The Winslow mail., 1899-01-21
DOGS ARE FAXED"
Cruel Methods of Making Pets Con-
form to Fashion.
A Long Course Of Maltreatment Has
Produced MaifOrn4tiOns as
Permanent Types
of Dogs.


cia+ed with beer and the church war
den pipe in an East end or wayside pub
lie house, when the owner of a cham
pion bulldog fed his pet on pound Of
rump steak and let his family starve
upon a crust. The dog, too, got all the
kicks.
In our days we have changed all that.
The old-time dog show still obtains,
and you may occasionally see it adver-
tised in the sporting papers, but there
are two powerful associations, who
each in their way, with wealthy purses,
have improved the lot Of the modern
day dog and given him social status.
But with all the power of these two
associations against them the tricks
obtain. They have simply changed
their coats.
The dog falSer Of the past, to get a
very small breed of pet dogs; kept the
lungs of the animals closed by compress
sion in puppyhood and by plugging the
nostrils at stated times stopped a
proper system of respiration. The mod
ern faler takes the relics of the older
days and inbreeds from the smallest
type of dog, and regulates the feeding
Of his animals.
To make the eyes of toy spaniels
large, bulgy and round and the coats
a rich color the animals were kept
among the beer barrels in the public
house cellars in perpetual darkness,
while the spaniel pups were "helped"
in the matter of becoming very short
nosed by having the bones surrounding
the nose pressed to the head while they
were in a soft andl tender cartilage state
To-day these methods are not SO neces-
sary, for a long course of taking"
through many generations has at last
produced the malformation as a per-
manent type, but in the spaniel and
many other breeds OF dogs the type
striven for is still ''helped.'
When the modern bulldog is chosen
from litter Of pups the loosest-skinned
is marked out to work upon, and then,
to put it kindly, "the fun begins" AS
the pup gets along in life he is submit
ted to process Of skin pulling until his
hanging rolls offur. Painless, of course,
but still it is taking"
The more unscrupulous give an arti-
fetal kink to the pupPy's tail by break
ing the vertebra where nature has for
gotten to do it. and pulling the forelegs
out at the elbow to give breadth of
chest and general all-round looseness
few.
Bloodhounds, too. and pugs both have
to be "helped" at times, if nature does
not conform to the fashion. Landseer's
lovely big-eyed bloodhound in his pic
ture, Dignity and independence" is
not to the taste of modern connoisseurs.
He must be padded with roll upon roll
Of loose skin; his ears must hang low
down, and the eyes are al but sightless,
hidden away as they are in OverhangiDg
brows.
Most people will notice how beauti-
fully the highly bred collie drops his
ears over. Well, there are dog takers
who keep in the dark, who. if they hap
pen to possess a good pup whose ears
are too strong, and consequently will
not drop over, run needle through the
ear under the skin, and keep the head
in splints, as it were, for some time, un-
til the ears drop.
Other methods are followed to weak
en- the nerves of the ears. Sometimes
drop of acid is put on the nerve, and
the ears are pulled and flaps of weight
ed wood are fastened to them.
Other ways Of taking dogs include
the pulling out of white hairs and the
dyeing Of patches Of white fur too big
to be pulled out. Cropping and docking
still fourishes openly, although the
kennel club rules are framed to stop
all taking.
It is left, however, for women to do
a great work in stamping out the arts
and lodges Of bygone, unenlightened
time, and in the Ladies Kennel associa-
tion we possess a great purpose in do
ing away with all fakes and fads of dog
dealers.-London News.