Kennel Notes.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 27, 17 September 1920, Page 11

Kennel Notes.

An authority on the dog hobby advisea as follows : — If you are showing dogs as a business, you must have several different breeds, but the man who keeps dogs as a hobby will be content with one, and he will find that one breed alone will probably take up all the ti me. that he can give to dog-breeding. By going in for one Breed alone, making up your mind to keep only the best dogs, and extending your operations very gradually, you may have no expenses and even make a profit, while at the same time you are getting together a good and valuable kennel of ghow dogs. I do not advise people to allow their dog keeping to develop into a business. Professionalism in dog keeping, as in sport, is not to be desired ; but at the same time do not make the opposite mistake and allow your puppies to be sold too cheaply simply because you do not care to ask for higher prices. There is also this danger in making a business of dog * keeping. The man who does this gets to regard his dogs as money-makipg animals, which are to be sent from show to show, and used' generally for winning purposes. I do not think that any man should keep dogs unless he lias, at any rate, a da^K- of sentiment in his character'; but this does not mean that fanciers should be foolishly fond of their dogs. A word or two about pedigrees. Some 'people regard a pedigree as almost a sacred thing. They seem to think that if they have a dog with a pedigree they have one which ig exceedingly valuable — quite one of the aristocracy of the dog world. No greater mistake can be made. It does not f ollow that because the father and mother of your dog have taken innumerable prizes and are entitled to be termed champions, that your dog is therefore a valuable dog or even a good oue. It is quite pos%ible that you may have been palmed off with the weed of the Iitter, and that as a mat.ter of fact; your dog is so poor that if the dealer had not been able to sell him to you or to someone else, he would soon have put an end ■to him. Therefore, do not 'be led away b,y .people who tell you that such and such a dog must be good because he has a pedigree. As a matter of faet, pedigrees are not always reliable. If you get a pedigree you can verify it yourself by going to the breeder of the dog ; but many a dealer takes as one Of hig many maxims "Give me a dog and I will find him a pedigree." A pedigree is of course useful to those who think of breeding dogs, but the mere possession of a pedigree does not i#ake a dog valuable and therefore does not justify the dealer in charging a high prico for tiro animal. Some dogs with no pedigrees win .prizes. Their age and parentage are shrouded in mystery : but luckilv a dog is not judged according to the records made by his parents. Some people refrain from showing their dogs simply because they do not possess them and have no means of aseertaining pedigrees. They have an idea that show dogs must have pedigrees, otherwise they would not he allowed in* shows. It fs true that when you register your dog at the Kennel Club, you have to give names of his parents and that of his breeder, and the date of his birth (if these facts are known to you), but if you do not know them and have no means of ascertaining them and have no means of ascertaining as "age, breeder and pedigree unknown/'