THE KENNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3768, 1 June 1926, Page 34

THE KENNEL.

Bt

TARSON.

FanoUr* and breeders of dogs are cordUHj In* riled to contribute to this column. “Terror” will eodoskTear to make this department as interesting •ad ap-to-date as possible, but in order lo do this he must hare the co-operation o' his readers, hence he trusts this invitation will bs cbeerluUv responded to. “Annoyed.”—l can quite understand that the state your pet is in annoys you; but it is quite an easy thing to get rid of the vermin and to prevent their reappearing if you attend regularly to his grooming. One of the best

remedies for vermin in dogs is a solution of quassia chips. It has the advantage of being simple as well as inexpensive. The chips may be purchased from any chemist. They can be bought in quantity, as their strength does not deteriorate ovith age. To make a solution take a good handful and place in a fair-sized basin or other vessel. Put in a pint of hot or cold water, and allow to soak for a few hours. With this mixture saturate the whole of the coat and skin thoroughly. Two or three applications may be necessary. Th~ sol '.ion is harmless, and will not injure the animal if he licks it. If you give the dog a good brush over every day, or every other day, you will improve his coat, and make it almost impossible for vermin to get a footing there again. The Law of Scienter. —The following, which is a reply to a correspondent to Our Dogs (England), will, I have no doubt, be found interesting to doggie men generally:—“The incident of a County Court judge recently non-suiting a plaintiff who was suing for the value of fowls killed by his dog, on the ground that he had not proved that the defendant had any previous knowledge of the disposition of his dog to worry fowls, may apply to your case, although you did not tell us in your query that you had any previous knowledge of your dog ever having worried fowls before. This decision of the County Court judge referred to seems also to be in keeping with what our contributor, ‘A Doggie Lawyer/ describes as the law with regard to dogs worrying fowls, which you will see comes in the same category as a dog biting a human being, in both cases scienter stepping in—that is to say, before prosecution can succeed the plaintiff must prove that the owner of the dog had previous knowledge of his dogs disposition in this direction. But County Court judges have often awarded damages in such cases in spite of the law of scienter.” A “Dudley” refers to the nose of a dog being flesh or liver coloured instead I>f black, and is a disqualification in a bulldog. The body skin of a dog is not porous in the same sense as is a human’s, and he consequently perspires through his mouth and not his body. As showing the progress in public favour by the Alsatians in England, the entries of the breed at the recent Manchester Show numbered 258. No other breed exceeded them except fox terriers, the entries for which were respectively—smooths 259, and wire 254. Airedales came next with 231. There were 3835 entries all told, but no other breed reached the 200 mark. If a dog is sent to a prospective buyer (says Our Dogs) on certain representations, and the dog does not in the opinion of the prospective buyer come up to those representations, he can repudiate the purchase on those grounds, irrespective of whether the dog was sent on approval or not, as the law does not countenance the sale of things on the “pig in a poke” principle. The story of a faithful collie dog comes from Temuka, where a man under the influence of liquor was found asleep beside a hedge on the main road on Friday night last. A couple of residents, realising the severity of the weather, decided to remove him to a warmer spot, but the sleeping man’s dog showed fight on its master’s behalf, refusing to allow the strangers to approach. As a solution of the difficulty, they decided to send for a constable, but the dog was not impressed by the representative of the law, and showed as much antagonism to him as he had to the civilians. No doubt its faithfulness led it to believe something was seriously wrong, for it pawed its master’s face, and so partly woke him. It was only then that the man could be moved into a car, where he was followed by the dog, which remained there in spite of all efforts to remove him, until the police station was reached.

Aspirin for Distemper.—A correspondent writing to the English kennel paper Our Dogs says: “I should be interested to know whether any of your readers have had any success in the treatment of distemper with aspirin. A friend of mine states that he has effected several cures with this drug, and it would be helpful to know whether other dog fanciers have had similar experience with it. If the maximum and minimum doses could be ascertained according to size of dog, this would be useful information for-experi-mental work.”—“Medicus,” in reply, says: “Now as regards this matter, it may be said at once that in all probability aspirin would be very useful in some cases of distemper—not as a direct cure, but by reason of its effect in reducing feverishness. In many cases distemper (of the history of which we are still very much in the dark) resembles an attack of ague. There is obvious pain in the limbs; there is a high state of fever, with shivering and running at the eyes and nose—quite symptomatic of influenza. In such a case an aspirin tablet crushed up and poured down the dog’s throat in a little water, or, perhaps, better still, wrapped up in a bit of meat, will often produce an excellent effect. I speak of a * tablet * of aspirin. The ordinary 5-grain tablet such as can be obtained from the nearest chemist will be a sufficient dose for a big terrier. More may be given for large dogs, and as regards toy dogs a quarter of a tablet will be an aipple dose. But let it be borne in mind that other treatment for the disease is to go on as usual.”

SHEEP OOG TRIALS.

Ngapara—June 7 and 8. MILLER’S FLAT CLUB. The annual trials of the Miller's Flat Collie Dog Club wer3 held at Miller’s Flat on Mr T. Stockdill's property, which was lent for the occasion. The entries showed a falling off compared with previous year, but this was no doubt due to the adverse weather experienced. Nevertheless, the work shown was up to the standard of former years. Mr A. Scott (Burnside) acted as judge, and his decisions were acceptable to the competitors. The following are the results: MAIDEN.—Head, pull, and hold in ring. About 460 yards. Time, 10 minutes. Points: Heading 8, pulling 8, command 8, work at ring 6, holding in ring 2. First prize £4, second prize £2, third prize £l. Mr J. Mulhern’s Speck, 27 points .. .. 1 Mr G. Young's Mac, 22 points 2 Mr H, Andrews’s Wattie, 21 points .. 3

CLASS ll.—Heading and yarding. About 600 yards. Time, 12 minutes. Points: Heading 10, pulling 12, command 10, work at yards 4, yarding 4. First prize £6, second prize £4, third prize £2, fourth prize £l. Mr G. Young's Tip, 35 points 1 Mr J. Waddel's Spot and Mr P. Whyte s Sweep, 34 points (equal) .2 Mr J Mulhern’s Dot, 31 points 4 CLASS lll.—Huntaway and slew between three sets of poles. Distance about 500 yards. Time, 12 minutes. Points: Huntaway 10, slew 10, command 12, noise 8. First prize £6, second prize £4, third prize £2, fourth prize £l. Mr J. Mulhern’s Bob, 36 points .. .. 1 Mr W. Yardley’s Tip, 29 points 2 Mr J. Mulhern’s Rook, 21 points .. .. 3 Mr M. Craighead’s Jock and Mr J. Parker’s Glen, 20 points (equal) .. .. 1 Special Prizes.—Mr George Bennet’s special, Mr H. Emmerson; Mr A, Scott’s special, Mr H. Andrews; Mr J. Sheehy’s special, Mr. T. Stockdill. COMPETITIONS AT FEILDING. FEILDING, May 25. The Feilding District Collie Dog Club is holding its first annual dog trials in rough weather, the first trial being completed to-day. Thirty-four dogs competed for the head, pull, and drive round the ring. The following was the result: — E. Leahy’s Spark, 44 points 1 W. M’Kenzie’s Moss, 43£ points .. 2 A. Doole’s Toss and A. Meikle’s Boy, 43 points each (equal) 3 E. E. Short’s Tipp won the special trophy, scoring most points for heading. A. Doole’s Toss won the special trophy for best work at the ring.