The dog in health and in disease : including his origin, history, varieties, breeding, education, and general management in health, and his treatment in disease

Front matter

THE DOG

By WESLEY MILLS, M. D,

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Preface To The Second Edition

That a second edition of this work has been called for in so short a time the author takes to be evidence that it meets a want. That it has been so kindly received by the press, the general public, and the veterinary profession, has encouraged him to do his best to bring this second edition up to date in even the smallest details. The author has seen no reason to change the general plan of the work, which he still deems the best because in accordance with the laws of the mind, viz., that the normal should be studied before the abnormal or diseased; and he is as fully as ever convinced that if the veterinarian is to secure the confidence of the public as regards canine medicine, he must give evidence of a knowledge of dogs as dogs — i. e., their nature and varieties, as well as their diseased conditions. In other words, the veterinarian must be a cynologist.

Some of the changes in this edition have been made in deference to the views of those whose authority carries weight in regard to the subjects of which they speak ; others have been necessitated by the extraordiiy PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

nary advance in the science of medicine even since the date of publication of the first edition.

In addition to the usual corrections, revisions, etc., a glossary of terms in common use by dog fanciers has been introduced.

An effort has been made to maintain the reputation the work has won on account of the high character and abundance of its illustrations, by a few substitutions of more modern specimens and the addition of several full-page cuts of breeds of dogs not illustrated in the first edition. For the originals of these the author is indebted to several persons who kindly allowed the use of cuts for the first edition, and also to Mr. James L. Little, of Brookline, Mass. ; Mr. H. B. Donovan, editor of the Canadian Kennel Gazette, Toronto; Mr. L. A. Klein, of Black Lake; Mr. MacHaffie, of Cornwall, and others.

The index has also been rendered more complete, so that it is believed that the work will be found thoroughly accurate and up to date in all respects.

The author is led to hope that the book will be found worthy of the confidence of the general reader and of students and practitioners of veterinary medicine in the future as it has in the past.

The Authob.

McGiLL University, Montreal, September, 1895.

PEEFAOE

With none of our friends and helpers among tlie lower animals would we part so reluctantly as with the dog. No speechless associate of man has ever so entwined itself around the very roots of our domestic life as the dog; none has won so much admiration, confidence, and affection ; none has appealed to so large a number of mankind of every condition, age, and sex. It will therefore be conceded that so noble, so intelligent, and so faithful an animal as the dog is entitled to the most complete understanding and the best usage of which we are capable.

The professional treatment of the dog in disease naturally falls to the veterinarian ; but inasmuch as this ani mal is very different in his nature from the horse and other herbivora which engage the chief attention of the veterinary profession, it follows that if the dog is to be treated on a rational basis, he must be made a subject of special study by the veterinarian. A knowledge of equine medicine goes but a little way to qualify a man to treat the dog, and the sooner this is recognized by the profession of comparative (veterinary) medicine, the better will it be for both the profession and our canine friends If the veterinarian hopes to largely acquire the confidence of the y{ PREFACE.

public as regards dogs, he must show not only that he has some grasp of medicine as medicine, but a special knowledge of the nature, varieties, and peculiarities of dogs. The dog must be understood in health before his ailments can be well appreciated and treated, and the more intelligent body of breeders and owners of dogs thoroughly realize this. The consciousness that there was no book treating of the dog in disease that recognized adequately the principles just set forth ; a strong desire to better the condition of this noble animal, that for the greater part of the writer's life he has studied with pleasure and profit to his own nature ; and an intimate knowledge of the condition and needs of the veterinary profession, explains the origin of this book, so far as the latter is concerned. The writer's experience as a teacher of canine medicine — or rather of the nature of the dog in both health and disease, for which the term cynology is an appropriate one — has convinced him that the study of the dog in disease should for veterinary students, as others, be preceded by his study in health, with as much thoroughness as circumstances will permit ; hence the large amount of space given to the subject of the first part of this work.

But the book is by no means intended for students and practitioners of veterinary science alone. It is meant for all intelligent persons who breed, keep, or in any way take a special interest in the dog. Their number is very large, and is constantly increasing. While, therefore, the whole work has a scientific foundation, it has been kept as free from technicalities as possible, and will, it is hoped, be readily comprehensible by every intelligent person.

PREFACE. y{\

It has been the aim constantly to set forth the principles that underlie the management of the dog in health and his treatment in disease, as by this course the individual reader is left free to exercise his own judgment while guided by a sort of mariner's compass the construction of which is based on the well-ascertained laws of life. It has further been the writer's aim to bring the book thoroughly up to date in all respects — hence the illustrations represent noted dogs of the day ; and the medical principles and practice are modern and adapted to the real nature of the dog himself, and not to that of some other animal unlike him, as the horse, etc.

At the same time it has been thought well, so far as drugs are concerned, to avoid reference to such medicines as are now on trial merely, and with the virtues and dangers of which we are as yet but indifferently acquainted as regards man, much less the dog. This applies especially to that now large class known as antipyretics. They should be carefully tried on the dog by the expert ; but to recommend them explicitly in a work of this kind seemed to the author hazardous.

But, leaving out of account the second part of the work, the first part will, it is thought, be in itself a valuable treatise on a new basis — i. e., a more rational basis — on the dog as he exists to-day. It has been the writers constant endeavor to give the reason for every procedure.

Being deeply convinced that a work on the dog without good illustrations is of comparatively little value, especial pains have been taken to furnish models for judging the various breeds of dogs in the full-page plates, y{[\ PREFACE.

representing the best specimens as they exist at tlie present time. In selecting these, only one thing has been kept in view — viz., choosing those that seemed the very best, irrespective of every other consideration. Most of them have never appeared in any book on the dog before, but have been culled from the leading journals devoted to canine interests in Great Britain and America, such as the " Canine World," from which the colored plate and several others are borrowed ; the " English Stock-keeper," and in America the "American Kennel Gazette," which has furnished the illustrations of the pointer " Bracket," the mastiff " Beaufort," etc., the artist of this periodical being Mr. G. Muss-Arnolt.

The sources of the cuts in the text are acknowledged by the way.

While the author has endeavored to produce a book founded on experience, with a thoroughly sound and scientific basis, in every way up to date and on a somewhat new plan, he realizes that there is much yet to learn about the dog, and will receive with gratitude suggestions from any one who has true and accurate observations to communicate.

This, like every work and every man, has no doubt its shortcomings, but the kind way in which much that the author has written for various journals devoted to dogs has been received, and also his Httle book, " How to keep a Dog in the City" (WilHam K. Jenkins, :N'ew York, and the Editor of the "Canadian Kennel Gazette," Toronto, publishers), leads him to hope for a generous reception of this work by the veterinary profession, breeders of dogs, and the public in general.

PREFACE. ix

In conclusion, the writer wishes to express his appreciation of the successful efforts of the publishers in the production of the work, including the illustrations, in such admirable form.

The Author.

Montreal, November, 189L

COI^TEISTTS,

Part I. The Dog in Health. PAOE

The Origin and History of the Dog 1

The Zoological Position of the Dog 6

Anatomy of the Dog 6

Variations 9

The Animal Body 10

Psychic Characteristics of the Dog 15

Class I.— Wild and Half-Reclaimed Dogs, etc 19

Standards 21

Standards further considered 25

Class II. — Dogs hunting chiefly by the Eye, etc. ... 34

The English Greyhound , .34

The Deerhound 36

The Russian Wolfhound or Barzoi 37

Class III. — Domesticated Dogs, hunting by Scent, which both

find and kill their Game 38

The Bloodhound 38

The Foxhound 39

The Harrier 41

The Beagle 41

The Otterhound 42

The Bassethound 43

The Dachshund 43

The Great Dane 43

The Terriers 45

The Pox-terrier 48

The Irish Terrier , . . 49

The Black-and-tan Terrier . , 50

xi xu