CARE OF THE DOG

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 July 1938, Page 5

CARE OF THE DOG

SOME TIMELY ADVICE. The majority of dog owners are sentimentalists. They want all they can get in the practicalw ay of protection and from companionship and amusement. Unfortunately, this is often the end of their sentimental affection for their dog friend. While not actually guilty of cruelty to their dogs, they do not wish to bother or stop to think, and the consequence of this failing is indirect cruelty. Then again there are many who offend through sheer ignorance, in that they fail to care for their dogs in the right manner. Winter time above all is the period when a little extra care and thought on the part of some owners would save unwonted suffering. It needs little imagination to realise the acute discomfort in which many dogs spend their days; often they are chained up to a draughty box which serves as a kennel, or worse still, an iron drum, without a regular change of bedding, and with hardly sufficient to eat.

When all is said and done, so little effort expended by an owner means so much to a dog. It is just a matter of common sense; the first and most obvious point of consideration is that of food. How many owners stop to consider that every growing dog needs about double the food in winter that he gets in summer, and although meat should be his staple diet, vegetables and a certain amount of farinaceous foods should be given as well. Hard, dry food, such as stale bread, is cheap enough, and no dog can be happy, much less well fed, bn a bi-weekly ration of sheep’s offal. At this time of the year every dog should have at least one good meal a day. This should consist of clean, lean meat, stale bread, brown for preference, and to vary the diet, this bread should at least twice a week be scalded with stock or gravy. If any luxury above necessity c'an be afforded, it may be given in the form of a grated raw carrot sprinkled over his dinner. In very rough weather an occasional raw egg may be given beaten up in a little warmed milk. For dogs chained up to a kennel a clean supply of drinking water should be available at all times.

Living out of doors a draught-proof and yet well-ventilated kennel in which the animal can move freely around, good, clean bedding of wheat straw, hay, or pine shavings should always be available, and it is the easiest thing in the world to keep a dog free from parasitic life. It is a. bad practice to allow house dogs in town to lie in front of a big fire. This practice is injurious to the eyesight.