The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-11-28
SELECTING A GOOD DOG
SOME OF THE DISTINCTIVE POINTS
OF THE THoRoUGHBREDS.
Advice or Great Value to the Anna
teur Buycr-The Different Breeds
High Prices.

teur Buycr-The Different Breeds
High Prices.
would advise an amateur when pur-
chasing to get the opinion of some one
thoroughly familiar with the breed he
may want the dog from, otherwise he
may find himself imposed upon by an
INSCRIPTIONS dealer, says II. Clay Glover
in the Washington Star. For the bene-
lit Of those who cannot readily get an
expert opinion will give a few hints>as
to the selection of dogs generally. First
see that the dog is healthy, then that he
be strong in the type Of his breed In
most breeds of dogs, especially those
used to field or other work, they should
stand straight on their hind legs and
have good feet. When say good feet
mean feet that are well arched and well
padded. l do not now refer to the
dachshound, whose crooked forclegs are
one of his chief characteristics. Suffi-
cient bone and development of muscle
should be looked for, and in the larger
breeds, st. Bernard and mastiff, great
massiveness is desirable.
Let us take the pointer. Like all
hunting dogs he should be rather racy in
build, showing great activity, with fair
amount of bone and good development
of muscle. He should haye good depth
of chest for lung room, ribs fairly well
sprung back of shoulders, loins strong
and slightly arched, great liberty of Shout
ders, all of which tend to insure speed
and staying qualities. Above all, par
ticular attention should be paid to the
legs and feet. The skull should be well
developed, the eyes expressive of intelli-
gence and dark in color, well defined
stock below the eyes, muzzle clean cut
and square, without tendency to snipi-
ness, cheeks showing no thickness, ears
set on low and hanging fiat to the cheek,
rather thin in texture, neck of good
length, perfectly clean, showing no
throatiness and slightly arched; Shout
ders sloping, not beefy or loaded, not
confined to the body but showing liberty
of action; stiles, well bent; tail, taper
ing to point and carried on line
with the back; coat, close but not too
fine in texture.
These general points may be observed
in the selection of setter with the ex-
ception of the coat, which in the latter
should be long and rather silky, showing
decidedly on the ears, back of the fore
and hind legs and on the tail-the long
hair on the legs being termed the feath
ar, that on the tail, the flag.
Of all breeds of large dogs the st.
Bernard is the most fashionable. A
puppy of good breeding is worth 500 at
least, and as the dog grows in years his
price increases proportionately. A good
pup should stand straight on his legs.
With all large dogs there is marked
tendency toward crooked legs, particu
Iarly the hind legs where the hook joints
set too close together, termed 'cow-
hooked and which indicates weakness,
detracting from his activity. He should
have large, full skull, with short,
square, deep muzzle. There should be
good depression below the eyes; ears
rather small, setting close to the cheeks.
Great massiveness is a desideratum.
There are two varieties of St. Demands,
the rough and the smooth-coated. The
former should have a long coat not par
ticularly fine in texture, lying almost
Aat to the body. In the latter the coat
should be short and somewhat harder in
texture. But two colors are admissible,
tawny orange with white markings, and
brindle with white markings. The
most fashionable color at the present is
the solid tawny orange body with white
markings, as follows. Blaze in face, col
lar, ruffles, paws and tip of tail. Some
have preference for the brindle with
the same markings. The presence OF
dew-caws on the legs is favorably re-
garded by many Personally l am OPP
posed to them as being of no possible
benefit to the dog. 1t is almost impossi-
BILE to find dog with dew-claws that
stands well on his hind legs, the effect
being to throw the back joints in and
turn the feet out.
The mastiff comes next in popularity
to the st. Bernard and about the same
points should govern his selection. The
two recognized colors are the tawny-
lion and brindle. The coat should lie
close to the body and be slightly hard in
character. He should have a black
mask, small black ears and his face
should be somewhat wrinkled.
The collie is the most useful of all
dogs to the farmer In choosing a collie
particular attention must be paid to his
coat as he is exposed to all kinds of
weather. A collie actually has two coats.
The top coat should be long, dense and
hard. What is known as the under coat
is short, fur-like hair, which renders
the animal almost impervious to wet. In
build the collie should be rather light,
his form indicating extreme activity. He
should have sufficient bone to carry him
well. His head should be moderately
wide between the ears; the skull quite
fiat; little or no stock or depression be-
low the eyes: muzzle long; ears quite
small and carried semi-erect. The pre-
vailing fashionable color is rich sable
WIFI Wnltc Hittl NiliSss tiiou5H Llhn VI
the older and best specimens are black
and tan in color.
The fox terrier is small and useful
animal and has attained high place in
the fashionable canine world The best
puppy is strong boned, has long muzzle,
strong jaws, small ears. carried nearly fiat
to the cheek and pointing toward the
eyes, and small eyes. His coat should
be of moderate length and hard, and he
should be compactly built, possessing
great terrier character.
The King Charles and Blenheim
spaniels are now the most fashionable pet
dogs and have almost entirely sup
planted the pugs. The King Charles is
black and tan in color and the Blenheim
is white with lemon markings. The
color marks the chief difference between
the breeds. The best puppy has round,
full skull and large and prominent eyes.
The shorter the muzzle the better. His
ears should be long and pendulous,
coat and feathers profuse. The coat
should be flat and straight, any curl in
the coat being decidedly Objectionable.