Mrs. Leslie Williams

“ On the other hand, if its owner takes it to the show, establishes it in its pen, visits it from time to time, feeds it, and takes it out of the show at evening time to spend the night with her, as can always be arranged, I fail to see the slightest cruelty in the matter—in fact, many dogs enjoy being exhibited, and it is quite the exception to see a melancholy face in the rows of pens devoted to the well-cared-for toy section. ”

“ Though docking is neither dangerous nor cruel when properly done on puppies so young that they have little or no sensation in their undeveloped nerves, it is a barbarism to let any ignorant person, as a groom or coachman, do it; and the dog owner who will not sacrifice her own possible repugnance sufficiently to co-operate with the skilled surgeon in seeing it properly done, at least owes it as a duty to her dumb dependents to pay him to take all reasonable care, and bring an assistant to hold them, and stay until they are quite safe and comfortable. ”

“ Nobody can expect to be exempt from illness, dog or man, and good nursing is as needful in the one case as in the other. A sick toy dog must be kept clean, petted, sat with, talked to, and tempted with nice things, like a sick baby, for the little spirit has much to do with the tender frame, and pain and weakness need sympathy, and respond to it eagerly. A little toy bitch, accustomed to fly to her owner at every impulse, cannot be left to have puppies all alone—though her fussy preparations, which may last all night, are rather wearisome. ”

“ Another point which must be insisted upon in relation to profitable toy breeding is the necessity for health in the kennel. I say kennel because it is a useful word, but am far from suggesting that toys of any kind should be kept in the way understood by "having a kennel" among larger dogs. The breeder who succeeds best is invariably the one who keeps one or two, or even four or five, pet bitches, running about the house enjoying full liberty and all the happiness of personal favourites, with, it may be, a dog also of the party. ”

“ Indigestion is by no means uncommon among toy dogs, and frequently leads to the odious habit of eating horrible things in the street, about which dog owners sometimes complain, and with reason. The presence of worms leads up to this habit, too, and where it exists they may be first suspected; and then, if their existence is disproved, indigestion comes in as the likely factor. Its treatment is not difficult, but the owner must make up her mind to persevere, and to feed her dog herself—no servant, no matter how careful, possesses judgment enough to deal with a case of this kind. ”

“ Toy pugs are, I think, invariably fascinating to those who have a liking for pug kind; they are big pugs in little, and everyone knows the points of a pug. My own toy fawn pugs loved their comforts too much to be perfect dogs for companioning a person of active outdoor habits, but they were sweet-tempered, gentle things, and, as such, to be commended. Pugs as a race seem strangely apt to skin trouble, and the toys are no exception. I have not seen many really good and very small fawn toys, but there are some, and where a pug is to be bought, a toy is really most desirable. ”

“ To persuade dog-owners to give meat-feeding a trial—one honest experiment has never in my experience failed to convince the most sceptical—has been my constant endeavour, and I cannot let the "Toy Dog Manual" go forth on another journey without once more laying emphasis on the fact that the really successful dog-owner's secret is a very simple one, spelt in the four letters—MEAT. I have to thank numerous kind friends for help in providing the illustrations, nearly all pictures of actual present-day winning dogs, and examples not only of beauty and show points, but of perfect health. ”

“ Just one word as to the exhibitor's own conduct in the ring may not be amiss. Sometimes old hands at showing are by no means polite to new-comers, sad to say, and will very probably endeavour to screen the novice, if good enough to be a rival, from the judge's eye, by thrusting themselves and their exhibits forward; while, terrible to relate, such incidents as a sly poke with the foot, administered to a rival's shy dog, or the intentional treading on a toe, are not altogether unheard of. ”

“ Only a few years ago, if a dog suffered from skin disease in any one of its several forms, "worms" were at once cited as the cause. Now we know—or rather, those among us know, who either have some understanding of canine anatomy and physiology or will take the word of the scientist for it—that worms cause nothing: they are not a cause, but an effect. They are a symptom of anæmia; and as skin trouble almost invariably accompanies any severe degree of anæmia in dogs, skin trouble and worms are usually found together. ”

“ Poison.—Not an ailment, but a subject which needs a few words, is the taking of poison by toy dogs. Unluckily, there is always risk in a town, not only of the wilful poisoner, who apparently exists, but of the ingestion of poisoned meat or bread and butter put for rats or beetles, and afterwards thrown out. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred a poisoned dog has had strychnine, this being the favourite drug of all those who employ poison at all. Arsenic is too slow, and of other poisons, thank Providence! the vulgar have mostly no knowledge. ”

“ Neglect, or dirty surroundings, are fatal to these little delicate atoms, which really call for the same attention we should give a baby; monotony—being kept shut up in one small room for hours or days—and lack of fresh air, carry off many; while sour milk, meals left about in odds and ends, irregular feeding, and lying to sleep in draughts, are all elements of danger. ”

“ People are far too apt to decide that "missing" is the bitch's fault; certainly she is apt to miss if she is too fat at the time of mating, [Pg 9] and Nature often, and very sensibly, arranges that she shall do so when she has been regularly bred from at her seasons for a number of times; but outside these occasions it is quite as often the dog's fault as not.
A question which is frequently asked is as to the desirability or otherwise of giving a toy bitch worm medicine, or an aperient, while she is in pup or just before her babies arrive. ”

“ Some dogs will eat solid food all through the disease, and this simplifies matters immensely. Where there is no appetite, liquids or semi-liquids must be given. Concentrated foods and other invalid preparations, though useful on occasion, very soon pall and sicken the patient, and while it saves trouble to use things like this, they have not the same effect in keeping up the strength as good, honest home-cookery. The necessity for thus dieting and feeding is the same in either form of distemper, and the dog must not be left all night without attention, but fed at intervals then also. ”

“ Although I advocate small, dry meals as against large, sloppy ones, I do not mean to say that a certain amount of bulk is not desirable—it is, for without it there would not be the natural stimulus of distension to the intestinal canal. But although the dog has a very large gullet and can swallow, and wishes to swallow, very large quantities as compared to its size, its stomach is not so very large in proportion, and the juste milieu—enough and not too much—is easy to ascertain. ”

“ Eating between meals is quite as bad for dogs as for babies. They should be fed regularly, and restrained from picking up bits out of doors—which may be poisoned, and are sure to be unwholesome. Many dogs have a shocking habit of scavenging, which often means that they are anæmic and harbour worms; if a tonic and worm dose does not mend matters, a muzzle will.
A toy dog of 5 lbs. or 6 lbs., which has a biscuit at breakfast time, a varied and tempting meal of meat or fish at lunch, and a piece of stale sponge cake in the evening, is being reasonably fed, and should have a healthy appetite. ”

“ As soon as she really means business she will quiet down and settle in the place prepared for her, which by choice should be a big, deep arm-chair, with a white blanket—any old thing will do that is clean—folded in the seat of it, and over this an old cotton sheet, likewise folded, and so secured that the bitch cannot scrabble it up in the foolish endeavour to improve human bed-making which always possesses dogs, and, if indulged, lands them in desperate discomfort on the top of a kind of volcano of rags! ”

“ The beginning of the toy bitch's trouble is apparent to her owner almost as soon as to herself. She pants, and runs about excitedly, scratching here and there, making wildly impossible and absurd nests for her puppies in all kinds of unsuitable places. This may last for days, but is generally only done for a few hours before the puppies arrive, which, by the way, will be nine weeks after mating. Some bitches shriek in a very distressing way before they pup, and, as a rule, food is refused, and the little mother that is to be is often sick. ”

“ The show black-and-tan toy is like a miniature Manchester terrier—glossy of skin, long and neat in head, with small, dark eyes, oval, not round and goggling; fine, well-made limbs, with the correct pencilling of deep, rich tan on [Pg 38] must be no tan down the backs of the hind legs, and the ears must be neat and well carried; the tail a whip. ”

“ Thus it is that summer puppies, born in the spring, with all the best weather before them, do so much better than those which have the critical teething period to pass through in winter time.
A toy puppy grows more quickly than, for instance, a terrier, and, of course, is adult far sooner than a big dog; the short-haired varieties, again, coming to maturity sooner than the long-coated ones. A Yorkshire terrier is adult at a year, but does not get his full beauty of coat until he is two years old, or thereabouts. ”

“ Where a sire must be chosen from among strangers, his points should correct any in which the bitch is deficient; your toy pug may have too small a head, with little wrinkle—you must look for a dog with good head properties as her mate; your Pom may be long in back, and you must seek a male with the opposite quality, and a plume well over and touching his frill.
The first puppies of two young dogs are generally larger than the parents, but I do not believe the theory often advanced that the first litter is always the best. Puppies by a very old sire are usually small. ”

“ Until they begin to crawl, valuable toy puppies are much safer and better upstairs in a big chair as described, or in a flat basket with a folded blanket at the bottom set upon the chair, than they can possibly be in any stable or in the kitchen premises, for, no matter how warm, such places are draughty too. There is absolutely [Pg 13] nothing about a litter of little toys, if healthy, to be in the least offensive anywhere, and a good mother will keep them in the very pink of perfection for nearly a month under such circumstances. ”