taking these points in the order named, but discarding any pup who is glaringly off in any of these details.

The mother will wean the pups herself when they begin to grow their teeth, and it is best to leave this to nature. When their eyes are opened they should be taught to drink for themselves by sticking their noses in a saucer of sweetened milk. About the time they are fully weaned they should be treated for worms. After this first worming, they should have similar treatment every six weeks till they are six months old, and twice more after that before they are out of the puppy class. All dogs should be treated for worms twice a year as long as they live.

It is the style, or custom, or what you will, to cut the tails of Airedales, Irish, Welsh, and fox terrier puppies. This ought to be done when they are three or four days old. Three vertebrae are left, that is, the tail is cut at the third "knuckle," not counting the first one at the root of the tail. Rumor says that the operation is done with the kennelman's or groom's teeth, but in reality a dull pair of scissors is the usual and best instrument. The skin should be pulled back toward the body, so that there will be a little extra to cover the end, and not leave it bare of hair.

Growing pups need three things—food, room, and sunlight. When first weaned, they should be fed milk, gruels, and soups five times a day and the number of meals gradually lessened and the amount of solid food gradually increased till at a year old they are fed the same as their older kennel companions. The more room puppies have, the better they are. This is probably the reason that puppies farmed out always do so much better than those kennel raised. They may get all sorts of food and they certainly do not get the attention given the ones in the kennels, but a farm raised youngster is always healthier, bigger, and stronger.

Sunlight acts on puppies as it does on growing plants. Winter pups are proverbially more troublesome than those born in the spring. Most fanciers, therefore, see to it that their brood bitches whelp only in the spring. One litter a year is enough to ask of any terrier.

In conclusion, a word to the small kennel owner. He is apt to think things are unfairly distributed and that he has not the chance either in the show ring, the field, or the breeding kennel that the large owner has. In the latter two, and especially in the breeding kennel, he really has an advantage. It is well known that the greatest number of good dogs are bred by owners of from one to five bitches, for they study their needs more carefully and can give the puppies better attention. Let the small breeder but study his breed; know its past great dogs; understand the meaning of pedigrees; mate his bitches according to his knowledge; rear his puppies carefully, and he will find that he will turn out better home breds than ever come from the big kennels.

  CHAPTER V

DOG SHOWS AND SHOWING

The Britisher's inborn love of sport, dogs, and breeding invented the dog show, but not so very long ago, for even in England bench shows, as a recognized institution, are only a little over half a century old. Their fame and popularity have, however, circled the globe.

The English fancier can truly boast that there are more thoroughbred dogs to the mile in Great Britain than to fifty miles in any other country, and one is not surprised to find that there are more bench shows held there in a week than in a month in the United States. We, on this side of the ocean, are their nearest rival, for while European countries have taken up the dog and his showing, still they are as much behind us as we are behind "the tight little isle."

Continental fanciers have a great deal to learn about dogs, and from their very dispositions it is doubtful if, with the possible exception of the serious, hard-working, painstaking Germans, they will ever become truly doggy. In the first place, they count their pennies very carefully when buying a dog; and in the second place, they are not really fanciers at heart, but have merely taken up dogs as a fashionable whim.

The first American shows were run in a haphazard, friendly, go-as-you-please way, but it very soon became evident that some governing body was as much a necessity in dogdom as on the race track, in college athletics, or among yachtsmen. Accordingly, the American Kennel Club grew up naturally to fill this place. In form the A.K.C., as it is called, is a congress. Its members are not individuals, but clubs, which are represented by regularly elected delegates at the meetings of the parent organization. These clubs are of two types, the local clubs, composed of the fanciers of a certain city or district, and the specialty clubs, whose members are the fanciers the country over devoted to one particular breed.

The local clubs, like the Westminster Kennel Club of New York City or the Philadelphia Dog Show Association, are organized primarily for the giving of bench shows. The specialty clubs, of which the Scottish Terrier Club of America and the Airedale Terrier Club of New England are examples, are devoted primarily to fostering the interests of their breed, which they do by offering special prizes, seeing that competent judges officiate, and even by holding shows where only dogs of their breed are exhibited.

All shows, whether given by local or specialty associations, are held under A.K.C. rules, and the regulation of these shows is the main work done at the club's offices at 1 Liberty Street, New York. The A.K.C., however, does more than this. It publishes the dog Stud Book, a volume annually, and also a semi-monthly, official journal, the A.K.C. Gazette. Moreover, the club is judicial as well as legislative and executive in its functions, and tries the offenders of the kennel world. Last, but not least, it has jurisdiction over field trials, both for bird dogs and hounds.

The A.K.C. recognizes seventy-seven distinct breeds as thoroughbred dogs—not counting several subdivision of breeds into varieties based on coats or colors. Any dog of any of these recognized breeds may be entered in the Stud Book, provided it has three generations of known, pure-blood pedigree. The registration fee is one dollar and includes the assigning of an official number to the dog, entry in the Stud Book for that year, a certificate of his registration, and the right, throughout the life of the dog, to show him, regardless of ownership, at any A.K.C. show. Unregistered dogs have to be "listed" for each show they attend, and a fee of twenty-five cents is always charged.

The usual classes at a bench show are the puppy, novice, limit, open, and winners', and in the more popular breeds these are divided by sex. The puppy class is for any dog between the ages of six months and one year, but, of course, none can be entered whose date of birth, sire, dam, place of birth, and breeder are unknown. The novice class is for dogs bred in the United States who have never won a first prize, wins in the puppy class being excepted. The limit class is for dogs who have not won six first prizes in that class, but dogs who have won their championship are barred. Any dog, who is over six months of age, may be shown in the open class.

If three of the above classes are given at a show, a winners' class is added. There is no entry fee for this class, but in it the winners of the other classes meet and are judged. At different shows various other classes are sometimes given, as a junior class for dogs between six and eighteen months, a class for champions, and many divisions are made according to weight and color in different breeds.

It is by wins in the winners' class that a dog secures the right to prefix to his name the honorable and much-coveted title of "Champion." To win this, the dog must get fifteen points. Every win in the winners' class counts a certain number of points according to the number of dogs actually on the bench at the show: 1000