THE KENNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3757, 16 March 1926, Page 57

THE KENNEL.

Bt Terror. Fanciers and breeders of dogs are cordially Incited 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 have the co-operation o> his readers, hence be trusts this invitation will be cheerfully responded to. Australian fanciers are evidently aware that cocker spaniels may with advantage be procured from New Zealand. Dr M'Killop has recently received no less than five enquiries from Commonwealth fanciers. —Mr J. B. Williams has mated his lemon roan cocker bitch by Heirloom from Laverock L’Amour to Mr H. Ottley’s black dog Felbrig Joe (imp.). . Mr S. Devereaux has been appointed to judge the dog section at the coming Dunedin Fanciers’ Show. Experience of this gentleman’s services in the capacity to which he has been appointed assures us that the club’s selection is a good one and should inspire confidence in exhibitors that they will get a good run for their money. The Dingo, Australasian, or New Holland Dog.—ln an edition of “Ihe Dog,” by William Youatt, published in 1895, there is a description of the dingo reproduced from the writings of one Hodgson in favour of the Zoological Societv It reads as follows: “’ihe newly discovered southern con tinent was. and some of it still continues to be, overrun by the native wild dogs Dampier describes them, at the close of the last century, as ‘beasts like the hungry wolves, lean like so many skeletons, and being nothing but skin and bone.’ It was not until the publication of Governor Phillips’s voyage to Botany Bay that any accurate description or figure of this dog could be obtained. He approaches in appearance to the largest kind of shepherd’s dog. The head is elongated, the forehead flat, and the ears short and erect, or with a slight direction forwards. The body is thickly covered with hair o f two kinds—the one woolly and grey, the other silky and of a deep yellow or fawn colour. The limbs are muscular, and were it not for the suspicious yet ferocious glare of the eye, he might pass for a handsome dog. The Australasian dog, according 10 M. Desmarest, resembles in form and in the proportion of h:s limbs, the common shepherd’s dog. He is very active and courageous, covered in some parts with thick hair woolly and gray, in other parts becoming of a yellowish-red colour, and under the belly having a whitish hue. When he is running, the head is lifted more than usual in dogs, and the tail is carried horizontally. He seldom barks Mi Bennett observest that “dogs in a state of nature never bark. They simply whine, howl, or growl. The explosive noise of the bark is only found among those that arc* domesticated.” Sonini speaks of the shepherd’s dogs in the wilds of Egypt as not having this faculty; and Columbus found the dogs which he had previously carried to America almost to have lost their propensity to bark. He does, however, occasionally bark, and has some kind of snnrling voice which the larger dogs generally have. The Australasian dogs that have been brought to Ejrope have usually been of a savage and intractable disposition. There are several of the Australasian dogs in the gardens of the Zoological * Society of London, but not one of them has acquired the bark of the other dogs by which they are surrounded. When a stranger makes his appearance, or when the hour of feeding arrives, the howl of the Australasian is the first sound that is heard, and it is louder than all the rest.

Bet Dog’s Costly Gulp.—During radium treatment for skin disease at a Vienna clinic Baroness Renovieve’s pet dog swallowed a box containing radium worth a huge sum of money. The dog was slaughtered and the radium recovered.

The Dog’s Teeth.—Although the teeth of a horse are generally a fairly certain indication of its age, the teeth of a dog do not provide nearly such a reliable guide. When judging dogs in many breeds the mouths should be examined, not to determine their age, but to ascertain whether the teeth are regular and sound, and if any are missing. Another object is to discover if the dog is undershot or overshot—that is, whether the teeth on the under jaw are projecting over those on the upper, or vice versa. Both, of these are serious defects, especially in the case of dogs used for ratting or the destruction of any other kind of vermin. The age of a dog, however, can be roughly determined by examination of the mouth. The second set of teeth is generally complete at about eight months, and the cutting edges of the incisors are serrated and not straight. As the dog advances in age these serrations gradually disappear, but the 12 incisors do not form an absolutely straight cutting edge until the dog is about five years old. After that the teeth begin to show a slightly worn-down appearance. As time goes on the colour of the enamel changes from milky white to a dark yellow. an English writer says: “One is continually reading letters and hearing opinions concerning the uselessness of the modern show dog, and doubting the sanity of the dog fancier. Provided that the standard of points is based on the work for which the type of dog was originally intended, and provided judges judge according to that standard, dog breeding for show becomes a sane, interesting, and fascinating hobby. Many show dogs may be quite useless for their work, which does not matter in the least. So long as we concentrate on getting near the idea a vast number of dogs must result that are tremendously suitable for their intended work. _ The racehorse is not directly a useful animal, yet the breeding of thoroughbred stock depends on racing, and always has depended on racing, for the slight faults and perfections of a horse can in no other way be brought to light. It is not necessary to point out the wonderful reputation that English horses enjoy all the world over. Dog showing is an exact parallel to horse rac-

ing, and is the only way of bringing out the faults and perfections in dogs. And the dog fancier is the man who concentrates on breeding, as near as possible, the ideal type of dog, I am inclined to think, therefore, that the man who continually criticises the fancier is really, if not a ‘ terrible nightmare,’ less sane than the fancier.”

6HEEP OOC TRIALS. Mackenzie—March 17 and 18. Patearoa—March 25 and 26. Mossburn—March 29 and 30. Omarama—April 7,8, and 9. SHEEP DOG NOTES. Dear “Terror,” —In a recent issue of the Witness there is a picture taken in Sydney of a dog “backing” sheep, and it is referred to as something phenomenal, yet on any sJe day in Addington I will undertake to find a score of dogs which take the backs of sheep as readily as the ordinary heading dog will stop them in the paddock or on the road. Indeed, without these “backing” dogs it is hard to say how the thousands of sheep which pass through the Addington yards weekly would be trucked and untrucked. I have bought several “backers” in Addington, and sent them all over the Commonwealth of Australia, with most satisfactory results. I also have them here trained to go above, below, or through sheep as desired, and my wondr often is how big mobs of sheep are handled in yards without them. I can at any time put in 500 ewes and lambs and do the weaning ob my own, and although I have always some hundreds of pounds’ worth of clever working dogs on my farm there are none I would miss so muJi a*- these wonderful Addington forcers, whos methods may be primitive, but they are certainly very effective—at dipping time, for instance. Vith your permission, I would like alt to draw your attention to t’ a test set the dogs at the Exhibition trials. Part of this was the Maltese cross, which is regarded as obsolete by everv authority 1 know of. It is over 20 years since it was done away with in Sydney, the leading trials for show-ring work in the Sot rn Hemisphere. In Sydney they substituted a culvert, and anyone conv sant with the every-day work of our dogs will at once see how much more this is in *.;eping wit? practical work than the puzzle known j« the Maltese cross, to get sheep through which depends as much or more on the man than the dog. I can very well remember some time about 1908 having a long and interesting letter from my friend Mr James Scott, of Troneyhill, owner of the great old champion Kep, and who last year deli ted thousands at Wembley with demonstrations of sheep dogs at work. In this letter Mr Scott mentioned that he had just been judging the sheep dog trials at the English Royal Show, and that a part of the test was the Maltese cross. This did not appeal to Mr Scott at all. and after he had finished judging he informed those in charge that if at any future time they asked him to judge he would object to do so if the dogs were asked to negotiate this puzzle.—l am, etc., T , . , , James Lilico. Lochiel, March 5.