Do not state that the dog has perfect markings if it lacks a collar or white feet.  If banded only on one side of the muzzle, say so.  If pinched or undershot, say so.  If roached in back, poor eyes, weak in hind quarters or off in tail, say so.  In fact, plainly state any defects.  At the same time, if the dog is practically O. K. in all respects, stylish and trappy, do not hesitate to emphasize the fact, and if the dog likewise possesses a charming, delightful personality, make the most of it.  Always remember that the perfect Boston terrier dies young!

CHAPTER XIII.

Notes.

There are several features of vital import in Boston terrier breeding that the passing years have disclosed to the writer the imperative need of attention to.  Most of these have been spoken of in this book before, but they seem to me at the present time to demand being specially emphasized.  Feeding and its relation to skin diseases, I think, naturally heads the list.

I have received more letters of inquiry from all parts of the country asking what to do for skin trouble than for all other ailments combined.  I think our little dog is more susceptible to skin affections than most dogs, owing to the fact that he is more or less a house pet, and does not get the chance of as much outdoor exercise, and the access to nature’s remedy—­grass, as most breeds.  At the same time if fed properly, given sufficient life in the open, no dog possesses a more beautiful glossy coat.

No one factor is more responsible for skin trouble than the indiscriminate feeding of dog biscuit.  These, as previously written, are first rate supplementary food, but where they are made the “piece de resistance,” look out for breakers ahead.  The mere fact of their being available under all circumstances and in all places contributes largely to their general use.

At the new million dollar Angell Memorial Animal Hospital, Boston, Doctors Daly and Flanigan have conducted a series of scientific experiments on dogs.  I had talked with Dr. Flanigan, and stated my experience was that an exclusive dog biscuit diet was the cause of skin trouble invariably.

They selected forty dogs in perfect physical condition, dividing them into two groups of twenty each.  To one was fed exclusively dog biscuits, and the other a diet of milk in the morning, and at night a feed composed of a liberal amount of spinach—­they had to use the canned article as it was in winter—­boiled with meat scraps and thickened with sound stale bread.

At the end of a fortnight seventeen of the first group were afflicted more or less with skin trouble, while the other twenty were in the pink of condition.  To effect a cure, the spinach diet—­called by the French “the broom of the stomach”—­was fed, and the coat washed with a weak sulpho-naphtha solution.  No internal medicine was given.  In a month’s time the coats of the dogs were normal.  Further comment on this is unnecessary.