The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-27

distress. 1t is a fact also that two dogs
can draw peddler's load from O'Clock
in the morning until o clock in the even
ing, with only such rest as the intervals
of sale may offer. and that they viii
then be less fatigued than their master
at the end of the days work one dog
, alone generally has strength enough to
draw a miikman's cart and sixty gallons
of milk over a long route in a rolling
country. The average working life of these
faithful animals is ten years They reach
their full strength at 3 years, and from
then until they are year
old should be al their best. With
good care and sufficient food most dogs
are capable of service even until fifteen
years old, and many trot their daily round
with cheerful alacrity, although bearing
the weight of twenty years. 1t is the fire.
quency of accidents, insufficient food and
overolading that reduce the average of
life. The dog takes TO his work, after a
few days perfunctory training, very read
sly, rarely under ordinary circumstances
having to be urged to greater eXertion. In
deed, if spoken to at all, it is to restrain
him from drawing the cart faster than the
driver cares to walk. The preparation for
the wagon for a trip affects the trained
dog much as the sight of a gun or shoot
ing costume does a setter or foXhound
and when harnessed he trots to his place
employed on a milk route or in like ser
vice, he soon learns the way, the places
and the duration of each stop as well as
his master, in whose absence he guards
the wagon with a fidelity which no wheed-
ling can corrupt or fatigue impair.
Notwithstanding that the dogs have been
used for a clearly defined purpose through
long period of years, no systematic con-
tinued effort has been made to develop, by
Judicious selection, a breed that should
combine the physical characteristics such
as breadth of breast and strength of flank.
most needed for the work. The strongest
dog for the least money and for immediate
service has been the demand, and conse-
quently the breed has been left to take
care of itself.
THE breed?" said o dog dealer. ooh,
mon Dieu, can't tell you much about the
breed; the breed makes no difference.
What you want is a strong, well-trained
dog, and that's what mine are. However,
| may tell you that my dogs are all from
the same father and mother. The father,
il | remember correctly, Is one-fourth Bel
gian, two-fourths Danish and three
fourths Scotch %: the mother is, I think,
three-fourths Belgian and ohe-fourth Eng
fish. But tho breed-bahr'
Attention to breeding is not entirely
lacking, however as experiments are be-
ing made to produce a large, strong dog
u.
Bernards, collies. settlers and Newfound-
lands. A suggestion has also been made
that the crossing of the Belgian dog with
the Ulm or Great Dane, would result in
a materially better breed. The Belgian
dog, the outcome of a haphazard inter-
mingling of many strains, makes the best
draught dog He Is strong compactly
formed, standing from twenty TO thirty
inches high, and his hair is smooth and
short, usually of a tan or dark brown
color His tail and ears are cut short, the
former because of the superstition that a
grown tail "absorbs the strength which
would otherwise enter into the spinal col
umn and launches" and the latter for
aesthetic reasons.
Stringent police regulations against the
abuse Of dogs are consistently enforced.
and have so ameliorated their condition
that the French proverb, 81 would not be
a dog in Belgium" has lost it's point.
These regulations were, originally an an-
swer to a popular demand, but they have
been maintained and strengthened by an
evident need They are the same in intent
in all districts. the use of the lash being
often forbidden, and rules for the treat
ment of tho animals in hot and cold
weather being generally inserted.
In Berlin the regulations require that
proper drinking vessel filled with water,
shall be kept on the wagon for the dogs
USE" and that from October until April,
inclusive, there shall be kept for each
dog a mat to lie on and cover to spread
over him during halts" In many districts
the driver is not permitted to ride; in 9TH
ers an annual inspection of dogs by the
chief veterinary official of the district Is
provided for. Infractions of the regula-
lions are punished generally by fine, for
fixture of license. or Imprisonment, the
penalty being commensurate with the Of
tense. In this way the severity of their
lot and the hardships of the draught dogs
are distinctly mitigated even where their
masters are indisposed to show any graft
tude for the services rendered.