The temper of a Mastiff should be taken into consideration by the breeder.  They are, as a rule, possessed of the best of tempers.  A savage dog with such power as the Mastiff possesses is indeed a dangerous creature, and, therefore, some inquiries as to the temper of a stud dog should be made before deciding to use him.  In these dogs, as in all others, it is a question of how they are treated by the person having charge of them.

The feeding of puppies is an important matter, and should be carefully seen to by anyone wishing to rear them successfully.  If goat’s milk is procurable it is preferable to cow’s milk.  The price asked for it is sometimes prohibitory, but this difficulty may be surmounted in many cases by keeping a goat or two on the premises.  Many breeders have obtained a goat with the sole object of rearing a litter of puppies on her milk, and have eventually discarded cow’s milk altogether, using goat’s milk for household purposes instead.  As soon as the puppies will lap they should be induced to take arrowroot prepared with milk.  Oatmeal and maizemeal, about one quarter of the latter to three quarters of the former, make a good food for puppies.  Dog biscuits and the various hound meals, soaked in good broth, may be used with advantage, but no dogs, either large or small, can be kept in condition for any length of time without a fair proportion of meat of some kind.  Sheep’s paunches, cleaned and well boiled, mixed with sweet stale bread, previously soaked in cold water, make an excellent food and can hardly be excelled as a staple diet.  In feeding on horseflesh care should be taken to ascertain that the horse was not diseased, especially if any is given uncooked.

Worms are a constant source of trouble from the earliest days of puppy-hood, and no puppy suffering from them will thrive; every effort, therefore, should be made to get rid of them.

With proper feeding, grooming, exercise, and cleanliness, any large dog can be kept in good condition without resort to medicine, the use of which should be strictly prohibited unless there is real need for it.  Mastiffs kept under such conditions are far more likely to prove successful stud dogs and brood bitches than those to which deleterious drugs are constantly being given.

CHAPTER III

THE BULLDOG

The Bulldog is known to have been domiciled in this country for several centuries.  Like the Mastiff, of which it is a smaller form, it is a descendant of the “Alaunt,” Mastive, or Bandog, described by Dr. Caius, who states that “the Mastyve or Bandogge is vaste, huge, stubborne, ougly and eager, of a hevy, and burthenous body, and therefore but of little swiftnesse, terrible and frightful to beholde, and more fearce and fell than any Arcadian curre.”