KENNEL NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8181, 24 July 1912, Page 5

KENNEL NOTES.

(By "Fitzroy.")

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE WELLINGTON KENNEL CLUB.

Correspondence is invited from canine fanciers and others interested in this column. Letters will be treated conficenually, and questions answered (through the column/ at the earliest t pportunity. Correspondents are requested to sign their names, but a nom de plume may also bo used it necessary. Letters should reach this ollico not later than Wednesday for reply in the following Saturday’s issue.

Some curiosity has been expressed as to the reason why the noted Wellington foxterrier bitch Lyndale Neil was not exhibited at Napier. The owner, .Mr C. Cimino, tells mo that Nell developed a skin trouble after being shown at Dunedin, eo he decided not to send her to Napier.

Letters have been forwarded to me to bo sent on to the secretary of the. Wellington Kennel Club. H;s address is box CO7, Cr.1'.0., Wellington. The committee of the Wellington Kennel Club are still ’endeavouring to find a suitable place to hold the annual show which is set down for August 3rd.

Samoyedes are now to play still another role on the stage. In the forthcoming production of Lord Howard do V* alden’s opera, "Tho Children of Horn, at the London Opera House, much of the plot depends on the interchange of human beings into wolves. Itealism is now a necessary feature of stage effects, nut real wolves are rather too much so ud the aid of a pack of Samoyedes ha, i>. cn requisitioned. An objection was raised to theso at rehearsals on the ground that, although they looked wolfish and did not bark, their white colour was againthem. This is now to bo overcome oy colouring the dogs’ coats the necessary hue. The Samoyedes to be used, are those from Mrs Kilburu Scott’s kennels which have figured in other stage productions. The Federation of Bulldog Clubs of the United Kingdom, which has been delayed for the last two years in the hope of securing the co-operation of tho Bulldog Club (Incorporated), has at last become an accomplished fact —but. (says "Uur Hogs") alas! without their adhesion; although it is hoped that they may yet be brought to realise the advantages to be secured by toeing the line. If the committee are unable to eee tho advantages, it is confidently expected that the members who do will have something to say on the subject at an early date. The meeting at which the federation was established was held at Stone's Eestaurant, London, on June 10th, when the proceedings lasted from 4 p.m. to 11.30 p.m., with a short interval for dinner, and resumed at 8 p.m. on the following day, and then lasting till the stroke of midnight. Delegatee representing tho following clubs were present:—The London Bulldog Society and the British _ Bulldog, Mandbaster and Counties, Yorkshire, Leeds and County, Leeds Provincial, Forfarshire and District, Liverpool and District, East Anglian, Northumberland and Durham, Leicester and Leicestershire, North London, Airedale and Bulldog, and Pembrokeshire. Tho Bulldog Incorporated sent as representatives to watch the proceedings Messrs Benjamin and Smartt, assisted by Mr Dando with documents pertinent to the issue.

Tlie Scottish, Kennel Club expressed favourable views in a letter, but were not personally represented. , The chairman conducted the meeting in on exceptionally able manner, although his rulings at times were considered by many to be drastic and unnecessarily severe. Moreover, when he

ruled that the voting was to bo by individuals rather than there were many expressions of dis=nti&faciion, owin,r to the result being that some clubs nad more than one vote aud others had none at all. After a futile discussion as to why the representatives of the .Bulldog Club Incorporated had not juiiiiled tneir promise to agree to a common standard with tne representatives of tne Allied Clubs, one fancier took the bull by the horns, and proposed the immediate lonnatiou ox cue federation without waiting tor any further negotiations. That he evidently voiced the feelings of the meeting was dear from the enthusiastic manner in which the proposal was received and the unanimity and applause with which the resolution wa* passed. On this resolution and the otuer that followed it was very noticeable that the delegates ox the'Bulldog Club incorporated refrained irom voting. Tho mover, in proposing this mam resolution, stated that ho had no doubt that who objects of the feneration, which were fully set forth in the memorial supplied to each delegate, and the advantages ariaing thererroui, were understood by all present, and ho did not propose to enlarge upon them unless ho were specially asked by those present for_ further information or explanation. No euch request was then made. This resolution having been passed, the mover took the meeting by surprise by producing a most ably-clrawn-np document, whicn he recommmended tor acceptance as the memorandum and articles of association oi the new federation. His action in this direction cer.ainly saved the meeting a tremendous amount of work, and enabled the federation to be legally constituted straightway. Kis proposed constitution and rules consisted of forty-one clauses, with numerous subsections, each ono of which was separately discussed, revised, and put to the vote.

The principal rules are to draw up or otherwise decide and agree upon a written standard definition and description of the cogrect type and appearanee of a thoroughbred British bulldog, as being the best and universal definition and description of a perfect thoroughbred British bulldog, and to urge upon the Kennel Club the necessity of promulgating such written standard definition and description as the universal definition and description of the puro-bred British bulldog.

To arrange lor tne atniiauon of foreign or colonial bulldog clubs to the federation, and for the adoption by afliliavc-d clubs of the standard definition and description of a pure-bred British bulldog as adopted by the federation. New Zealand bulldog fanciers will watch the movement with intense interest.

Distemper may occur at any period in a' dog’s life, although it is most commonly met with during the adolescent period—that ,is to say, from six to eighteen months. In many ways (and in its commonest form) (says an English authority) it is like nothing so much as measles in the human subject, which, as we know, may attack adults as well as children, but Is far and away most common during childhood and adolescence. In ninety per cent, of cases at least there is catarrhal trouble, affecting nostrils and eyes; and In the rest the absence of such trouble should be regarded with alarm rather than otherwise, because the ‘Tunning” cold in the head seems to act as a natural outlet for the virulence of the disease, just as also does skin complaint durine the same period. If there be no such natural outlet, tho result may—and most likely will —he chorea or paralysis (the “twitch,” as it is commonly called amongst koimelmen), and from this a dog very rarely recovers. The principal danger to guard against in an. ordinary case of catarrhal distemper is the danger of lung trouble, which may bo brought on by the mucous matter finding its way into the bronchial passages, and thonco into the lungs. Every dog is in a feverish condition, at this time.

and the way to ensure due warning of any dangerous development is to take the temperature frequently by the a—of a olinicai thermometer, and beware of any sudden rise. The' eyes and nostrils of a dog suffering from distemper should ho bathed at frequent intervals to keep them free front the irritation which the mucous will cause if it becomes dried. Use tepid water containing a very small quantity of glycerine and borax, or glycerine anti boraetc acid; the eyelids should also be smeared with some ointment, prepared by mixing one part of ordinary zinc ointment with throe parts of vaseline. The ointment thus, prepared may also be smeared on the iaco where the tears run down, so as to prevent any irritation there. It may not he out of place to mention hero the opaqueness that very often comes over tho eye, making the dog look as if ho were blind. One hears of many amateurs getting very much alarmed at this; but it is merely the haw or third eyelid—a eort of extra lash, whose purpose is to sweep over tho ball of the eye and remove any foreign particles (such as dust, etc.) that may have settled* there. This haw becomes enlarged and expanded when a dog is ill, but it will gradually resume its normal condition when he recovers, and in tho meantime nothing more should' bo. done to it or to the eye than. I have described. Tho groat thing to do is to reduce tho temperature of the* suffering animal, aud this can best be accomplished by giving some homoeopathic aconite pilules, the dose of which the chemist who supplies them will indicate, according to tho age and size of the dog they aro intended for.