KENNEL NOTES

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21412, 2 March 1935, Page 4

KENNEL NOTES

—« [By CALEB.] [Queries (or answer in this columD should be addressed to "Caleb," care "The Press," Christchurch, and to ensure publication on any Saturday must be received not later than tha Wednesday preceding.] Mrs R. Y. White, of the Beechwood Kennels, Styx, has disposed of a fine English Setter dog puppy by ch Rapanui Ranger from Semaphore Jolly Countess, to Mr Gordon Aitcheson, Hillgrove. North Otago. Even though only three months old, Rex of Beechwood, as the youngster will be registered, showed a particularly keen scenting power which was pleasing to Mr Aitcheson. who intends training him for the gun.

Mr Lindsay Gordon, of Clive, Hawke's Bay, has secured the outstanding Sealyham puppy, Opihi High Jinks, sired by Deganwy Rex (imp.), ex Opihi Bliss, from Mr F. G. Saville, Fairlie. Mr Gordon is a prominent breeder of Sealyhams in Hawke's Bay, and this is the fourth purchase he has made from the Opihi Kennels. Mr R. O. Johnson, of St. Albans, has disposed of a promising Springer Spaniel dog puppy to Dr. Fey, Timaru. The youngster is from Patricia Gun, by Mr W. R. M. Irwin's field trial performer. Paddy, and it is to be hoped that Dr. Fey. who is an enthusiastic sportsman, will find the puppy as keen a worker as Paddy himself. Mrs P. Simon. Hoon Hay, has disposed of an Alsatian dog puppy by ch Knight of Lorraine from Toulaine of Lorraine, to Mrs D. Marsh, Central Otago. Mrs Simon tells me that the puppy is the exact replica of the wellknown Knight both in appearance and temperament. The winning blue roan Cocker bitch, Avon Schnapps, owned by Mr N. S. Brosnan. St. Albans, has been mated to Mr H. Hodge's Avon Ability. It is worthy of note that this same mating previously produced the champions Renwick Tangle, Renwick Nugget, and the Australian gd ch Renwick Gleam. It is only natural that Mr Brosnan should try to breed further outstanding specimens from the same sire and dam. North Otago Kennel Club The annual show of the North Otago Kennel Club will take place on Thursday and Friday, May 23 and 24, in the drill hall, Oamaru. The well-known North Island breeder and judge, Mr James Mason, Wellington, will take all breeds. The dates of the show are ideal, and should suit all exhibitors, and the club is to be commended on securing dates for its annual fixture in the month of May, instead of, as previously, in August. Feeding: of Dogs I am often asked by people who have just secured a dog, "what would you feed jt on?" We have been giving Fido large daily doses of raw liver, or porridge, potatoes, and the other day I met an owner who had just purchased six rabbits which he proposed to feed to a Collie puppy in two days. What astonishes me is that a great proportion of dogs, whether pedigree or otherwise, manage to live at all, much less keep in good health, when fed continuously on any one of the foods aforementioned, not one of which is suitable as a sole diet for a dog. A puppy requires a mixed and varied diet, in which lean meat predominates. By lean meat beef or mutton is meant, and rabbit in the raw state is the last thing I would give a dog, as apart from the risk of completing the life circle of one of the various taenia or ascaris marginata there is very decided risk of the fine bone splinting and penetrating the gullet or intestines. Too muc' bread and

to good health, but stale brown bread given to a puppy to gnaw is a useful food and helps mastication. bones with a little meat on serve the same useful purpose, but bones i as a staple diet are no more a food I for a dog than a food for a human j being. He certainly derives a certain amount of lime and perhaps a little phosphates, but little nourishment. I have often wondered why some of the freezing companies do not manufacture a suitable meal diet lor dogs which would be handy to feed and could, I think, be produced comparatively cheaply. A fallacy which one often hears repeated is that feeding meat gives dogs distemper. Distemper is a virus disease like influenza in the human, and has no con-