Sept. 12, 1908.] FOREST AND STREAM. 415 
I AND 2, WATERBUCK MALE AND FEMALE; 3, ELAND FEMALE; 4 , MASAI HARTEBEEST BUCK. 
From Schilling’s “In Wildest Africa,” permission Harper & Bros. 
The Hunting Dog. 
I.— Physical Condition—Concluded. 
1 
i To starve the dog into thinness of flesh is 
not at all to the purpose, because the working 
muscles still remain undeveloped to the require¬ 
ments of work afield, the body is weak because 
if insufficient nourishment, the feet remain weak 
and tender, and the heart and other organs are 
not in condition to meet the extra strain im¬ 
posed ' by prolonged exertion. 
The reduction of a fat dog is at best slowly 
accomplished. That is the proper way. He can 
exert himself but a few minutes at one time 
before becoming blown and exhausted. 
If he suffers too much distress from gallop¬ 
ing he may refuse to gallop at all. In such event 
it is obvious that conditioning is impossible. 
I ■ As a rule, every recurrent time a dog is per¬ 
mitted to accumulate a gross quantity of flesh 
it is much more difficult to work it off. 
Even if kept in good condition, as the dog 
advances in years, there is a natural predisposi- 
j tion to take on extra weight. The muscles grad¬ 
ually grow larger and lose their elasticity. Their 
capacity for prolonged effort diminishes. All 
this gain is extra weight to carry, besides the 
physical incidental impairment. 
While this state comes naturally in any event, 
it is hastened by permitting the dog to become 
I over-fat. As a purely mechanical proposition, a 
body that is strained and held out of its natural 
position for a long whde may not return to its 
natural position when the strain is removed. 
Fat in a way is a cause of strain. 
When the dog is over-fat his gait, when in 
action, is materially changed. He is thrown more 
or less off his balance; his limbs have not the 
same free play and perhaps cannot play on the 
same easy lines; he has extra weight to carry 
which may seriously strain his feet, and alto¬ 
gether the consequent inability and discomfort 
are serious obstacles for the dog to overcome. 
Under the best circumstances the dog’s feet 
I stand the brunt of the exertion. They become 
} weak and soft from disuse and need quite regu¬ 
lar exercise to harden and strengthen them. 
But the dog’s feet and shoulders are not 
formed for weight carrying, hence every un- 
! necessary pound added to his body is corres- 
! pondingly a straining factor and an incumbrance. 
Besides ’nis disabilities as a servant to his 
master afield, the over-fat dog has a digestion 
more or less impaired; his breath commonly is 
foul, his teeth have accumulated tartar which in 
time is destructive to both teeth and gums; his 
lungs are far from being vigorous, and his years 
of life are thereby likely to be materially short¬ 
ened. 
On the other hand, if a dog is worked down 
too fine physically and kept at his work afield 
too regularly he may become “stale”; that is, 
he may lose interest in his work and become 
I averse to any useful effort. When in this con¬ 
dition, days or even weeks of rest may be re¬ 
quired to restore his vivacity and enthusiasm 
for work. 
This state of overtraining, physically, is quite 
as much antagonistic to the laws of the dog’s 
physical wellbeing as is the opposite extreme, 
that of indolence and over-fatness. 
Of the two, however, over-fatness, due to over¬ 
feeding and indolence, is much more common 
than is staleness from overwork. 
The average sportsman, though he may be 
conspicuously keen, alert, provident and re¬ 
sourceful in business matters, is—during the 
close season—notoriously negligent of his dog’s 
physical condition, as it pertains to leanness and 
therefore is thoughtless of his best interests dur¬ 
ing the open season when he sallies forth for 
sport afield. A fat, soft dog is but one remove 
from no dog in respect to work afield, if indeed 
he is not an incumbrance. A little forethought 
and attention during the close season in the way 
of daily exercise and proper feeding will obviate 
much disability and disappointment during the 
open season. Give the working dog but one 
meal a day, and let that be of substantial and 
good food. Table scraps are excellent if they 
are not too scrappy. That is, potato skins and 
clean bones would hardly serve the purpose. 
Thus, as concerns table scraps, their value would 
in a measure depend upon their source. Good 
lean beef or mutton, and plenty of either or 
both, boiled with cabbage, beets, turnips, pota¬ 
toes, etc., making a stew, afford a nutritious and 
palatable food. In addition to the wholesome 
diet the sleeping quarters should be sweet, well 
ventilated and free from vermin. The most 
scrupulous care to keep the sleeping quarters in 
perfect sanitary condition should be observed.. 
“Inter-Ocean Hunting Tales.” 
Big-game hunters, who are familiar with the 
Jackson’s Hole country and especially with the 
important tributaries of upper Snake River, will 
view with great delight the illustrations in Mr 
Randolph’s “Inter-Ocean Hunting Tales,” soon 
to be published. Besides the pleasure given by the 
pictures and the accounts of the hunting trips 
there is not a little information between the 
covers of the book that will be useful to hunters 
about to go into the Rocky Mountains. 
SUBSTANTIAL NOURISHMENT. 
The chief concern of every camper is to ob¬ 
tain substantial nourishment in compact form. 
No camp or cabin is complete without its suppl' 
of Borden’s Eagle Brand Condensed Milk ano 
Peerless Brand Evaporated Milk. They have 
no equal for Coffee, Fruits and Cereals.— Adv. 
