THE KENNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2401, 8 March 1900, Page 43

THE KENNEL.

[Fanciers anil bleeders of dogs are cordially incited to comtribute items to this column. •' Terror ' will endeavour to make his department, as interesting aud np-to-diiie as »o=sihle, but In order to do this he must ha\e the co-opcr.Uiou ot hit read r lieucc lie trusts this luiJUf.ou "nill be cheerlullj luspouded to..

NOTES BY TERROR.

Mr James Lilico sent some pups and his bitch, Hindhope Jed, up north last week. Unfortunately, being out of town at the time, I was unable to take advantage of the opportunity of seeing them.

"Jed" was, I understand, booked to Mr A. T. Little, of Waikari, to have a run at some of the Canterbury rials, and I should have liked to see her, as I hear she is much fancied by shepherds.

—Mr Lilico informs me that he has sold his bitch Eawich Jed lo a North Island shepherd at -what is probably the laugesfc price given for "a working dog for some years past in Southland. - — An elderly gentleman was, not long ago. ■walking along the Avenue Daumesnil, in Paris, when a large bull-dog sprung upon him and laid him low. A man and woman who witnessed the affair assisted the gentleman to his feet. Shortly afterwards, on telling the story, someone suggested that he should see if he had lost anything, and. to hi« dismay, he found that his purse, watch, and chain, were missing. Thes« articles .were eventually found in the possession of tho philanthropic couple, to whom, of course, the dog belongetl, and by whom it had been trained to assist in such garroting work.

—Mr J. F. Chambers, E.C.S., writing to a Home paper on the subject of "Evolution of Sex," says: Some time ago, when I opened this discussion, I was told that the Nutrition Theory was theory only, and, be it said, that throughout the discussion, no breeder cyme forward to back me up by practical resullfj. and I was therefore anxioiis to prove by ray own experiments that nutrition was the chief factor in the determination of sex. During the last three months i have had four bitches under my own personal observation. Two bitches were fed thrice daily, the other two twice.

The feeding was fommenced before service, one pair being fed 4 )d lib. until the pups were born; the other tvo had their food gradually diminished until the fourth week, when it was increased, being normal again by the time of parturition.

These two were fed on biscuit only, and the biscuit was always weighed out dry. I look upon Boz of biscuit as being the normal amount required per day by a dog of average size. But, by decreasing the daily amount loz weekly until the fourth week, I reached the small quantity of 2oz twice daily, or one - half the normal food. Great care was taken that no food v/as picked up in any way, and, with the exception of a bone, minus meat, once or twice, no other food was given. The following table gives the results from four bitches only: —

To summarise the result: By bountiful feeding 83 per cent, of bitches were produced and 17 per cent, dogs, whereas by shortening the amount of diet, 63 per cent, were dogs and 37 per cent, bitohes.

I did not iniend making these results known until I had experimented with at least 12 bitches, and my only excuse for sending this information now. ?* that breeders appear to

have treated the subject as being outside the range of practical dogdom.

Jo. 1 2 2 4 How fed. ... Well Well ... Spaisely [. Dogi. 2 0 7 5 I Bilflies. 6 4 4 3