The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-09


 finger tips so that the soap may get in its work. If you can spend several min utes in this manner it will drive out and klli the fleaS. Right here I mgiht add that couple tablespoons of kerosene oil and two tablespoonful of coal tar prepa- ration added to the water and well mixed Will add certain death to all parasites on the coat and make the water . good dis lnfectant. Ten, minutes is sufficient for bath, then rinse the dog well with tepid water and inst with your hands rub the water well out of the hair. Many people think that dog should ge washed upon an empty stomach, three hours after feeding is about the proper time. No dog can be kept free from fleas or mange and Kindred skin diseases unless constant at tention is paid to it's bedding A clean bed is as necessary for it's health as 1t is for the health and comfort of human being. It is useless to use dog soap and mango cures for a dog that has an un- cleanly resting place where fleas can live and breed, and where the parasites which cause mango thrive.
 Puppies who have not accomplished their teething should never be washed much. It is more or less generally more, injurious to the skin and coat to wash any dog of any age, but it is positively dangerous to wash a young puppy in cold weather, and even in the dog days doing SC is risky. Grooming, however, IS highly desirable, especially for the long, haired breeds, and helps most materially to produce good coats
 Any skin irritation which may exist eczema especially-would be greatly exag- gerated by washing, and the use of such caustic alkalies as are found in almost all soaps. especially those which claim to Kill insects, is quite enough in itself to set up skin diseases. Fleas always attack weakly puppies if they can find them; so do the little red, yellow or gray lice. whose very presence is a sign of their hosts being below par. All this can be got rid of by using a good insect powder
 Dogs should be washed about once a fortnight, and the operation requires more care than one might at first imagine. There is some danger to be attached to the washing of dog, for if the weather be not fine he may catch cold and in- flammatfon of some important internal organ may be the result.
 Little dogs may be made to stand in the tub in which they are washed but if you are going to wash a large dog, be- fore even you bring him out of his ken mel you must have everything ready for his reception in the yard. ''Everything'' includes a large pailful of soft water, warm, but not hot, two towels and a large pail of soft cold water. Now bring forth the animal, and tie a piece of thin rope around his neck-not with a run ring moose, mind, else you may hang your friend. This serves to hold him if he at- tempts to jump out, as your hands will be slimy from the soapsuds., Pat the dog to prove there is no bad feeling, then, holding the soap in the right hand, start to father him all over. You must father away until all the coat is quite white a frnthU Rapin with ba oh back and sides, then proceed down the breech and tail, then the hind legs must receive attention, next the fore and next the chest, and last of all the neck and head. Do not let the soap into the eyes, if you can possibly avoid it. Wash the ears well, but do not let the water into the ears.
 Then rinse the dog well, beginning with the head. Observe that in the lathering you leave the head until the last, else he mak shake himself and wet you through and through. Observe. too, that in rins- ing the coat you begin with the head, in order to clear the dogs eyes as early as possible.
 In washing white dogs or dogs which have white portions upon them, the ad- dition of a little blueing to the water will leave the coat winter than it would otherwise be, and the use of a little good standard disinfecting solution is always advisable in the bath. for besides kill ing vermin and sweetening the skin it edds as well lustre and suppleness to the coat. The cleaner a dogs ears are the smarter the dog looks and the better will be his chances in the show ring. Ears, butts and cheeks often require the re- moval of superfluous dead and discol- cred hair, which gives the appearance of greater length of head and is a dis tinct advantage.
 A question which is frequently asked is how often a toy dog should be washed. With such dogs as Japs, Maltest or White Poms, of course, frequent baths are nec- essary for appearances sake To begin with they shocld have soft coats, and washing dogs does not tend to that end. Ut is we'll in this connection to remem- Der that in bathing toy dog it's ears must not be allowed to get wet if pos sible. It is a good practice when bath ing toy dogs to put wad of cotton in each ear before the bath begins and keep it there until they are dried.
 The manufacture of soap is no longer simple matter, as 1t was in the old days when there were but two varieties-soft and hard-though practically the same in- gredients are used now as then as the foundation for all kinds
 Soap is a compound of certain fatty substances, such as tallow or oil, with Iotash. In America tallow is used. Tn France and foreign countries olive oil takes its place.
 Soda or hard soaps differ from potash or soft soaps chiefly in the manner in which they combine with water.
 In the one the water is chemically com- bined, in the other 1t is merely in state of mechanical mixture.
 Some oils, such as hempseed oil. impart to the soap a greenish color, which is much esteemed
 The purest soap made is the white cas- tile. It contains large quantities of olive oil. which is softening and beneficial to the skin and coat.
 Amongst the antiseptics and disinfec- tants commonly used for dogs and their kennels there is nothing better than the coal tar group of antiseptics. These an- swer very well, not only for ordinary crude disinfecting purposes. such as swill- ing out yards and scEnbbing floors but they are also very valuable in a great many cases of skin complaint. Coal tar fluid is readily mixable in water, forming a milky solution, and whilst it can be ob- tained in a crude form for common drain age purposes, it can also be obtained puri- fled, for the medicinal, purposes referred to. It can also be obtained in the form for washing dogs than a superfatted soap odorized by the addition of little coal tar.