The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-11-30
DOGS AS DRAuGHT ANIMALS,
Interesting Facts About Their I

Interesting Facts About Their h.
 creased Use-Thelr Cost and Training
 Stringent Police Regulations
 The use of the dog as draught ani- mai is steadily increasing in Belgium, Germany Switzerland and the Nether- lands, according to recent consular re- ports, in spite of the strenuous opposi- tion of the Society for the Preventionof Of Cruelty to Animals, and notWithstand ing the severe discrimination against the dog-owner in ail highway privileges and expenditures. The dog has proved to be So peculiarly adapted to the needs of the small farmer and the tradesman, and, withal, so easily acquired and so willing and cheap servant, that the transportation Of small quantities of merchandise through short distances is chiefly done by him in those countries. In the cities he hauls the delivery carts of the butcher, the grocer, the, baker, the milkman and the shoplleeper in the rural districts he draws the peasants farm produce to the market, and does many an odd service that commonly falls to the lot of donkey or horse. His usefulness is, of course, strictly linn ited, by his strength no less than by the police regulations, to small teaning," but his worth is evident in his persis- tent numerical increase. It costs noth- ing to train draught dog, little to feed him, and but little more to possess him; he is housed without inconvenience or expense; he does his work faithfully and well, and in these potent conside- | rations lies the explanation of his wide spread use.
 The draught dogs are harnessed from two to six abreast to a two or four | wheeled cart. When a single dog is used, he is hitched to shaft under | meath the cart, and merely aids the dri- | Yer, who, pushing from behind, does the greater part of the work. The harness is simple, consisting of a broad strap, or breast collar, of leather, passing around the breast and tapering back | about three feet on each side, length ened by traces of cord or. leather, which are attached to the 'whiff1etree. The collar is held in place by a back band and girth, and the leather muzzle, which all dogs, in or out of harness, are required to wear at all seasons when outside their owners premises, serves as bridle, and completes the working gear. The two-wheeled cart is about four feet high, weighs some two hum dred and fifty pounds, and is provided with long handles, which are held by the driver, who guides and balances it, while the dogs, hitched to an iron bracket, trot beneath. The four wheeled cart, which is used almost ex- clusively in the country and remote will lages, is two and one-half feet high, weighs about one hundred and fifty pounds, and is usually drawn by four or more dogs harnessed abreast in front.
 The cost of a draught dog varies con siderable, age health strength and spirit naturally being important factors in determining it. In Ghent young dog of ordinary promise may be bought for six or seven dollars; a well-trained dog, between one and three years old, will cost from ten to twelve dollars while fifteen dollars is asked for very fine dog. In Brussels a good draught dog sells at from sixty to one hundred and twenty-five francs ($11.58 to $24.12) In Antwerp the prices are about the same, a well-trained, strong young dog costing from eighteen to twenty dol, lars, while a six-year- old can be bought for a sum between eight and ten dol lars. Tn Frankfort, Germany, the value ranges from fifteen to twenty-five dol lars; in Lucerne, from seventy to one hundred and fifty francs ($1351 te ,$2S95
 Food and maintenance are trif1ins items of expense, as a full-groWn dog can be kept strong and healthy on the kitchen waste of a household of five ol six. In the country districts the food is milk, bread and vegetables exclusively and, although it is apparently insuffi cient, the dogs thrive If the food must be bought, stable of six dogs can be kept at an expenditure of about six cents each day Carts and harness may be had to suit the purses of the purchaser The peasants four-wheelet cart, the crude product of the village smithy, and make-shift harness roughly pieced together from odt scraps of leather and twine, costs little or nothing while the two-wheeled de livery cart of the prosperous shopkeep er brightly painted and gayly decora, jted, and a harness studded with pol ished brass rivets, cost from fifty tt seventy-five dollars. It must not bt supposed that the peasants cart ant team cost any considerable sum. He i. content to press a stray cur into the service whenever it may De, his good fortune to find one, to make his owr harness from the material he may gath CT from the roadside, to construct his own rude cart, and to let his dogs for. age for themselves.
 The plains of western Belgium anG Holland are especially suited to the use of dogs as sdraught animals, while few are to be seen In the mountainous dis. tricts of Switzerland, where their use is confined to drawing messengers from village to village and to haul the rag pickers carts. But even in gently roll ing districts team of dogs, strong ant spirited, attached to a lightly loaded cart can outdistance as many horses or long hauls. For instance, a team O draught horses will make the journey from Ghent to Brussels, a distance O thirty-four miles, in four hours, while z team of dogs will travel the same roat in three hours without apparent ia tigue It is impossible, however, to de termine even an approximate averag' | of the weight a single dog can draw