2 BULLETIN 260, U. S. DEPAKTMEXT OE AGKICXJLTUEE. 
As has been said, the dog himself has many delightful and useful 
qualities. It is our thoughtless tolerance of his present unwar- 
ranted liberty and license that permits this survivor of the days 
when the dog was man's faithful and valuable ally against the rest of 
the animal world to become a pest and a danger. There is a growing 
conviction that while his innate qualities and the fund of affectionate 
sentiment which attaches to him warrant the preservation of the dog 
with a responsible owner who will keep him clean and free from 
vermin of all sorts, hold him within reasonable bounds and restraint, 
and assume responsibility for his acts, on the other hand, the owner- 
less dog, the dog which carries vermin and disease, the dog which 
kills sheep or destroys property of any sort, the trespasser — these 
dogs must be eliminated. 
The case against the unrestricted dog is based on two counts — that 
he is a nuisance and that he is dangerous. 
That most dogs are allowed too many liberties and too much 
familiarity with people is a matter of common knowledge. Trans- 
gressions on the part of dogs range from simple trespass to the habit 
of biting without provocation and to the wanton killing of sheep. 1 
The direct monetary damage done by unrestricted dogs, while great. 
is even less important than the indirect harm they work as carriers of 
disease. It is the purpose of this paper to show how improperly- 
carecl-for dogs act as agents in the spread of diseases, particularly 
parasitic diseases, affecting man and live stock. 
DISEASES AND PARASITES CARRIED BY THE DOG. 
Dogs probably play a part in the spread of diseases due to fungi, 
such as ringworm and f avus, and are sometimes important carriers of 
bacterial and filterable-virus infections. In the recent outbreak of 
foot-and-mouth disease, it was determined beyond any reasonable 
doubt that dogs were responsible in some instances for the spread 
of the disease, not only from one farm to another, but from one State 
to another. The dog is of primary importance and in many instances 
the sole carrier in the case of many dangerous and even deadly animal 
parasites of man and the domestic animals, and is especially notorious 
as the carrier of rabies. Some of these parasites depend so absolutely 
on dogs as carriers during certain stages of their life history that they 
would probably or certainly become extinct if dogs were not avail- 
able as hosts. The long list of important diseases and parasites which 
are conveyed by the dog to man and the domestic animals and which 
are present in this country is as follows: Eabies in man and stock: 
hydatid in man and stock: gid in stock (and possibly in man also) ; 
1 See Farmers' Bulletin 652, " The Sheep-Killing Dog." 
