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Computer Graphics	The Care of the Dog The care of dogs, in the truest sense, does not mean coddling and pampering. I do not ask such care for any dog; for while that treatment may be a pleasure to some owners, it is not the dog’s sphere or for his good. The dog should have the consideration at its owner’s hands which its loyalty and devotion merit, but should always be held to the position of a willing, obedient servant. Yet how few house dogs are really obedient. They are beaten by the cook one moment, teased by the small boy the next, and then rescued and hugged by his big sister. A dog, to be a real source of pleasure to a household, should have one master from whom it takes its orders, and naturally looks up to as its ideal. With such a bond of sympathy established between owner and dog, the latter understands intuitively whether it is pleasing its master or not; and if the dog is a companion in the full sense of the word, physical punishment, with even a fairly intelligent specimen, is rarely needed. In a close study, covering nearly all the breeds of dogs, I have found it a very safe rule to follow, to chastise only when a dog disobeys wilfully and with full knowledge that he is so doing. A dog should take the most severe punishment from its master without resentment; one that growls or shows temper is most decidedly not a safe member of any household, and should be disposed of forthwith. Almost any self-respecting dog will resent punishment from a stranger, and we cannot blame it very much should it retaliate in kind. If one is raising a puppy great care should be taken to discriminate when it should be punished for wilful disobedience, otherwise the dog may be ruined for life; and a young puppy should never be given a severe whipping. If it is thoroughly frightened it is likely to be permanently cowed in spirit, and no amount of petting afterwards can overcome it. Of equal importance is a friendly pat and word of encouragement when the dog does something which pleases us. He is not a clairvoyant; he takes his cue from his master, and, if encouraged, is very apt to repeat the pleasing performance. Even if the owner shows his approval or disapproval simply by talking to the dog, it very soon learns to look for those signs, and naturally tries to do such things as bring the signs of approval. In giving a lesson of obedience never give a command unless you are capable of making your pupil obey. It may take a great amount of time, tact and patience but once thoroughly impressed upon the dog’s mind, any simple command, such as “come,” or “lie down,” need never be given twice, unless the pupil is very wilful. Then it must be shown who is master. A puppy should be taught to come immediately upon being called, no matter what he may be doing or where he may be going. When one buys a dog, one naturally selects the breed most nearly suited to one’s wants. A pet dog, and pet dogs must almost necessarily, especially in cold weather, be house dogs; a hunting dog, a big fellow for a guard and the children, and so on. By the nature and characteristics of the breed, we must judge our method of caring for them. First, in the housing or kenneling: A toy or pet dog must have more warmth than an outdoor climate affords, for they are very sensitive to cold. Almost any of the other varieties can be made comfortable out of doors or in a barn. If the home is to be a dog-house, place it in some sheltered spot, and do not follow the old fashion of having the door cut in the center of one end, so that when the wind is from that direction it blows full on to the poor fellow. Cut the door at the end of one side, so that no direct draft ever blows on the dog. In very cold weather tack a piece of carpet over the door, making a cut up the center of it. Give your dog out of doors a good bed of clean straw, and change it at least once a week, oftener in very wet weather. It has always seemed to me especially cruel to keep a dog on chain. Of course,everyone does not like dogs, and it is not the part of a Samaritan to allow our pleasure to cause annoyance to our neighbor. Still, almost every one has a back yard which could be so arranged that their dog could not get out, and yet not be chained. If chaining becomes absolutely necessary, by all means have a trolley chain-that is, a wire run overhead made stationary at the ends to posts. The longer the chain the better. Have a ring on the wire, to which one end of the dog’s chain can be fastened, the other end of the chain being snapped on the dog’s collar. Have the chain sufficiently long to allow the dog to go in and lie down in his kennel in comfort. During the summer months be sure and provide for some spot for his kennel that is shady during the entire day. An excellent plan is to have the kennel raised on posts high enough from the ground for the dog to crawl under. Close the space up all around, leaving only a place big enough for the dog to go in. This will make a cool retreat, away from the flies, which will be most thoroughly appreciated by our friend. A dog also likes a cool drink; keep its water out of the direct rays of the sun, and replenish it at least three times a day in hot weather. When flies annoy very much, the ear seems to be the favorite spot, and they are often bitten until raw. Take oil of citronella one part, fish oil five parts, and apply often. No flies will come near while this remains on. Then there is the ubiquitous flea to be reckoned with in the dog’s comfort, and a very heavy reckoning it is. Like good housekeeping, its mastering is the price of eternal vigilance. It is of no use to wash a dog for fleas, and. hope it to be efficacious. The kennel must be thoroughly cleaned also, and often whitewashed, making sure that the whitewash gets in all the cracks and little crevices. Fleas do not breed on the dog, but in the kennel and its surroundings; so everything must be scrupulously clean. When one has once fully succeeded in getting rid of these pests, unless the dog is running much with other dogs that have them, little care is necessary beyond occasionally looking over the dog for any stray ones. Many firms are selling soaps and liquids that will do their work effectually, providing the above instructions are followed. Many want to know how often a dog should be washed? Personally, I do not believe in much washing, providing a dog has a free run where there is grass. By rolling and licking himself, he keeps very clean, and the strong disapproval most dogs show of bathing proves pretty conclusively that nature did not intend it for them. Some breeds are, of course, naturally fond of the water, and for them nothing is finer in warm weather than a good swim. Where I was visiting last summer, there was a very bright little fox terrier. The family had never been able to coax him into the water. He would follow them down to the bank, but no further. On my arrival he took a great fancy to me, and I succeeded in coaxing him to go in, coming only a little way at first. He finally found nothing was going to hurt him, and swam first to one and then to another of us, enjoying himself thoroughly. This he kept up as often as we went in bathing, until one day we took a cake of soap, and after a plunge and a swim, in which the little terrier joined, we began giving him a good shampoo with the soap. His disgust was supreme, and he showed it by at once going on shore, and rubbing and rolling in the grass and sand. No amount of coaxing could get “Bigot” in again that day. A dog’s first instinct after a bath is to rub and roll, and the more dirt he can rub and roll in the better he seems suited. In little house pets, to keep away the doggy smell, an occasional wash is pleasant to the owner, if not to the dog, but once a week is more than ample, and it requires considerable care during the low temperature season. I would like to lay particular, stress on grooming. That a dog soon learns to love, and is as tickled as possible when it sees the brushes coming. A daily grooming is considerably better than much washing. Use a good bristle brush—in the larger varieties a regular horse brush—then rub with chamois skin to give a gloss. For the little pet dogs an ordinary hair brush is enough. A comb should be used sparingly. Little fellows can be put on a table for convenience, but the larger ones should be taught to place the front feet on a chair, which position makes the grooming a much easier matter and saves the owner’s back. We now come to the all important item of feeding; and here again we must discriminate between the different breeds—between a dog having its liberty and one having very little exercise. The dog is a carnivorous animal, with teeth adapted to tearing and crunching its food. Meat is unquestionably their principal food in a natural state; but as the life and habits are changed and modified under domestication, so must also the diet be changed to suit existing conditions. Dogs from whom much work is expected, such as hunting dogs, greyhounds or other hounds in training, or while running, require a good meat diet, beef or mutton preferred, lean and varied from raw to well cooked. Dogs do not easily digest fat, and hence fats and greasy foods should be eschewed. Rice is about the very nicest cereal to use in connection with meat. A pan of well cooked rice, with the liquor in which the meat has been boiled, and the meat cut fine and mixed all through, makes a dish any healthy dog will eat with a relish. In feeding meat the secret is to mix it thoroughly with the other food. The instinct of the dog is to pick out all the meat first, often leaving the balance. If the meat has been thoroughly boiled, it can be squeezed with the hand all through the other food, and so make one “mess” of the entire lot. Milk is another most excellent food article, and is appreciated by nearly all dogs. Of course, puppies require milk, for it contains all the elements of nutrition. Skimmed milk will answer almost as well as fresh, the fat not being an essential for the puppy. I have had many persons come to me complaining, “my dog won’t eat anything but meat; what shall I do?” The method of feeding I have already described usually solves the problem. Should the dog refuse it the first day, or the second day, remove the dish after about half an hour, and do not offer clear meat. Wait until the dog gets hungry enough to eat what you have prepared. About one-third meat is the correct proportion for all large and such mediumsized dogs as the terriers. The little house pets thrive on less. Tripe is also a most excellent food, and is liked by almost all dogs. Cut it up and mix in with the rice or stale bread, the same as the beef or mutton. I have been considering the case where the table scraps are not sufficient to feed the family pets. Where there is sufficient nothing is better—vegetables, gravy, bread, etc., and the meat mixed up all through. Never give your dog sweets. It will like them, but it is much better without them. Once in a while a little meat fed raw is a treat for our charge. The old-womanly notion that meat gives a dog distemper is a pure vagary of the fancy. Distemper is a germ disease, and is no more produced by any certain kind of food, than such produces scarlet fever in a child. The more nearly in perfect physical condition a dog is, the less susceptible he is to disease. The number of times a day a dog should be fed is a moot question but in my experience, I have found two meals a day very near meet the requirements. A light breakfast and a full meal at night, allowing all the dog will eat with a relish. Never leave any food around to sour or freeze, it will destroy the dog’s appetite to have it constantly in sight. The two meals a day apply to grown dogs. Puppies require three to five meals a day. The younger the puppy the more often it must be fed. Bones are the dog’s tooth brush, but beware of bones that splinter, such as chicken legs, chop bones, etc. They are a constant source of danger, their sharp splintered points being liable to puncture the intestines. It is not within the scope of this article to touch upon the training of dogs for any special purpose, nor their treatment in disease, nor their preparation for the purpose of being shown on the bench for competition. For these purposes amateurs generally place their dogs in the hands of professional handlers, but this is quite unnecessary; for with a little careful observation amateurs can master the conditions which make or mar a clog’s success, and can put their dogs into the show ring in as good a condition as any professional. It is such an added pleasure to know that your dog’s prize has been partly earned by your attention. Compare this with the result in a case in which a careless owner sees some imported dog, for which he has paid a fabulous sum, beaten time and again, because by ill-regulatecl feeding and lack of knowledge, the owner has allowed the dog to become too fat. Excess of fat is more frequently a cause of the failure of amateurs’ dogs in the show ring than excessive leanness; though that, too is a pitfall. The most fatal defect, however, is the condition of the dog’s coat, or rather the want of condition. A careful attention to the rules of cleanliness which I have already laid down will obviate disappointment on this account.