THE KENNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3015, 27 December 1911, Page 35

THE KENNEL.

By Tebrob.

Fanciers and breeders of dogs are cordially invited to contribute .to this column. " Terror ."• will endeavoar to -make this" department as' interesting and np-to-date as possible, but in order to do thij he moat have the co-operation of his readers, hence he trusts this invitation will be cheerfully responded to. —Mr Conn has disposed of two very nice black cooker puppies by bis own dog, Lord Merval. One is to go to Inveroargill and'the other to Roslyn. —Mr E. W ester's Glendon Mist has been visited by Mr Thomson's Rccksalt (imp.). —Mr Ellis's bitoh Kaikorai Kit has a nioo litter of five puppies by Glendon Major. I learn from Mr Conn that there is a credit balance after squaring up accounts in connection with the recent parade. —Mr R. S. Menzies has disposed of Glenledi Squire to Mr M. Coughlan, jun. Squire is the winner of several prizes this season, and gives promise of developing into a real good dog. —Mr R. S. Menzies hae also disposed of his well-known dog, Glenledi Vioar, to Mr H. Cunningham, of Grey Lynn, Auckland. Vicar has won 20 firsts and specials this season, and should prove a useful sire to his new owner. Glenledi Lass and ch. Glenledi Burprenustress, both the property of Mr R.S. Menzies, have been mated to Mr L. Hickinbottom's newly-imnorted dog, Amhurst Baron.

Two bulldogs have just been imported into Sydney from England—one a bitch, the property of Air Allan Geer, a wellknown Sydney breeder, who shipped to New Zealand such dogs as Burgenustress, Chadwell Prince, and Reitar; and the other a 12 months' old dog,, the property of Messrs Clarke and Patrick. 4- The Kennel Club's (England) show, held at the Crystal Palace in October, is reported to have been a ;world's record as regards entries, fhe total being 3808. There were 46 judges. A dog's teeth are not modelled by Nature for purposes of mastication—like those of cattle, for. example. The dog tears his food—or crunches it—-into portions that are capable of being swallowed; his digestive organs can assimilate hard and apparently indigestible substances like bones —and because the stomach has this power of digestion it is important that it should not be allowed to remain idle. Machinery never put to use quickly deteriorates; so do the digestive powers of a doe;. And if our ca.nino friend be fed entirely upon liouid or semi-liquid food, he will eradually become dyspeptic—there will be nothing to call forth the production of the powerful digestive juices which can be produced if required. A dog gorges himself with food at comparatively rare intervals—that is to say, he does not need to be fed too often. If he has the opportunity of gorging himself he will do so, and then will be ready for a long sleep. Having these thinars in mind, it is important to recognise that the natural food of the dog is raw flesh, and everv dour should have a proportion of that, allowed him. Biscuits are excellent, of course, but it is better to give them —or at least a proportion of them —hard and unsoaked. The teeth of the dog will be found to be an interesting subject for study, and their preservation is, of course, a matter of great importance from the fancier's point of view. It is surprising how manv dogs there are to be found nowadays with bad teeth, especially dogs kent as companions. This can hardly be wondered at, considerine; the number of ladies there are who will insist upon .pampering their dogs with all sorts of unsuitable foods. Coarse, hard food—dry dog biscuit, for exai/inle—will do more than anything to keep the teeth in good order, encouraging the enamel to remain hard and bright, and cW.nsino- away accumulations of tartar, which always servo as a cloak for decav. A puppy, as we all know, Is born toothless, but in le-« than three months from his birth he will have a complete set of "temporary" teeth. About a

month later these will be replaced with more or less rapidity by the permanent teeth. They are not complete, as a rule, until the dog is at least a year old. The most troublesome time, and that at which puppies are very liable to have fits—real "teething" fits, and not convulsions, which are mistaken for teething fits—is when the corner or "tushes" are being developed. Sometimes it is necessary to remove one or more of the temporary teeth; but, as a rule, puppie s shed them by the aid of their (master's slippers or some similar subject of play. Bones are useful to assist puppies in this matter, The full set of teeth in a dog numbers, at maturity, 44 —12 of which are incisors, four tushes, and six molars, being nine on each side. Sometimes, however, a dog does not develop quite so many. Forty-four, however, is the fullest number. "Wattlebark," of the Australasian, writes: —" It has been deplored over and over again in Australia that when a man, woman, or chil<l has been lost in the bush we have no real practical means of recovering them, except by search parties, which are very insufficient for so serious a purpose. It has been pointed out that with bloodhounds trained to the work such people would most assuredly be recovered promptly; but no steps have been taken by any Government to put the matter to trial. In America bloodhounds are in constant use, and many a- criminal has b»>en tracked by them and arrested. Mention is made of this class of work in the kennel of a 'star' performer .belonging to the Long Island pack, and Ten own a s Sheba's Queen. That bitch was concerned in the capture of a man who bad broken into a station building in the course of a night Next morning the bitch Ted the way to i£?tl B H lon ' whence it was evident the thief had left by train. A special was chartered, and Sheba's Queen we* tried at five stations before she owned to the line at the sixth. The result was that the fugitive was caught. Thirtv-two convictions in two years stand to the bitch's record. That 'there is a field for tracking criminals in Australia i s beyond a doubt. i-i re j Y e oase ® where rails have been shifted hom main lines, with the view of causing railway catastrophies. Many of such cases have not been sheeted home bv cjP.i e - A bl oodfoound would have nxod the matter up in a few hours A case of a bloodhound finding a youno- ladv who was missing from her home is cited by a Pittsburg (U.S.) paper. The youner lady was missed from her home at a village called Bethel. It was not until the following Thursday that the bloodhound was brought into service, and then it was ooked upon as the forlornest of forlorn hopes to emplov the hound, for rain had been almost constantly falling, and large search parties had been tramping over the country. After being given the scent the hound started, and swung to and fro across the territory, sometimes givintr a_ note of joy that raised the spirits of the party to the utmost buoyancy. Then the hope would be shortlived, for the hound would presently be found wandering aimlessly about. At last, at about 2 p.m., the hound picked up the right scent, and went away with a loud bay of exultation. It wa s a hard road that he led the men that hung to his path. At times he faltered momentarily, but was soon again on his way. After a time, and after same hard travelling, the bloodhound broke through some bushes, discovering a heap of clothes belonging to the missing girl. The hound was very impatient now, showing that the object of the search was not far away. Going on, the hound ran forward, when the girl herself, alive and well, considering the circumstances, was found hidden in the branches of a tree.