Dogs and All About Them
by
Robert Leighton
Part 7 out of 7
_Treatment_--Keep the patient in a comfortable, well-ventilated
apartment, with free access in and out if the weather be dry. Let the
bowels be freely acted upon to begin with, but no weakening discharge
from the bowels must be kept up. After the bowels have been moved we
should commence the exhibition of small doses of tartar emetic with
squills and opium thrice a day. If the cough is very troublesome, give
this mixture: Tincture of squills, 5 drops to 30; paregoric, 10 drops
to 60; tartar emetic, one-sixteenth of a grain to 1 grain; syrup and
water a sufficiency. Thrice daily.
We may give a full dose of opium every night. In mild cases carbonate
of ammonia may be tried; it often does good, the dose being from two
grains to ten in camphor water, or even plain water.
The chronic form of bronchitis will always yield, if the dog is young,
to careful feeding, moderate exercise, and the exhibition of cod-liver
oil with a mild iron tonic. The exercise, however, must be moderate,
and the dog kept from the water. A few drops to a teaspoonful of
paregoric, given at night, will do good, and the bowels should be kept
regular, and a simple laxative pill given now and then.
DIARRHOEA,
or looseness of the bowels, or purging, is a very common disease among
dogs of all ages and breeds. It is, nevertheless, more common among
puppies about three or four months old, and among dogs who have
reached the age of from seven to ten years. It is often symptomatic of
other ailments.
_Causes_--Very numerous. In weakly dogs exposure alone will produce
it. The weather, too, has no doubt much to do with the production of
diarrhoea. In most kennels it is more common in the months of July and
August, although it often comes on in the very dead of winter. Puppies,
if overfed, will often be seized with this troublesome complaint. A
healthy puppy hardly ever knows when it has had enough, and it will,
moreover, stuff itself with all sorts of garbage; acidity of the
stomach follows, with vomiting of the ingesta, and diarrhoea succeeds,
brought on by the acrid condition of the chyme, which finds its way
into the duodenum. This stuff would in itself act as a purgative, but
it does more, it abnormally excites the secretions of the whole
alimentary canal, and a sort of sub-acute mucous inflammation is set
up. The liver; too, becomes mixed up with the mischief, throws out a
superabundance of bile, and thus aids in keeping up the diarrhoea.
Among other causes, we find the eating of indigestible food, drinking
foul or tainted water, too much green food, raw paunches, foul kennels,
and damp, draughty kennels.
_Symptoms_--The purging is, of course, the principal symptom, and the
stools are either quite liquid or semi-fluid, bilious-looking,
dirty-brown or clay-coloured, or mixed with slimy mucus. In some cases
they resemble dirty water. Sometimes, as already said, a little blood
will be found in the dejection, owing to congestion of the mucous
membrane from liver obstruction. In case there be blood in the stools,
a careful examination is always necessary in order to ascertain the
real state of the patient. Blood, it must be remembered, might come
from piles or polypi, or it might be dysenteric, and proceed from
ulceration of the rectum and colon. In the simplest form of diarrhoea,
unless the disease continues for a long time, there will not be much
wasting, and the appetite will generally remain good but capricious.
In bilious diarrhoea, with large brown fluid stools and complete loss
of appetite, there is much thirst, and in a few days the dog gets
rather thin, although nothing like so rapidly as in the emaciation of
distemper.
_The Treatment_ will, it need hardly be said, depend upon the cause,
but as it is generally caused by the presence in the intestine of some
irritating matter, we can hardly err by administering a small dose of
castor oil, combining with it, if there be much pain--which you can
tell by the animal's countenance--from 5 to 20 or 30 drops of laudanum,
or of the solution of the muriate of morphia. This in itself will
often suffice to cut short an attack. The oil is preferable to rhubarb,
but the latter may be tried--the simple, not the compound powder--dose
from 10 grains to 2 drachms in bolus.
It the diarrhoea should continue next day, proceed cautiously--remember
there is no great hurry, and a sudden check to diarrhoea is at times
dangerous--to administer dog doses of the aromatic chalk and opium
powder, or give the following medicine three times a day: Compound
powdered catechu, 1 grain to 10; powdered chalk with opium, 3 grains
to 30. Mix. If the diarrhoea still continues, good may accrue from a
trial of the following mixture: Laudanum, 5 to 30 drops; dilute
sulphuric acid, 2 to 15 drops; in camphor water.
This after every liquid motion, or, if the motions may not be observed,
three times a day. If blood should appear in the stools give the
following: Kino powder, 1 to 10 grains; powder ipecac., 1/4 to 3
grains; powdered opium 1/2 to 2 grains. This may be made into a bolus
with any simple extract, and given three times a day.
The food is of importance. The diet should be changed; the food
requires to be of a non-stimulating kind, no meat being allowed, but
milk and bread, sago, or arrowroot or rice, etc. The drink either pure
water, with a pinch or two of chlorate and nitrate of potash in it, or
patent barley-water if the dog will take it.
The bed must be warm and clean, and free from draughts, and, in all
cases of diarrhoea, one cannot be too particular with the cleanliness
and disinfection of the kennels.
CONSTIPATION,
more commonly called costiveness, is also a very common complaint. It
often occurs in the progress of other diseases, but is just as often a
separate ailment.
Perhaps no complaint to which our canine friends are liable is less
understood by the non-professional dog doctor and by dog owners
themselves. Often caused by weakness in the coats of the intestine.
_The exhibition of purgatives can only have a temporary effect in
relieving the symptoms_, and is certain to be followed by reaction,
and consequently by further debility. Want of exercise and bath common
cause.
Youatt was never more correct in his life than when he said: "Many
dogs have a dry constipated habit, often greatly increased by the
bones on which they are fed. This favours the disposition to mange,
etc. It produces indigestion, encourages worms, blackens the teeth,
and causes fetid breath."
_Symptoms_--The stools are hard, usually in large round balls, and
defecation is accomplished with great difficulty, the animal often
having to try several times before he succeeds in effecting the act,
and this only after the most acute suffering. The faeces are generally
covered with white mucus, showing the heat and semi-dry condition of
the gut. The stool is sometimes so dry as to fall to pieces like so
much oatmeal.
There is generally also a deficiency of bile in the motions, and, in
addition to simple costiveness, we have more or less loss of appetite,
with a too pale tongue, dullness, and sleepiness, with slight redness
of the conjunctiva. Sometimes constipation alternates with diarrhoea,
the food being improperly commingled with the gastric and other juices,
ferments, spoils, and becomes, instead of healthy blood-producing
chyme, an irritant purgative.
_Treatment_--Hygienic treatment more than medicinal. Mild doses of
castor oil, compound rhubarb pill, or olive oil, may at first be
necessary. Sometimes an enema will be required if the medicine will
not act.
Plenty of exercise and a swim daily (with a good run after the swim),
or instead of the swim a bucket bath--water thrown over the dog.
Give oatmeal, rather than flour or fine bread, as the staple of his
diet, but a goodly allowance of meat is to be given as well, with
cabbage or boiled liver, or even a portion of raw liver. Fresh air and
exercise in the fields. You may give a bolus before dinner, such as
the following: Compound rhubarb pill, 1 to 5 grains; quinine, 1/8 to
2 grains; extract of taraxacum, 2 to 10 grains. Mix.
FITS.
Whatever be the cause, they are very alarming. In puppies they are
called Convulsions, and resemble epileptic fits. Keep the dog very
quiet, but use little force, simply enough to keep him from hurting
himself. Keep out of the sun, or in a darkened room. When he can
swallow give from 2 to 20 grains (according to size) of bromide of
potassium in a little camphor water thrice daily for a few days. Only
milk food. Keep quiet.
SKIN DISEASES.
In the whole range of dog ailments included in the term canine
pathology there are none more bothersome to treat successfully nor
more difficult to diagnose than those of the skin. There are none
either that afford the quack or patent-nostrum monger a larger field
for the practice of his fiendish gifts. If I were to be asked the
questions, "Why do dogs suffer so much from skin complaints?" and "Why
does it appear to be so difficult to treat them?" I should answer the
first thus: Through the neglect of their owners, from want of
cleanliness, from injudicious feeding, from bad kennelling, and from
permitting their favourites such free intercourse with other members
of the canine fraternity. Overcrowding is another and distinct source
of skin troubles.
My answer to the second question is that the layman too often treats
the trouble in the skin as if it were the disease itself, whereas it
is, generally, merely a symptom thereof. Examples: To plaster
medicated oils or ointments all over the skin of a dog suffering from
constitutional eczema is about as sensible as would be the painting
white of the yellow skin in jaundice in order to cure the disordered
liver.
But even those contagious diseases that are caused by skin germs or
animalcules will not be wholly cured by any applications whatever.
Constitutional remedies should go hand in hand with these. And, indeed,
so great is the defensive power of strong, pure blood, rich in its
white corpuscles or leucocytes, that I believe I could cure even the
worst forms of mange by internal remedies, good food, and tonics, etc.,
without the aid of any dressing whatever except pure cold water.
In treating of skin diseases it is usual to divide them into three
sections: (1) The non-contagious, (2) the contagious, and (3) ailments
caused by external parasites.
(1) The Non-Contagious.--(a) Erythema.--This is a redness, with slight
inflammation of the skin, the deeper tissues underneath not being
involved. _Examples_--That seen between the wrinkles of well-bred Pugs,
Mastiffs, or Bulldogs, or inside the thighs of Greyhounds, etc. If the
skin breaks there may be discharges of pus, and if the case is not
cured the skin may thicken and crack, and the dog make matters worse
with his tongue.
_Treatment_--Review and correct the methods of feeding. A dog should
be neither too gross nor too lean. Exercise, perfect cleanliness, the
early morning sluice-down with cold water, and a quassia tonic. He may
need a laxative as well.
_Locally_--Dusting with oxide of zinc or the violet powder of the
nurseries, a lotion of lead, or arnica. Fomentation, followed by cold
water, and, when dry, dusting as above. A weak solution of boracic
acid (any chemist) will sometimes do good.
(b) Prurigo.--Itching all over, with or without scurf. Sometimes
thickening.
_Treatment_--Regulation of diet, green vegetables, fruit if he will
take it, brushing and grooming, but never roughly. Try for worms and
for fleas.
(c) Eczema.--The name is not a happy one as applied to the usual
itching skin disease of dogs. Eczema proper is an eruption in which
the formed matter dries off into scales or scabs, and dog eczema,
so-called, is as often as not a species of lichen. Then, of course, it
is often accompanied with vermin, nearly always with dirt, and it is
irritated out of all character by the biting and scratching of the dog
himself.
_Treatment_--Must be both constitutional and local. Attend to the
organs of digestion. Give a moderate dose of opening medicine, to
clear away offending matter. This simple aperient may be repeated
occasionally, say once a week, and if diarrhoea be present it may be
checked by the addition of a little morphia or dilute sulphuric acid.
Cream of tartar with sulphur is an excellent derivative, being both
diuretic and diaphoretic, but it must not be given in doses large
enough to purge. At the same time we may give thrice daily a tonic
pill like the following:--
Sulphate of quinine, 1/8 to 3 grains; sulphate of iron, 1/2 grain to 5
grains; extract of hyoscyamus, 1/8 to 3 grains; extract of taraxacum
and glycerine enough to make a pill.
_Locally_--Perfect cleanliness. Cooling lotions patted on to the sore
places. Spratts' Cure. (N.B.--I know what every remedy contains, or I
should not recommend it.) Benzoated zinc ointment after the lotion has
dried in. Wash carefully once a week, using the ointment when skin is
dry, or the lotion to allay irritation.
(2) Contagious Skin Diseases.--These are usually called mange proper
and follicular mange, or scabies. I want to say a word on the latter
first. It depends upon a microscopic animalcule called the _Acarus
folliculorum_. The trouble begins by the formation of patches, from
which the hair falls off, and on which may be noticed a few pimples.
Scabs form, the patches extend, or come out on other parts of the body,
head, legs, belly, or sides. Skin becomes red in white-haired dogs.
Odour of this trouble very offensive. More _pain_ than itching seems
to be the symptomatic rule. Whole body may become affected.
_Treatment_--Dress the affected parts twice a week with the
following:--
Creosote, 2 drachms; linseed oil, 7 ounces; solution of potash, 1
ounce. First mix the creosote and oil, then add the solution and shake.
Better to shave the hair off around the patches. Kennels must be kept
clean with garden soap and hot water, and all bedding burned after use.
From three months to six will be needed to cure bad cases.
Mange Proper is also caused by a parasite or acarus, called the
_Sarcops canus_. Unlike eczema, this mange is spread from dog to dog
by touch or intercommunication, just as one person catches the itch
from another.
_The Symptoms_--At first these may escape attention, but there are
vesicles which the dog scratches and breaks, and thus the disease
spreads. The hair gets matted and falls off. Regions of the body most
commonly affected, head, chest, back, rump, and extremities. There may
not be much constitutional disturbance from the actual injury to the
skin, but from his suffering so much from the irritation and the want
of rest the health suffers.
_Treatment_--Avoid the use of so-called disinfectants. Most of those
sold as such are simply deodorisers, and, applied to the skin, are
useless. Nor are they of much use in cleaning the kennels. Nothing
suits better for woodwork than, first, carbolic wash, and then a
thorough scrubbing with hot water and garden soap.
Some ointment must be used to the skin, and as I am writing for laymen
only I feel chary in recommending such strong ones as the green iodide
of mercury. If you do use it mix it with twice its bulk of the
compound sulphur ointment. Do over only a part or two at a time. The
dog to be washed after three days. But the compound sulphur ointment
itself is a splendid application, and it is not dangerous.
(3) Skin Complaints from Vermin.--The treatment is obvious--get rid of
the cause.
_As their diagnosis is so difficult, whenever the dog-owner is in
doubt, make certain by treating the dog not only by local applications
but constitutionally as well_. In addition to good diet, perfect
cleanliness of coat, kennel, and all surroundings, and the application
of the ointment or oil, let the dog have all the fresh air possible,
and exercise, but never over-exciting or too fatiguing. Then a course
of arsenic seldom fails to do good.
I do not believe in beginning the exhibition of arsenic too soon. I
prefer paying my first attentions to the digestive organs and state of
the bowels. The form of exhibition which I have found suit as well as
any is the _tasteless Liquor arsenicalis_. It is easily administered.
It ought to be given mixed with the food, as it ought to enter the
blood with the chyle from the diet. It ought, day by day, to be
gradually, not hurriedly, increased. Symptoms of loathing of food and
redness of conjunctiva call for the cessation of its use for two or
three days at least, when it is to be recommended at the same size of
dose given when left off.
There are two things which assist the arsenic, at least to go well
with it; they are, iron in some form and Virol. The latter will be
needed when there is much loss of flesh. A simple pill of sulphate of
iron and extract of liquorice may be used. Dose of _Liquor arsenicalis_
from 1 to 6 drops _ter die_ to commence with, gradually increased to 5
to 20 drops.
Dandruff.--A scaly or scurfy condition of the skin, with more or less
of irritation. It is really a shedding of the scaly epidermis brought
on by injudicious feeding or want of exercise as a primary cause. The
dog, in cases of this kind, needs cooling medicines, such as small
doses of the nitrate and chlorates of potash, perhaps less food.
Bowels to be seen to by giving plenty of green food, with a morsel of
sheep's melt or raw liver occasionally. Wash about once in three weeks,
a very little borax in the last water, say a drachm to a gallon. Use
mild soap. Never use a very hard brush or sharp comb. Tar soap
(Wright's) may be tried.
PARASITES--INTERNAL.
WORMS.
We have, roughly speaking, two kinds of worms to treat in the dog:
(1) the round, and (2) the tape.
(1) _Round-worms_--They are in shape and size not unlike the garden
worm, but harder, pale, and pointed.
_Symptoms_--Sometimes these are alarming, for the worm itself is
occasionally seized with the mania for foreign travel, and finds its
way into the throat or nostrils, causing the dog to become perfectly
furious, and inducing such pain and agony that it may seem charity to
end its life. The worms may also crawl into the stomach, and give rise
to great irritation, but are usually dislodged therefrom by the
violence accompanying the act of vomiting.
Their usual habitat, however, is the small intestines, where they
occasion great distress to their host. The appetite is always depraved
and voracious. At times there is colic, with sickness and perhaps
vomiting, and the bowels are alternately constipated or loose. The
coat is harsh and staring, there usually is short, dry cough from
reflex irritation of the bronchial mucous membrane, a bad-smelling
breath and emaciation or at least considerable poverty of flesh.
The disease is most common in puppies and in young dogs. The appearance
of the ascaris in the dog's stools is, of course, _the_ diagnostic
symptom.
_Treatment_--I have cured many cases with santonin and areca-nut
powder (betel-nut), dose 10 grains to 2 drachms; or turpentine, dose
from 10 drops to 1-1/2 drachms, beaten up with yolk of egg.
But areca-nut does better for tape-worm, so we cannot do better than
trust to pure santonin. The dose is from 1 grain for a Toy up to 6
grains for a Mastiff. Mix it with a little butter, and stick it well
back in the roof of the dog's mouth. He must have fasted previously
for twelve hours, and had a dose of castor oil the day before. In four
or five hours after he has swallowed the santonin, let him have a dose
of either olive oil or decoction of aloes. Dose, 2 drachms to 2 ounces
or more. Repeat the treatment in five days. Spratts' cure may be
safely depended on for worms. [1]
[1] Many dog owners swear by the preparation called Ruby, which can be
recommended as a cure for worms.--Ed.
The perfect cleanliness of the kennel is of paramount importance.
The animal's general health requires looking after, and he may be
brought once more into good condition by proper food and a course of
vegetable tonics. If wanted in show condition we have Plasmon to fall
back upon, and Burroughs and Wellcome's extract of malt.
There is a round-worm which at times infests the dog's bladder, and
may cause occlusion of the urethra; a whip-worm inhabiting the caecum;
another may occupy a position in the mucous membrane of the stomach;
some infest the blood, and others the eye.
(2) _Tape-worms_--There are several kinds, but the treatment is the
same in all cases. The commonest in the country is the Cucumerine.
This is a tape-worm of about fifteen inches in average length,
although I have taken them from Newfoundland pups fully thirty inches
long. It is a semi-transparent entozoon; each segment is long compared
to its breadth, and narrowed at both ends. Each joint has, when
detached, an independent sexual existence.
The dog often becomes infested with this parasite from eating sheeps'
brains, and dogs thus afflicted and allowed to roam at pleasure over
fields and hills where sheep are fed sow the seeds of gid in our
flocks to any extent. We know too well the great use of Collie dogs to
the shepherd or grazier to advise that dogs should not be employed as
assistants, but surely it would be to their owners' advantage to see
that they were kept in a state of health and cleanliness.
_Treatment_--We ought to endeavour to prevent as well as to cure. We
should never allow our dogs to eat the entrails of hares or rabbits.
Never allow them to be fed on raw sheep's intestines, nor the brains
of sheep. Never permit them to lounge around butchers' shops, nor eat
offal of any kind. Let their food be well cooked, and their skins and
kennels kept scrupulously clean. Dogs that are used for sheep and
cattle ought, twice a year at least, to go under treatment for the
expulsion of worms, whether they are infested or not; an anthelmintic
would make sure, and could hardly hurt them.
For the expulsion of tape-worms we depend mostly on areca-nut. In
order that the tape-worm should receive the full benefit of the remedy,
we order a dose of castor oil the day before in the morning, and
recommend no food to be given that day except beef-tea or mutton broth.
The bowels are thus empty next morning, so that the parasite cannot
shelter itself anywhere, and is therefore sure to be acted on.
Infusion of cusco is sometimes used as an anthelmintic, so is wormwood,
and the liquid extract of male fern, and in America spigelia root and
pumpkin seeds.
The best tonic to give in cases of worms is the extract of quassia.
Extract of quassia, 1 to 10 grains; extract of hyoscyamus, 1/2 to 5
grains. To make one pill. Thrice daily.
PARASITES.--EXTERNAL.
FLEAS.
Washing with Spratts' medicated soap. Extra clean kennels. Dusting
with Keating, and afterwards washing. This may not kill the fleas, but
it drives them off. Take the dog on the grass while dusting, and begin
along the spine. Never do it in the house.
TICKS.
I have noticed these disagreeable bloodsuckers only on the heads and
bodies of sporting or Collie dogs, who had been boring for some time
through coverts and thickets. They soon make themselves visible, as
the body swells up with the blood they suck until they resemble small
soft warts about as big as a pea. They belong to the natural family,
_Ixodiadae_.
_Treatment_--If not very numerous they should be cut off, and the part
touched with a little turps. The sulphuret of calcium will also kill
them, so will the more dangerous white precipitate, or even a strong
solution of carbolic acid, which must be used sparingly, however.
LICE.
The lice are hatched from nits, which we find clinging in rows, and
very tenaciously too, to the hairs. The insects themselves are more
difficult to find, but they are on puppies sometimes in thousands. To
destroy them I have tried several plans. Oil is very effectual, and
has safety to recommend it. Common sweet oil is as good a cure as any,
and you may add a little oil of anise and some sublimed sulphur, which
will increase the effect. Quassia water may be used to damp the coat.
The matted portions of a long-haired dog's coat must be cut off with
scissors, for there the lice often lurk. The oil dressing will not
kill the nits, so that vinegar must be used. After a few days the
dressing must be repeated, and so on three or four times. To do any
good, the whole of the dog's coat must be drenched in oil, and the dog
washed with good dog soap and warm water twelve hours afterwards.
CHAPTER LII
THE DOG AND THE LAW
PRIVILEGES OF FIRST BITE
It is popularly, but rather erroneously, supposed that _every_ dog is
entitled to one bite. Perhaps it would be more accurate to state that
every dog may with impunity have one snap or one intended bite, but
only dogs of hitherto irreproachable character are permitted the
honour of a genuine tasteful bite.
Once a dog, however, has displayed dangerous propensities, even though
he has never had the satisfaction of effecting an actual bite, and
once his owner or the person who harbours him becomes aware of these
evil inclinations (scienter) either of his own knowledge or by notice,
the Law looks upon such dog as a dangerous beast which the owner keeps
at his peril.
The onus of proof is on the victim to show that the owner had previous
knowledge of the animal's ferocity, though in reality very little
evidence of scienter is as a rule required, and notice need not
necessarily be given directly to the owner, but to any person who has
charge of the dog.
The person attacked has yet another remedy. He can, if he is able,
kill the dog before it can bite him, but he is not justified in
shooting the animal as it runs away, even _after_ being bitten.
By 28 and 29 Vict., c. 60, the owner of a dog which attacks sheep or
cattle--and cattle includes horses--is responsible for all damage, and
there is no necessity to prove previous evil propensities. This Act is
wholly repealed by the Act called the Dogs' Act, 1906, which came into
force on January 1st, 1907, but the new Act re-enacts the section
having reference to damage to cattle, and says that in such cases it
is not necessary for the persons claiming damages to show a previous
mischievous propensity in the dog or the owner's knowledge of such
previous propensity or to show that the injury was attributable to
neglect on the part of the owner; the word "cattle" includes horses,
asses, sheep, goats, and swine.
The Law looks upon fighting between dogs as a natural and necessary
incident in the career of every member of the canine race, and gives
no redress to the owner of the vanquished animal, provided the fight
was a fair one, and the contestants appear to consider it so. The
owner, however, of a peaceably disposed dog which is attacked and
injured, or killed, by one savage and unrestrained, has a right of
action against the owner of the latter. The owner of the peaceably
disposed animal may justifiably kill the savage brute in order to save
his dog, but he must run the risk of being able to prove that this was
the only means of putting a stop to the fight.
LICENCES
Every dog owner must annually take out a licence for each dog he
keeps. The licence, which is obtainable at all post-offices at the
cost of 7s. 6d., is dated to run from the hour it is taken out until
the following 31st December. The person in whose custody or upon whose
premises the dog is found will be deemed its owner until proved
otherwise.
The owners of certain dogs for certain purposes are, however, exempted
from taking out licences, viz.: (1) Dogs under the age of six months;
(2) hounds under twelve months old neither used nor hunted with the
pack, provided that the Master has taken out proper licences for all
hounds entered in the pack; (3) one dog kept and used by a blind
person solely for his or her guidance; (4) dogs kept and used solely
for the purpose of tending sheep or cattle or in the exercise of the
occupation or calling of a shepherd.
MUZZLING REGULATIONS
Under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts, 1878-1894, local
authorities (_i.e._, county, borough, or district councils) were
empowered to issue orders regulating the muzzling of dogs in public
places and the keeping of dogs under control (otherwise than by
muzzling). Offenders under these Acts are liable to a fine not
exceeding P20.
The Statute 57 and 58 Vict., c. 57, gives the Board of Agriculture
power to make orders for muzzling dogs, keeping them under control,
and the detention and disposal of stray dogs; and section 2 of the
Dogs Act, 1906 (known by some as the Curfew Bell Act), says that the
Diseases of Animals Act, 1894, shall have effect:
(a) For prescribing and regulating the wearing by dogs while in a
highway or in a place of public resort of a collar with the name and
address of the owner inscribed on the collar or on a plate or badge
attached thereto:
(b) With a view to the prevention of worrying of cattle for preventing
dogs or any class of dogs from straying during all or any of the hours
between sunset and sunrise.
STRAY DOGS
The Dogs Act, 1906, has some important sections dealing with seizure
of stray dogs, and enacts that where a police officer has reason to
believe that any dog found in a highway or place of public resort is a
stray dog, he may seize and retain it until the owner has claimed it
and paid all expenses incurred by reason of its detention. If the dog
so seized wears a collar on which is the address of any person, or if
the owner of the dog is known, then the chief officer of police or
some person authorised by him in that behalf shall serve on either
such person a notice in writing stating that the dog has been seized,
and will be sold or destroyed if not claimed within seven clear days
of the service of the notice.
Failing the owner putting in an appearance and paying all expenses of
detention within the seven clear days, then the chief officer of
police or any person authorised by him may cause the dog to be sold,
or destroyed in a manner to cause as little pain as possible. The
police must keep a proper register of all dogs seized, and every such
register shall be open to inspection at all reasonable times by any
member of the public on payment of a fee of one shilling, and the
police may transfer such dog to any establishment for the reception of
stray dogs, but only if there is a proper register kept at such
establishment open to inspection by the public on payment of a fee not
exceeding one shilling.
Another section enacts that any person who takes possession of a stray
dog shall forthwith either return the dog to its owner or give notice
in writing to the chief officer of police of the district where the
dog was found, containing a description of the dog and stating the
place where the dog was found, and the place where he is being
detained, and any person failing to comply with the provisions of this
section shall be liable on conviction under the Summary Jurisdiction
Acts to a fine not exceeding forty shillings.
IMPORTATION OF DOGS
The power of making Orders dealing with the importation of dogs is
vested in the Board of Agriculture, who have absolute authority in the
matter.
The initial step to be taken by a person wishing to import any dog
into Great Britain from any other country excepting Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, is that he must fill up an
application form to the said Board, which he has previously obtained
from them, in which he applies for a licence to land the dog under the
conditions imposed by the Board, which he undertakes to obey.
On the form he has to give a full description of the dog, the name and
address of the owner, the proposed port of landing, and the approximate
date of landing, and further from lists which he will receive from the
Board he must select the carrying agents he proposes should superintend
the movement of the dog from the port of landing to the place of
detention, and also the premises of a veterinary surgeon on which he
proposes the dog shall be detained and isolated as required by the
Order. An imported dog must be landed and taken to its place of
detention in a suitable box, hamper, crate or other receptacle, and as
a general rule has to remain entirely isolated for a period of six
months.
MOTOR CARS AND DOGS
Unquestionably the greatest enemy that the dog possesses at the
present time is the motor car.
Presuming the owner of the dog is fortunate enough to know whose car
it was that ran over his dog, and to have some evidence of excessive
or unreasonable speed or other negligence on the part of the car
driver at the time of the accident, he will find the law ever ready to
assist him. A dog has every bit as much right to the high road as a
motor car. Efforts have been made on the part of motor owners to get
the Courts to hold that dogs on a high road are only under proper
control if on a "lead," and that if they are not on a "lead" the owner
of them is guilty of negligence in allowing his dog to stroll about,
and therefore is not entitled to recover: such efforts have not been
successful. Even supposing a Court to hold that the fact of a dog
being loose in this way or unaccompanied was evidence of negligence
against his owner this would by no means defeat his owner's claim, for
the law is, that though a plaintiff may have been negligent in some
such way as this, yet if the defendant could, by the exercise of
reasonable care, have avoided the accident, the plaintiff can still
recover. There are several cases that decide this valuable principle.
INDEX
Airedale Terrier
Assyrian Sculpture and Dog
--Mastiff
Basset-Hound
Beagle
Bedlington Terrier
Bible, Dog in The
Black and Tan Terrier
Blenheim Spaniel
Bloodhound
Borzoi
Breeding:
Bulldog
Newfoundland
Borzoi
Dachshund
Smooth Fox-Terrier
Dandie Dinmont
King Charles Spaniel
General Notes
Bronchitis
Brussels Griffon
Bulldog
--Miniature
--French
Bull-terrier
----Toy
Chow Chow
Clumber Spaniel
Clydesdale Terrier
Cocker Spaniel
Collie
Constipation
Coursing
Dachshund
Dalmatian
Dandie Dinmont
Deerhound
Diarrhoea
Distemper
English Terrier, White
English Water Spaniel
Egypt, Dog in
Feeding
Field Spaniel
First Bite, Privileges of
Fits
Fleas
Fox as progenitor of the Dog
Foxhound
Fox-terrier, Smooth
--Wire-hair
Great Dane
Greeks, Dogs and Ancient
Greyhound
--Italian
Harrier
Importation if Dogs
Irish Terrier
Irish Water Spaniel
Italian Greyhound
Jackal as progenitor of Dog
Japanese Spaniel
Kennels and their management
King Charles Spaniel
Labrador, The
Law, Dog and the
Licences
Maltese Dog
Manchester Terrier
--Miniature
Mange
Mastiff, Assyrian
--English
Miniature Breeds:
Bulldog
French Bulldog
Poodle
Pomeranian
Black and Tan Terrier
Toy Bull-terrier
Italian Greyhound
Shetland Sheepdog
Motor Cars and Dogs
Muzzling Regulations
Newfoundland
Origin of the Dog
Otterhound
Pekinese
Phoenicians, and Dogs
Pointer
Pomeranian
Poodle
--Toy White
Primitive Man and Dog
Pug
Puppies, Treatment of:
Mastiff
Bulldog
Newfoundland
Great Dane
Old English Sheepdog
Poodle
Borzoi
Dachshund
King Charles Spaniel
Pekinese
Brussels Griffon
General Notes
Retriever, Flat-Coated
--Curly
Rome, Dogs and Ancient
Samoyede
Schipperke
Scottish Terrier
Setter, English
--Irish
--Black and Tan
Sheepdog, Old English
Shetland Sheepdog
Skin Diseases
Skye Terrier
Spaniel Family, The
Spaniel, Irish Water
--English
--Clumber
--Sussex
--Field
--English Springer
--Welsh Springer
--Cocker
--King Charles
Springer, English
--Welsh
St. Bernard
Stray Dogs
Sussex Spaniel
Terrier, Old Working
--White English
--Black and Tan
--Bull-
--Smooth Fox-
--Wire-hair Fox-
--Airedale
--Bedlington
--Irish
--Welsh
--Scottish
--West Highland White
--Dandie Dinmont
--Skye, and Clydesdale
--Yorkshire
Toy Dogs:
Pomeranian
Poodle, White
King Charles Spaniel
Pekinese and Japanese
Maltese and Pug
Brussels Griffon
Miniature Black and Tan,
Bull-terrier, Italian Greyhound
and Shetland Sheepdog
Waterloo Cup
Welsh Terrier
West Highland White Terrier
Whippet
Wolf as progenitor of Dog
Wolfhound, Irish
--Russian (Borzoi)
Worm, Treatment for
Yorkshire Terrier
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