THE KENNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 4028, 26 May 1931, Page 31

THE KENNEL.

By Terror. Fanciers and breeders of doga are sordially invited to contribute to thia column. “Terror” will endeavour to make this department aa interesting and up-to-dato as possible, but in order to do this he must have the cooperation of hia readers, hence ha trusts this invitation will bo cheers tally responded to. “Terrier” writes to ask what to do io stop hair falling from his dog. He is preparing it for the forthcoming show in his district, and is alarmed at the way the hair is coming out. It is impossible for me to say what is causing the loss of hair, for the reasons are numerous. It takes very little to start a dog losing its hair, and in the vast majority of cases this is not due 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. One can imagine nothing more exasperating for the owner of a prize dog than to have him start to “ moult ” just on the eye of some show where he ought to distinguish himself; yet that is what often happens (as in “Terrier’s” case), and it is difficult to know how to prevent such occurrences, because the cause in many such cases is quite mysterious. Probably 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 there 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 dog a little aperient medicine as an alterative, reduce or vary the food, and give all the outdoor exercise possible. Miss Balk, of Maori Hill, has procured from Mr Alexander Brown, of Wellington, a handsome Scottish terrier dog puppy, now five months old. The Scotch terrier as a breed has been Miss Balk’s fancy for some time, and as a result of her recent acquisition she will no doubt be heard of as a prize winner and breeder of pedigree dogs. The puppy she has just procured is of aristocratic blood, both sire and dam being derived from winning strains right back to the fifth generation. The sire is Hawthorne Sport and the dam is Hawthorne Wonder, both imported. The parents of both sire and dam are also the same, and this is the case right back as far as the pedigree goes. This represents , close inbreeding over a long period, but so far stamina has been maintained if we are to judge by Miss Balk’s new purchase. Future matings will no doubt take place on somewhat more divergent lines.

With regard to “ in-and-in ” breeding such as is illustrated in the foregoing, it is a fact that many leading breeders here and at Home have practised inbreeding over very long periods, with the result that desirable characteristics have been so strongly impressed that for a generation or two they will be transmitted to offspring even when in inexperienced ownership they are unwisely mated up. Ashmont. in “ Kennel Secrets.” points out that “ in-and-in ” breeding is justifiable if both sire and dam, though brother and sister, are of good quality and do not share the same defects. The point is that, when inbreeding, stamina — constitution—must be maintained, and it can only be so if both sire and dam are in sound health, robust, .active, and healthy.

A question of interest to all fanciers is. Should a dog with a blemished eye accidentally acquired be allowed a prize at a show over dogs not similarly disfigured ? A number of judges have been asked this question in England, and their answers, though variously expressed, may be summed up under two headings—viz.: Yes, because accidentally acquired blemishes to eyes or other organs are not hereditary: unless, of course, in other respects two dogs are equal, when the prize should go to the unblemished dog. Ko, because sometimes the judge may be in doubt as to whether tlie blemish is or is not accidentally acquired, and even if an accident has been the cause it may have been the result of faulty action or constitutional weakness. A dog should be judged as it appears on the day, and this in the interest of the future of the breed.

According to an overseas journal, the monks of the Grand St. Bernard and their dogs have been cut off entirely for some time from the outside world by great blizzards. The famous dogs of the monastery, which for generations have been the means of saving many human lives, are rather different from the type known _ in England and elsewhere. For one thing they have much smoother coats and tails that are hardly at all bushy, besides which their feet spread out some-

thing like the web feet of a duck, enabling them to run with the greatest ease over the snow where a man would sink in. The dogs’ feet in countries where they are not kept for their utilitarian qualities become hard through walking on hard roads and pavements. Field or Cocker ? —There has been much correspondence in England lately ou the subject of spaniels. At one show a spaniel puppy gained first prize in the cocker class, and at a subsequent fixture it scored first as a field spaniel. The contention has been advanced that this dog must be either a cocker or a field spaniel, and that it cannot be both. To entitle a dog to be exhibited he must be registered. As this animal was shown both as a cocker and a field spaniel he must have been registered in class. The position at present is very ridiculous. One writer says in Our Dogs ; “ Certain standards have been drawn up for the different varieties of spaniels, and I (together with many others) am absolutely at a loss to understand how the same dog can conform to the points laid down for the two varieties. A dog is either a cocker or he is not. He cannot be a field and a cocker any more than a scaffold pole can be classified as a telegraph pole. They are both poles, however.”

The following is said to be the course of training to which police dogs are subjected:— (1) To lead properly. (2) To use his nose—for instance, by hiding from him and allowing him to find you. (3) To “speak” when told. (4) To sit. (5) To sit, and remain where placed until called or signalled to. and to “drop ” on the hand being raised. (6) To lie down with head resting on front paws. When they were seeking out a weak, scent it was found that Alsatians in days gone by often lay down in this position, but, instead of laying their heads on their paws, they would arch their necks, and with nose touching the ground would worry out

the scent. (7) To retrieve. (8) To find an object and then bring it to hand. (9) To carry an object for any given distance. (10) To go back and pick up an object dropped some hundred yards behind. (11) To take messages from one police station (or from one place) to another. (12) To guard an object. (13) To refuse food from any stranger, for fear of poison. (14) To track a person for miles by scent. (15) On finding the person, to guard him, and to hold him if necessary (but without actually biting him) until the master arrives. (16) To jump or to climb any height. In short,, to do anything and everything imaginable. That gives a very good idea of training, and presumably it is unnecessary to add that one does not begin the “ distance ” lessons in hundreds of yards or in miles. The young idea “ crawls ” before it “ walks,” mentally as well as physically.