KENNEL NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8190, 3 August 1912, Page 15

KENNEL NOTES.

(By "Fitzroy.”) The president of the local bulldog club, .Hr E. 'f. Taylor, leaves Wellington within la few days tor a round trip to tne islands ■ Sydney and Melbourne for business purposes. , V.L.P. (city) asks —"What should a foxterrier scale at six months old?" The average weight of a .fox-terrier puppy of that age is 12lb. 1 am informed that tho local bulldos club is anything but a “happy family.' Owing to tho behaviour of one or • two members tho general welfare of the club is at stake. it appears that unless the members cope with tills evil at the approaching annual meeting the oulldog club will become a club only In name. Many Alrdales have a little -white on tho chest, and although, of course, they arc bettor without it, it is not much of a handicap to them in the show ring. The wliue ieet are more objectionable, , l.ut they are not an absolute disqualification. “Query No. 1" writes —“If , my bulldog bitch was mated with an Irish-terrier last year would this year's litter be pure-bred il a pure-bred bulldog i© used?" Tho progeny this year would bo pure-bred. To use the words of an English expert, “There is no such thing in tho oreeding of,, dogs as the influence of a previous sire." A number of dog owners nave expressed tho opinion that the date of the closing of entries for tho ensuing Wellington Kennel Club show has not been adequate l y advertised. In fact the advertising Uis year has been unreasonably curtailed. It is shortsighted policy to cut down expenses in a department which is the means of bringing in funds to tho club. While established fanciers may receive prize schedules, etc., posted to them to remind them of the show there are scores of new fanciers whose only way of gaining information is by the club’s advertisements. I trust the public will bo well reminded in tho advertisement columns of the daily press that the show is to bo held at the XI shed, near the Custom House, on tho 21st and 22nd instant. A Home authority says:—lt is very unwise to wash Collie puppies, unless it becomes absolutely necessary. Given a good clean bed in a dry kennel, they can be kept quite clean in skin and coat by daily brushing. , , . In reply to a query as to the best diet for a bulldog puppy, it is as well to point out that house scraps are recognised as pood food for a puppy. Small bones shonld not be given, but a large bone for gnaw, ing at is always desirable. Small bones are apt to be swallowed without being chewed up. and trouble is likely to occui in the stomach or intestines- Dog biscuits are also given once fk day soaked in good broth of any desorption. Meat well cooked and cut small mixed with scraps from tho vegetable ■ dishes , constitutes a useful meal. A bulldog six znontns old requires plenty of exercise every day, and as much as he cares to eat. It is the exercise, however, that is ind spensable to the maintename of good health. •The latest novelty is to be seen near Putney Bridge, London, where nurses from the C.N.1.. in their pretty costumes, paddle in the Thames, in order to give large dogs a refreshing dip; afterwards shampooing them, and rendering life in hot weather to lone-coatcd dogs a pleasurable existence, and no longer one of irritation. Bathing appointments for the dogs are made with tfio lady, who has evolved this idea from tho French watering places, where pets are often dipped in the sea. Professor Metchnikoff, at the Academic des Sciences, Paris claimed the other day to have discovered in the intestines of dogs a microbe which he calls the glycobacter. This microbe is said to be largely instrumental in diminishing various waste products of digestion, the malignant action of which is to a great extent responsible for bringing on arterial and other affections connected with the advance of old of course, may he due to very different onuses, especially among puppies. There are the teething fits, which puppies,

are subject to at tho dentition period,, resembling nothing so much as convulsions in tho unman infant. These cases, however, are not very common, and usually occur only amongst very delicate breeds. Far more numerous are the cases of fits arising from worms. These pests are a source of very great morta.itv amongst •puppies, and of a good deal of illness (if not actual mortality) amongst older dogs. Puppies are not, as a ru.-e, troubled with the tapeworm that plagues their eldei;s. They have nematodes, or “round" worms, very few puppies escape.those tormentors, which they seem almost to imbibe with their dam’s milk. The pests multiply very rapidly, and the signs of their presence are by no means hard to recognise. The puppy becomes very round and tight about its abdomen; it frequently cries out suddenly in pain: it generally has diarrhoea, and some of the worms are passed; vomiting Is another sign. The way to save a puppy from fits and almost rertar’n death, is not to wait until the worms have multiplied to such an extent that any treatment may be risky, but to anticipate events and give occasional doses of aperient medicine to keep the worms in check if any shonld bo present. Even it they are not detected before there is a bad accumulation, it is bettor to begin with gentle aperient treatment, and so pave the way. for . a stronger vermifuge.