THE KENNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3442, 2 March 1920, Page 45

THE KENNEL.

. By Xeebor. Fanciers and breeders of dogs are cordially Invited to contribute to this column. "Terror" will endeavour to make this department as interesting and up-to-date as possible, but in order to do this he must hare the co-operation of his readers, hence he trusts this invitation will be cheerfully responded to. The Christmas number of Our Dogs is to hand, and as usual, it is a wonderful production. It consists of 160 pages of art paper, and every page contains several illustrations of dogs, their and sometimes of their accommodation, and a great deal of interesting reading matter of course forms the bulk of the issue. In due course I hope to quote some of the very instructive matter which, I am confident, is to be gathered from the many specially written articles. This Christmas number is circulated gratis to subscribers and accompanies the December 12 issue of 90 pages! Warmth in youth is a great incentive to good size, and that is why home-reared puppies, especially if they are winter-born, are almost invariably larger than kennelreared ones. Each puppy should have a separate feeding dish, and after each morning meal of oat flour (says afi English authority) 1 give a dry puppy-biscuit, broken up into pieces easily got hold of. This . greatly aids dentition and digestion, and teaches the young idea to eat biscuits. Little and often should be the menu in all puppy dietary. A heavily filled stomach weighs too heavily on kgs that are more gristle than real bone. As a further aid to legs and feet, and to strong pasterns, there is nothing more beneficial than letting the puppy exercise on gravel. —Our go-ahead Dutch contemporary, De Hond, has been lately publishing, in weekly instalments., a very interesting review of matters canine in countries in Europe outside Holland. The author is of opinion that in France they are doing their best to exclude from their shows anything and everything that sounds German. At the last Paris Show there were, as we are aware, about 400 dogs entered, of which only three were Great Danes and three Dachshunds. It appears that in the catalogue the former were denominated as "Dogues," instead of as "Dogues Allemands," as formerly, and the latter, very surprisingly, not as "Bassets Allemands," but as "Teckels." The author _of the article in question goes on then discussing at great length the new name which in Belgium, France, and England, he says, is now being given to the former German Sheepdog; As this matter has been fully thrashed in the columns of Our Dogs,, from which it has been copied in the specialist press of the world, I leave it at rest, for fear of attracting my editor's blue pencil. Continuing, De Hond has it that, of the French breeds (and I quote only those which interest the English fanciers) at the last Paris Show, there were only one Dogue de Bordeaux only 14 French Bulldogs. To this I will remark, with all apologies due to the author of the article in question, that the last Paris Show was only a one-day affair, more of a kind of "presentation," and it could not on any account be taken as a criterion of what the present situation of French dog breeding is. its hair, and in the vast majority of cases this is due not to skin vermin or to any actual disease so much as to some falling off in the general health. In a natural way animals change their coats in spring and autumn. If they "moult" at any other time it must be for. some particular reason. An instance of this can be seen in the case of a bitch losing her coat after rearing a litter of whelps. We know that, in the human family the hair often falls off—particularly among women—as a result of general debility, and something of the same sort ■ seems to occur in dogs. On>e oan imagine nothing more exasperating for the owner of a prize dog than to have him start to "moult" just on the eve of some exhibition where he ought to distinguish himself; yet that is what often happens,, and it is difficult to know how to prevent such occurrences, because the cause in many such cases is quite mysterious. Probably (says an exchange) there has been too much conditioning, either in the way of food or medical treatment, or it may be that worms are the cause—they very well may be—or possibly ther e is some oncoming complaint not recognised at present to -account for the sudden loss of coat. The best thing to do under such circumstances is to let the coat be well groomed, give the dorr a little aperient medicine as an alterative, reduce or vary the food, and give all the out-door exercise possible* The King, who is separated by Board of Agriculture rules from his Fox-terrier so long as he is out of London, is fond of dogs, like his father, who was followed to the grave by his favourite Caesar. But from the days of the Stuarts to those of King Edward there were no dog-lovers on the throne. Charles II had many dogs, mostly of the breed named after him. Within a month of the Restoration he advtrtised in the "Mercurius Publicus" for:—A black dog ; between a Greyhound and a Spaniel. It is His Majesty's own dog. and doubtless was • stolen, for the dog was not born or bred in England, and would not forsake his master. Will they never leave robbing His Majesty? Must he not keep a dog''' This clog's place (though better than some imagine) is the only place which nobody offers to beer. Historians have preserved the names of two of Prince Rupert's dogs —Boy, who was killed at Mnrston Moor, and Raynall. "I would rather have lost the best horse in my stable," Prince when Raynall died. —Daily Chronicle.