THE KENNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2842, 2 September 1908, Page 55

THE KENNEL.

Br Terror.

Ktnclen aoJ breeder* of fiops are cordial! t iovlted to con> t- Ihute items to this column. " Terror ' trill endetrour to make •hUdefmrtmcui as tutercMius and up-to-date as posMblc, but in •rder to do ihla be must have the cu-operatfou ot his readers

— The Australian Ladies' Kennel Club holds its fourth annual show on the 18th and 19th inst. in the Melbourne Exhibition Buildings. The club has a very long list of influential members, a committee of enthusiastic workers, and these, combined with a liberal prize-list, should result in an excellent show and financial success.

—In reply to a correspondent ("Sailor"), I give th© following treatment for a dog recovering from distemper. It will be seen that dieting of a rather high order is recommended, but as I am quoting from Theo. Marples's work on "Diseases " I dare not take from or add to in any respect. What I recommend, my correspondent to do i« to use his own judgment: feeding as well as he can, and housing dry. Mr Marples says: — After the isolation of an affected dog and bestowal of him in a dry, moderately warm kennel, free from draughts, the first thing to do is to give the patient a_ good dose of castor oil. His ordinary diet should be dispensed with, and a fresh menu altogether adopted, consisting of the soft part of brown bread soaked in beef tea, or sheep's head broths, milk puddings, fresh raw eggs beaten up in new milk, with later a little oort wine added, cod liver oil, and occasionally a little raw, lean, sound, minced fresh meat. He should be fed on one of these dishes three or four times a. day, and if he refuses to eat them of his own accord they should be poured into him. A cooked red herring is a good thing for a dog suffering from distemper, who may be allowed to drink as much water as he likes, at least in the earlier stages of the disease. Along with the foregoing dietary should be given a course of medicine to counteract the disease. There are several specifics on the market, but I will not recommend any particular remedy, leaving the owner to make his own selection from those that have established a reputation for the cure of the disease. A dog suffering from distemper should not be allowed to take' any exercise, and should not be washed for some time after the dog has been cured. His eyes and nose should be sponged frequently with warm water containing Jeyes's or Condy's fluids or Izal. The disease* after manifesting itself develops rapidly; and if aftes treating as herein directed for, say, a week or ten days the dog does not show signs of improvement, a qualified veterinary surgeon should at .onoe be called in.

— A proposal on the part of the English Kennel Club to impose a maximum fine of £5 for the broach of any of the Kennel Club rules is reflected upon by a club secretary in the following terms: — "I take jt that, on failure to pay, if the secretary is the guilty one, he will be sued for the fine, or will be suspended. This, of course, is a serious matter for a feoretary, and it appears to me that the Kennel Club authorities cannot have full knowledge of his duties immediately prior to a show, or the resolution would not have been passed. Entries for a show come in almost invariably during the last two or three days, and in these few days. a secretary may have a thousand or more entry forms to peruse, check, and enter up. This takes a vast amount of time, and it is quite easy, amongst such a large number, to pass >an entry form written m lead pencil or to miss a date of birth. The secretary invariably has the printer pressing him for copy, and, no matter how careful a. secretary may be, it is quite possible for him to make an error of thi« kind. Surely the fine of £5 is out of all proportion to the offence. I quite understand that the fine is a maximum one, but the rule gives the Kennel Club power to impose it no matter how slight the offence, and whether a previous warning has been given or not. If Mjme of the Kennel Club legislators were to act as secretaries of a big show, they would appreciate the feelings of secretaries with regard to this rule. I cannot believe that . the rule would have been passed if the framers of it had understood or appreciated the large amount of work which has to be done in connection with a big show within the last ten days before the show. If rules of thi6 kind are to be made, in fay opinion the committees of canine associations (who have intimate acquaintance with the .running of a show) should be better represented on the Kennel Club than they are at the present time. Canine associations pay large amounts to the Kennel Club in respect of licenses, and during the course of a year their members contribute in registration, transfer fees, and the like, considerable sums. So far as I know, they have no say as to the rules which are made or as to the manner in which their contributions are disbursed, and I think it is only fair that tho people who have to work under the rules, and who contribute such large sums should have some cay in the matter." I quite acknowledge that the Kennel Club have done, and are doing, an immense amount of good in furthering dog-breeding and in clearing the doggy world of undesirable characters, and no one has a higher respect for the Kennel Olub than I ; but I would suggest that before rules of this kind are passed, canine associations And their secretaries should either be fully repieseni-ed on tho Kennel Club, or should at least be heard upon the matter. I need only mention in conclusion that if this rule is to be rigidly enforced, canine associations will have to make some provision for assisting their already hard-worked secretaries, so that a double scrutiny of entry forms may be made, and the additional -payment which thie work will entail will be a serious matter to many associations who already have a difficulty in making both ends meet."

— The incident of the growing popularity of doge as adjuncts to th-© armies of »evei*al Continental nations, and also their successful employment as detectives, etc., \n connection with the civil authorities abroad, seems to have revived jn England the i<Je& of the employment of dpga i£. the detection

of criminals which used to be in vogue in olden times, for the Hull Dook Police have recently been experimenting in the training of dogs for the capture of thieves and other malefactors, the success of their experiment being revealed in the Hull Police Court recently, when • an officer described how his canine assistants acquitted tljemselves in active service. In one case an Airedale terrior was put on the track of a man the police were pursuing, whom the dog overtook and kept at bay until the constable arrivfd. In another case the canine detective, discovered the hiding-place of two shop-breakers, both of whom were taken into custody as a result. At many of the leading dog shows on the Continent, one of the "sideshows" consists of a practical demonstration of the prowess of specially-trained police dogs, which excites great interest, and is often one of the chief attractions of the show. The discovery of Fish, the Blackburn murderer, by a halfbred bloodhound from the neighbouring town'of Preston, when the police were completely baffled by the ordinary methods of detection, will be fresh in the memory of many of the public. Then again the horrible carnage in London later of the supposed monster who signed himself . "Jack tho Ripper " has never been brought borne to the culprit even to this day. At the time, bloodhounds were suggested as a last resort in an attempt to track this archcriminal, and Mr Edwin Brouprh offered the then Chief of Police in j-iondon, Sir Charles Warren, the services of some of his famous hounds^ which, however, Sir Charles declined. In one way the thought of tracking evildoers bj dogs is somewhat repugnant to Englishmen's latter-day sense of justice and fair play, being generally regarded as a relic of feudal, or even barbarous, times: but there can be little doubt as to its efficacy in bringing criminals to justice when all human effort has failed. And in this way, the very knowledge that dogs were employed as detectives would in itself act as a deterrent to evildoers. —It is strange what 'bulldogs will do. Some years ago Mrs Jagger had a bulldog — I (Mr C. J. Brown, in Our Dogs) fancy it was Bit of Fashion — which had a penchant for railway travelling. This deg one day left his house in London, made straight for the nearest railway station, and boarded a train. Again, only quite lately a bulldog saw a oat eitting in a picture-dealer's shop, whereupon he immediately jumped through the window, did considerable mischief, but went away without the "pain." The latest tale is about Mr Bird's bulldog, Tollington. who recently escaped from the house, and was not missed for two hours afterwards. During his absence he appears -to have caused considerable excitement, as he made a passing call at a Baptist Chapel about a mile from his home, and terminated a Band of Hope meeting by putting all the ladies to immediate flight; "they took refuge in an adjoining garden till "John" was safely under lock and key.

— Owners of dogs in Montclair, New Jersey, must be in despair. A law has been enacted whereby every bark given by their pets between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. will cost £1. Only very rich people can etand such a financial strain, anil consequently a wholesale slaughter of dogs must of necessity ©nsue. Dogs cannot be prevented from barking by act of Parliament, and the intelligent legislators of New Jersey, who are obviously not dog-owners, ought to be made to realise this important fact. —At an inquest at Knottingiey, England, the other day, on George Fred Hinsley. aged 30, whose body was taken out of a quarry, it was • stated that deceased left home, telling his Bister that lie was going to tho quarry for a swim. " Two hours later a man 1 , when passing tho quarry, noticed some clothing on the bank and a dog running up and down beside them. He thought nothing of the incident until the following morning, when he heard that Hinsley was missing. He then returned to the quarry, and finding the clothes -still there with' the dog sitting on them, gave information to the polioe. who at onoc recovered the body with a drag. A verdict was returned of "Accidentally drowned."