THE KENNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2545, 24 December 1902, Page 53

THE KENNEL.

Bt Tebbob. fF»»eien »nJ breeder! of dogs are cordially imlred to cod If ibate Items to ilii» column. "Terror ' will endeavour to mak bis department as interesting *nd np-to date as poailble, tut 1 •Tiff to do till* be mint have lUe co-nueration or hi* reader hence be trusts thN inTltatlou will be cheerfully responded to - — The stomach of a dog is a peculiar thing to see on the desk of an official of the United States Treasury, but that was the object -which E. E. Schreiner recently spread out before him. Mr Sohreiner is chief of the division of redemption of the Treasury and has become accustomed to receiving money under peculiar conditions. Even he, however, admitted the originality of the case in question. "Dear eir," ran the letter which accompanied the stomach, "I send under separate cover stomach of my dog Fritz. I was playing with him to-day, hold- .

ing a 20dol bill np for him to jump at, when he suddenly feaped higher than I anticipated, grabbed the bill between his teeth and ran under the house, where he ohewed tho money, up and swallowed it. I thought more of the 20dol than I did of Fritz — he was always chasing chickens — so I shot him and cut out his stomach. Please I ccc if you can't paste the bill together and redeem it." "The unique feature of this case," said Mr Sehreinev, "is that we found the bill, slightly chewed up, but sufficiently | whole to identify and redeem. The man has ' received a cheque for 20dol by this time.' 1 — Baltimore Sun. i — In some notes on the bulldog, "Sirßedivere," an Australian kunnel authoi ity, makes tho following remarks, which are of interest to New Zealand breeders. Inter alia he says: — "It has been stated tha>t bulldogs in Australia have a tendency to grow 'up on the leg ' and narrow-chested, and this has been attributed to climatic influence, but such a statement cannot by any means be substantiated. True, thjji va c t majority do fail in these important points, but it is due rather to the fact dhat they are descendantsof dogs which were sent here because of the failing; there being, it may be supposed, no use for suoh animals in England or America. Probably no breed in Australia has suffered more from the paucity of qualified judges than the bulldog, with the result I that breeders do not know upon what lines to conduct their operations, and it is to be feared that recent decisions have sadly failed to mit matters on a firmer basis. Strictly j speaking, no man is justified in judging dogs who does not keep himself in touch with the r various alterations in the 'points' as they deJ velop. At times faults creep in which ultimately become prevalent, and then demand the encouragement of exaggeration the other way. To the judge who has not kepi himself conversant with «. breed this prevalence is unknown, and he merely deals with a fault in the mild fashion that it would demand if it were of but occasional appearance and of little consequence. Let us take the shoulders and front of a bulldog, bearing in mind .ihe failing in lespect of these two points which has been so long apparent. | The encouragement of abnormally-developed ' fronts is oertainly to be advocated, even almost to the extent of deformity, for only j by recognising a failing which has become ' chronic, so to speak,- and dealing with it ! firmly can we hope to eliminate it. Another J serious blemish at the present time is ' 'button' ears. Neverthl&ss, so long as the ' Bulldog Club's standard of excellence mildly has it that 'rose cars are preferable,' those judges who unduly penalise that sort of ears i are- not justified in their action. That button . ears are ugly admits of no question, and, I what is more, they give an apparent shortness to the skull which is much to be de- . plored. Tho three worst faults that bulldog ' breeders in Australia have to contend with, in addition to those already mentioned, are Ion? backs, thick loins, and heads of pug type. Minor fault?, or, rather, points which do not fail so wholly, ar© wrinkle, and 'layback' and 'turn-up' (taken together). The absence of 'wheel,' or roach, backs appears to be so general the world over that it would be h*»dlj- fair to allude especially to the failing cf Australian bulldogs in respect of it; nevertheless, irs ahnost entire absence will make the point the most difficult of all to -revive, but careful selection and judicious ' matinpr should enable breeders to eradicate the other failings. Reverting to cut up of loin, a point which seems to entirely escape attention here, we have it well shown in the imported Boomerang Brandy, to .whose conformation in this respect the attention of bulldog breeders may be directed. Strange to say, this bitch is the only one of her breed in Australia that traces back to that wonderful white dog, Bedgebury Lion, whose portrait is before me as I write; in fact. Brandy possesses a double cross of Mr Bereford Hope's wonder— the rarost of all strains." — The rearing of a pup is not all pleasure, and the patience and devotion accorded dogs By fond owners cannot be estimated by the dollar mark. "Toy Dog" tells us how the Misses Clark'.on and Grantham are. nursing I a Blenheim puppy that has been ill for some months, and hop°s the patience of these ladies in attending him nijrht and day will i be rewarded by the dog's ultimate recovery. Little Chirgwon is a son of Doncaster Comet and Walkley Beauty, the latter well-known as the dam of Mackenzie Billie and Tess. His illness commenced with dental fits when he was two months old, and up-to-date he has had 1* fits in five months. After three months.' suffering his owners wore cheered by seeing some improvement in h'm oondi- j tion, and he was able to take light food in ! the shape of fish and chicken, -but this was ' not for long; a slop diet has sufficed him now for some weeks, and since the commencement of his illness he has consumed no tess »than 40 tins of Brand's essence of ( beef, and, in addition to this, has had a tablospconful, twice daily, of beef-tea. Scraped lean-raw beef has a little water added, and is allowed to stand for six hours before the "tea" is given him. Calves-foot jelly, Mellin's Food, Neave's Food. Robinson's patent pearl barley, and Horlick's malted barley have all helped to keep life in him, and now he is having as much lean, raw, scraped beef as will go on a sixpence every -day. Ho has never been left day or night for four months. He seems to suffer greatly with his gums, but his teeth seem really good ones when they do eet through. At tho present time he weighs 4ilb, and has a love'y square short muzzle, resembling his father, Doncaster Oojnet, but his markings are lighter; so should he be reared ho will be valuable to the ladies, whose patient care of him is beyond praise. — Speaking of Mr Panmure GorJon, one of the b&st known of English kenne! men, whose death I recently recorded, the Daily Express says: — "Mr Gordon was the grand seigneur of the rity. He knew how to make money, smd he knew how to soeud it. He i had something of the air of Fortunatus — a princely way of surrounding himself with luxuries, but so good was "his taste that there I was no vulprax ostentation, no hint of Sir Gorgeous Midas. A<- friend once asked him how much he spent on himself. 'About ] £2000 a month,' he said 'That is the cost of the bare (necessities of life for a gentle- I man — clothes, horses, arriages, a yacht, a grouse moor, a place in the country, and all that you know. Of course, i£ you want luxuries, it costs you more ' It was the common reooxt of the city that he bought 570 pairs of trousers ©very year — an ordinary new pair for every day, and the rest fur special occasions. When he lived at Brighton he rode from his house to the station in correct riding kit, entered a private saloon, where a servant was waiting, changed to city attire, drove to 'The Street' in his brougham, and, if it happened to be a. wot day, changed to another pair of new trousers . after luuoht _ .Tha a^tuil fiSfiUftOjii £Xteat

of his wardroEe may possibly have led to exaggerated stories, but it is stated that two shelves in the office were full of hat boxes, and that immediately one hat was taken out another was put in its place. His bedroom at Loudwater was a sort of sartorial museum, with rows and rows of boots never worn, on specially-constructed shelves, and racks and racks of different umbrellas At one time he. was said to have 13 overcoats that he had never even seen ; his gloves were bought by the gross, and in the fire which took place at Loudwater some years ago ifc wae believed that h© lost 1100 neckties. In short, the Panmure Gordon tradition became one of the boasted evidences of the wealth of the City of London." "The Panmure Gordon tradition" (adds M.A.P.), "what a blaze, of .light that phrase throws upon the vie^fs of life held by those pleasant, boisterous, overgrown schoolboys whom we call stockbrokers in our business hours — men who would a- hundred times sooner lose their right arm than be seen wearing a silk hat of last year's pattern. But it was not only clothes that amused Mr Gordon in his hours of relaxation. They shared his "love with carriages and with colije dogs. His kennels at Loudwater, near Riokmaneworth, were known all over the world. No price was too big for a coilie which he had once set his eye on. and hi<s judgment was so good' "that most, of his dogs were notable prize-winners."