, Mayor, 



Cleveland. — The city imposes a license fee of $1 for each 

 male dog and §2 for each female, and every dog must be 

 provided with a tag. This permits the dog to run at large, 

 aud is only a regulation in that respect. The police are 

 directed to kill any dog running at large not wearing a tag. 

 The tags are renewed each year. We have no pound. — Chas. 

 P. Salem, City Clerk. 



Norwalk. — Our city imposes no tax or license on dogs. 

 We. dispose of none unless they are sick, cross and vicious, 

 or mad.— P. C. Breckenridge, Mayor. 



Cincinnati— City license $2 on dogs. Any person can 

 kill an unlicensed dog, but it is seldom done. The city pays 

 a fertilizing company for removing dead animals, and the 

 company sells the skins and uses the carcass for fertilizers. 

 — E. W. Pettit, Mayor's Secretary. 



Piqua.—We have no tax or regulations (as to dogs) of any 

 kind, but they are allowed full liberty.— O. A. Brooks, 

 Mayor. 



Dayton. — We have an ordinance, passed in 1842, providing 

 for the assessing and collecting a tax (50 cents per head) 

 upon dogs, to prevent bitches from running at large, and to 

 provide against the prevalence of hydrophobia. Now this 

 ordinance is a dead letter law and has been for years. It 

 was found impracticable. In fact we do not need the work- 

 ings of such an ordinance. In this State (Ohio) we have a 

 statute making a person guilty to permit a dog to run at 

 large unaccompanied with some person. We cause the 

 arrest of quite a. number of persons each year upon such a 

 charge, and find it has the desired effect. Dogs are kept 

 confined and we have comparatively little complaint. — Ira 

 Crawford, Mayor, by Charles W. Dale, Clerk. 



Sidney.— There is a State tax on all dogs in Ohio. We 

 have no city tax and we have no pound. They run at large. 

 Under our State law any person has a right to kill any dog 

 away from its home or master. Dogs are plenty. 1 see 15 

 now from my office window playing in the street. The nig- 

 gers sometimes kill them and utilize the skin. There are 

 hundreds of them in our town, and it would be a blessing if 

 they could be extirpated.— M. C, Walk, Mayor. 



Painesville, — The city imposes no restriction whatever. 

 The county imposes a tax of $1 a head. — Mayor. 



Mt. V ernon. — We have no license or tax on dogs, no pound 

 or destruction of dog, unless hpdrophobia exists, when 

 mayor by proclamation orders all dogs killed by marshal 

 unless muzzled.— W. B. Brown, Mayor. 



Chillicothe. — We have no city license or tax cm dogs. We 

 have no pound system. We have a city ordinance which 

 requires owners of dogs to keep their dogs securely muzzled, 

 so that they cannot bite, during the months of July, August 

 and September; if this ordinance is not complied with, 

 dogs not so muzzled may be killed.— David Smart, Mayor. 



Elyria — There are no city ordinances affecting dogs in 

 Elyria. — P. H. Boynton, Mayor. 



Springfield— All stray dogs are destroyed under our city 

 ordinances and buried, pelt and all. We have no pound for 

 dogs.— O. S. Kelly, Mayor. 



Mansfield. — We have no city tax or license. We shoot' 

 unclaimed and stray dogs. We have no pound. Some un- 

 principled party has been poisoning dogs by the dozen dur- 

 ing last month, perhaps 100 or more. We cau not detect 

 them; if so, we will deal with them severely. — R. B. Mc- 

 CRORY, Mayor. 



Oberlin. — We have a tax of $1 per year on each dog. The" 

 marshal or health officer are authorized to destroy and bury 

 unlicensed dogs. — Arden Dale, Mayor. 



Waoster. — Our city imposes no license fee on dogs, as no 

 ordinance of that kind has ever been passed. Our State im- 

 poses a tax of SI upon each animal of the dog kind, provided 

 the owner places no value upon the dog. WheD owner places 

 a value, the tax rate isthesameason other property. In our 

 city dogs are prohibited from running at large unless muz- 

 zled, and when found at large without, are summarily dis- 

 posed of by the marshal by killing them; they are not im- 

 pounded. During the past eighteen months of my term 

 there have been disposed of in the manner stated 207 animals 

 of the dog kind.— J. R. Woodworth, Mayor. 



Delaware. — The city has no ordinance on dogs except one 

 to prevent dogs runuiog at large. Dogs outside of premises 

 or not with the owner or if not muzzled can be shot down. — 

 J. K. Newcome, Mayor. 



Sandusky.— The city ordinance provides for the registra- 

 tion of all dogs at a charge of $1 for dogs of the male kind 

 and $3 for each dog of the female kind. All dogs must wear 

 a collar with metallic plate with owner's name engraved on 

 it. Dogs must also be provided with a muzzle, to be worn 

 whenever the Mayor shall issue a proclamation requiring it. 

 Stray dogs or dogs roaming without owners may be captured 

 by the marshal 1 or his subs, and if the same cannot be cap- 

 tured they may be killed. A dog with collar and tag and 

 muzzle in the season is not allowed alone on the street, but 

 it is the duty of the officer seeing such dog to notify the 

 owner,; but the dog is to be captured or killed if loose at 

 night in spite of license, collar, tag and muzzle. The owner 

 of a dog loose on the street without register, collar and muz- 

 zle may be fined $5. Impounded dogs are killed after tweuty- 

 four hours if not redeemed. The cost of redemption is §1 

 for dogs, $3 for bitches, and 50 cents for whelps, with 25 

 cents for the dog's keep for the day 



Portsmouth.— The city of Porsmouth does not assess any 

 tax upon dogs. We have no particular method of dealing 

 with stray or other dogs, except if a dog is a nuisance, 

 whether the owner is known or not, we find means to get 

 rid of him under our ordinance. No dogs impounded, save 

 and except there may be fears of hydrophobia; then I issue 

 a proclamation to muzzle all dogs, and orders are issued to 

 police to kill those not muzzled; they are then removed by 

 sanitary police.— John A. TURLEY. 



1 ronton.— Dogs are not licensed or taxed by municipal 

 law. Under our statute laws all animals of the dog kind 

 found running at large — unaccompanied by the owner, or 

 some person in charge — may be killed, without penalty to 

 the person killing the same. * Persons owning dogs are al- 

 lowed to fix any value they wish on their dogs, and pay taxes 

 as upon personal property", and will be protected so long as 

 they comply with the provisions of thelaw above mentioned. 

 We have no dog pound.— John M. Corns, Mayor. 



Salem.— We have no ordinance on the subject. No tax is 

 imposed by the city, and no pound kept.— A. W. Taylor, 

 Mayor. 



You tigs town.— Our State law taxes $1 on every dog re- 

 turned by the assessors. Nothing is done with stray dogs 

 unless they are found committing some nuisance; then they 

 are shot by the officers. We have no dog pound. — R. MONT- 

 GOMERY-, Mayor. 



Zanesville. — Our city imposes a tax of $1 per year on dogs; 

 it is also a State tax, A city ordinance requires all dogs to 

 be muzzled from May 1 to Oct. 1, running at large; if found 

 on the street unmuzzled the officers are justified in shooting 

 them. We have no pound for dogs.— John W. Conrade, 

 Mayor. 



Lima,.— We have no tax on dogs in the city except the 

 State tax. We have no dog pound.— Wm. McCom b, Jr. , Mayor. 



RATIONAL BREEDING. 



EVERETT MILLAIS, a well known breeder of Basset 

 hounds, acknowledges very candidly that in the first 

 decade of his career as a breeder he made a great many mis- 

 takes, but these mistakes resulting in a greater or less 

 measure of failure, only stimulated him to an investigation 

 of its causes, of the origin and perpetuation of family and 

 strain types aud of the general principles of successful breed- 

 ing. As a member of the Basset Club in which he took a 

 very lively interest his attention was very naturally occupied 

 by the evident tendency to deterioration of the English 

 Basset hounds. These dogs were, as is well known, of the 

 famous Couteulx strain, founded upon Fino de Paris, a dug 

 of great excellence and well marked characteristics, which 

 he had very successfully perpetuated in his family, until at 

 length too close inbreeding produced its usual results of 

 general deterioration. Millais was not aloue in attributing 

 this deterioration to its true cause, but when he proposed to 

 remedy this evil by crossing with Basset hounds of another 

 strain — the Lane — he was met with the very genera 1 objection 

 that such a cross, while it might improve the physical 

 stamina of the Couteulx strain, would destroy all its lead- 

 ing characteristics. The Basset houuds of the club's strain 

 were all dogs of three colors, while the dogs of the Lane 

 strain were simply lemon and white, and such a cross it was 

 feared would involve the sacrifice of this special excellency 

 of the breed; but Millais, who had by that time got a pretty 

 clear insight into the measures necessary to bring in fresh 

 blood without sacrificing type, succeeded in carrying his 

 point, after making it clear that his object was not to re- 

 place the Couteulx sires by Lane sires, but to breed dogs 

 with a greater infusion of Couteulx and a lesser of Lane 

 strains for sires for the club's kennel. 



• The experiment verified his anticipations. The families 

 of the first cross were about one-half of them true to type in 

 the matter of color; selecting these and breeding with' them 

 back, to the Couteulx strain, the Lane characteristics have 

 gradually disappeared, while the desired end has been at- 

 tained; the hounds, invigorated with a dash of alien blood, 

 have recovered fi'om the ill effects of too close inbreeding, 

 and regained the normal size and vigor of the strain. 



This experiment or series of experiments which Millais 

 has noted with careful detail, points conclusively to the 

 leading axioms of the successful breeder, viz., first that the 

 fundamental laws on which family and strain types are 

 founded are the laws of individual variability, along with 

 the laws of heredity. Second, that selecting any dog or 

 other animal with marked individual characteristics and 

 breeding in to him, his individual characteristics become 

 perpetuated and intensified in a family type. Thirdly, that 

 this inbreeding necessary to the perpetuation of an individual 

 type as the type of a family or strain, will inevitably result 

 in degeneration; and fourthly that this degeneration maybe 

 checked without prejudice to the maintenance of type by 

 the introduction of a modicum of fresh blood selected with 

 judgment, 



In breeding then the laws of heredity render it possible to 

 perpetuate the leading characteristics of an individual of 

 any type, however aberrant it may be, even in the absence of 

 a mate of the same family, the same strain, or even of the 

 same variety. The greyhound, for example, may be bred to 

 the bulldog, the terrier, or the mastiff, and bred back to its 

 original type, the better for the infusion of fresh blood, but 

 this has been done so frequently that if inbreeding in a family 

 of greyhounds is carried on too far by a breeder, he has only 



