With regard to feeding, this requires to be studied in relation to the particular breed.  One good meal a day, served by preference in the evening, is sufficient for the adult if a dry dog-cake or a handful of rodnim be given for breakfast, and perhaps a large bone to gnaw at.  Clean cold water must always be at hand in all weathers, and a drink of milk coloured with tea is nourishing.  Goat’s milk is particularly suitable for the dog:  many owners keep goats on their premises to give a constant supply.  It is a mistake to suppose, as many persons do, that meat diet provokes eczema and other skin troubles; the contrary is the case.  The dog is by nature a carnivorous animal, and wholesome flesh, either cooked or raw, should be his staple food.  Horseflesh, which is frequently used in large establishments, is not so fully to be relied upon as ordinary butcher meat.  There is no serious objection to bullocks’ heads, sheeps’ heads, bullocks’ tripes and paunches and a little liver given occasionally is an aperient food which most dogs enjoy.  But when it can be afforded, wholesome butcher’s meat is without question the proper food.  Oatmeal porridge, rice, barley, linseed meal, and bone meal ought only to be regarded as occasional additions to the usual meat diet, and are not necessary when dog cakes are regularly supplied.  Well-boiled green vegetables, such as cabbage, turnip-tops, and nettle-tops, are good mixed with the meat; potatoes are questionable.  Of the various advertised dog foods, many of which are excellent, the choice may be left to those who are fond of experiment, or who seek for convenient substitutes for the old-fashioned and wholesome diet of the household.  Sickly dogs require invalid’s treatment; but the best course is usually the simplest, and, given a sound constitution to begin with, any dog ought to thrive if he is only properly housed, carefully fed, and gets abundant exercise.

CHAPTER L

BREEDING AND WHELPING

The modern practice of dog-breeding in Great Britain has reached a condition which may be esteemed as an art.  At no other time, and in no other country, have the various canine types been kept more rigidly distinct or brought to a higher level of perfection.  Formerly dog-owners—­apart from the keepers of packs of hounds—­paid scant attention to the differentiation of breeds and the conservation of type, and they considered it no serious breach of duty to ignore the principles of scientific selection, and thus contribute to the multiplication of mongrels.  Discriminate breeding was rare, and if a Bulldog should mate himself with a Greyhound, or a Spaniel with a Terrier, the alliance was regarded merely as an inconvenience.  So careless were owners in preventing the promiscuous mingling of alien breeds that it is little short of surprising so many of our canine types have been preserved in their integrity.