Selecting Family Dogs

Selecting Family Dogs. Information on how to select a dog for your family and home.

Selecting a Dog for Your Family

If a house ornament is the object sought, a St. Bernard or Great Dane that will fitly adorn a large place by his dimensions will unpleas antly dwarf any ordinary town residence. The beautiful little spaniels, the so-called "toy dogs," more properly decorate a city parlor.

If the demand is for a companion, intellect and affection are the things to seek, and the size does not so much matter, though a very large dog can rarely have in city homes room and exercise enough for his health. For an all-around useful animal, one of the medium sized dogs, such as a spaniel or collie, com bines the most desirable qualities.

Another point to consider is the harmony of the dog with his surroundings, for it would be no less inappropriate to place one of the dainty, sensitive, luxury-loving toy dogs in a busy, bustling country household, than to keep a Great Dane or a St. Bernard in an elegant apartment, or a narrow brick-on-end-shaped city house.

It should be well understood in the beginning that a pet is a great deal of trouble, and no one should assume the care unless he is willing to bear the burden. To surround ourselves with these helpless dependants, and then neglect to provide for their comfort and happiness, is not merely cruel, it is really a crime. As already said, taking a dog into the family is like adopting a child, and one is just as responsible for neglect of duty towards one as towards the other.

When one really goes out to select and buy a dog, especially if he has no preferences, it is important that he should educate himself and by himself, of course, I also mean herself. This is best done, perhaps, by " reading up " on the different varieties, and then visiting some good kennels, or, if possible, a dog show, for the looks and appearance of an animal have much to do with our liking for him.

Selecting a Puppy Dog?

Should we select his variety and then buy a puppy? That depends; puppies are charming ; no young creature is more so, for though they lack the perfect grace, the bewitching playfulness, the altogether irresistible charms of the kitten, they have yet a winning inno cence of mien and a delightful clumsiness of bearing that are almost equally attractive. But puppies have another side, alas ! It is true that the dog in his babyhood is funny, but he is also mischievous. It is certainly comical to see him frolic with an old shoe, a door-mat, or some discarded garment ; but when he snatches clothes from the line, wor ries one's best boots, or drags off a valuable table-cover in his pranks, it ceases to be amus ing, and he will do one as readily as the other.

It is gratifying to possess a canine follower that one has brought up and trained, but the process requires patience, gentleness, and long suffering; in fact, the ordinary mortal needs special training in these virtues himself to fit him for the task. Besides the pains required, there is the risk. Baby dogs are almost as prone to disease as baby humans. They may not, to be sure, suffer from croup or scarlet fever, but they have their own infant disorders, quite as apt to be fatal.

Because of this uncertainty of life, a young puppy of almost any breed may be bought at a low price. Usually ten or fifteen dollars will procure a promising specimen of a kind that, when safely past his first year, will bring from seventy-five dollars to twenty-five thousand dollars, at which price some valuable animals are held.

Dog Selection Choices?

In making choice, one hint may be useful. After seeing that all the " points " which show good blood are present, the buyer should look carefully on the body behind the fore-legs, and also behind the ears, for indications of irrita tion, and promptly reject the most promising dog who shows any such sign. Shaking the head is also an evidence of disease which should not be unheeded.

" For ways that are dark, And tricks that are [not always] vain," the dog-dealer has a reputation second only to that of the horse-dealer. One needs to go armed with accurate knowledge, and even then a thoroughly informed friend, or a responsible agent, is safer. It would undoubtedly be bet ter to buy at the kennels, of which New York has several readily accessible, than to take one's pet at second-hand.

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