Had there never been a specific need for just such a dog as the Airedale, he would never have existed. He was "manufactured" to meet a distinct want: the need for a big, strong dog, game to the bottom and with a liking for water, who would serve the all-round purpose of pal, guard, poacher, and vermin destroyer. Had the Airedale not filled this bill, he would never have persisted. He would have died out ignominiously, without even winning a local fame.
The Airedale, however, is not only all that his Yorkshire "manufacturers" longed for, but he has shown himself much more. Wider acquaintance with the world has placed him under many different conditions, and he has not very often been weighed and found wanting. He has made his home in all countries from Alaska to India. He has been used for all sorts of game from the grizzly to mice; he has done police duty in France, Germany, and America; he has drawn sleds in the Arctic and driven sheep in Australia—all these things and many others he has done, and in the doing of them he has won a reputation for intelligence, docility, and affectionate disposition that few less talented dogs do not envy. As a writer in theBelgian Breeder, the Brussels journal devoted to horses, dogs, and livestock, has said, he is indeed "le chien le plus utile," which is freely Americanized by the doggy epigram that "an Airedale will do anything any other dog can do and then lick the other dog."
The Airedale is indeed ideally useful, and he is also usefully ideal, for he has size and strength; nobody ever questioned his courage; he is blessed with exceptional brains; and he is obedient, faithful, and affectionate. What more can man ask of a dog? By inheritance he is a thorough sportsman and by instinct a perfect gentleman.
Training, education, and specialization are all familiar terms these days. It is acknowledged that the skilled dwarf is more powerful than the ignorant giant: that the efficiency of the genius is increased many times by proper schooling. So it is with dogs. By nature and by the art of breeding the Airedale has been endowed with gifts fitting him to do whatever a dog may be called upon to do, but proper training will enable him to do it more easily and better.
With a dog of so many talents it is somewhat difficult to decide just the best way in which to take up the different branches of his education, but let us divide his training upon the basis of the Airedale in town and in the country.
I suppose that it is useless to say, for dogs will always be kept in the cities as companions, that a Harlem flat is just about the worst place in the world for an Airedale. Any terrier just cries for room. He is lively as a cricket and as full of spirits as a nut is of kernel—both excellent qualities in any dog outside a flat. The city at best is no place for any dog; no place for terriers of all dogs, and of all terriers, the Airedale! Yet hundreds of dogs live in town, and they serve their purpose. Also, they have a great deal to learn.
House-breaking is the first lesson that has to be taught the city dog. Usually it saves time and money to see that the dog you buy is already so trained, but this cannot always be done. It is a risky business to guarantee a dog house-broken and too much faith must not be placed in any such promises. It often happens that while a dog will always behave perfectly in one house he may have to be trained all over again when introduced into another. This is mainly true of puppies, so you need not consider yourself basely deceived if, in this particular, a youngster does not live strictly up to the word of his seller.
If your dog arrives in a crate, he should be given a run the very first thing after unpacking. The safest way is to bring him into the house on a lead and to keep him tied up short in some convenient place for a couple of days, taking him out regularly at fixed hours. He will soon get into these habits. Should he offend, he ought to be punished at the scene of his crime, taking care that he is aware of his offense and tied up again. A very few days of this treatment will house-break any dog who is old enough to understand what you are driving at. Trying to house-break a very young puppy is cruelty pure and simple.
In punishing a dog, do not beat him about the ears and never use either a fine whip, or a stick. It has happened twice in my knowledge that a dog has had his hearing seriously damaged by a rupturing of the ear drums caused by blows on the head. A whip will cut the skin of a dog and a stick may break a bone. A smart slap under the jaw, accompanied by a word-scolding in a severe tone and uncompromising manner, is a thousand times better. In extreme cases a strap may be used, but always remember that the object is not to flog the dog into cowardly and broken submission, but merely to impress upon him that he is not doing as you wish.
In all cases it is best to punish a dog "red handed," but in no case should you punish him "red headed." Unless the dog knows for what he is being punished, you are like Xerxes whipping the Hellespont for wrecking his ships, except that a dog has more feelings than the sea. The best way to be sure that the dog knows is to catch him in the very act. This has the disadvantage, however, of making it likely that you will be in a temper.
No dog should ever be punished when you have not got perfect control over yourself. The patience of Job was never tried by a healthy, terrier puppy, or it might have reached its limit. A spoiled rug, the flower-beds wrecked, a new hat chewed up, slippers and rubbers all over the house, religious disobedience, all these things do cultivate a temper, but temper and dog-training do not live together successfully.
In training a dog be sure that he knows exactly what you want him to do, and then be sure that he always does it. Make obedience a habit. In time, it will come as natural to him as breathing. When you say "Come here," see that he comes, and let him understand that "Lie down" means just that and nothing more. It is very useful to have a dog that lives in the house "stay put" when placed in a chair or a corner, and this should be part of his education. It is very bad dog manners to jump up on visitors. Even to those who love dogs it is often disagreeably bothersome. It is bad enough in a toy dog, but in an Airedale it is worse in the ratio of five pounds to fifty.
I am not personally in favor of teaching a dog tricks. A trick dog soon learns to "love the limelight," and will be continually begging to be allowed to show off. Besides, I have an inborn dislike to seeing a dog doing stunts, and I know the feeling is shared by others who are fond of a good dog. It seems a silly thing to see a big, strong terrier begging or walking on his hind legs. It may be very clever for poodles and pugs, but with a man's dog—and the terriers are all "man's dogs"—it always calls to my mind a painting in the Louvre in which Hercules is depicted sitting at the feet of Venus industriously winding up a ball of yarn. However, tastes differ, and these tricks are all easy to teach a bright pupil, who has already learned the lesson of minding.
When the city dog goes out for a walk his training gets its real test. What a lovely spectacle it is to see a dog owner rushing and yelling after a dog who runs about paying no more attention to him than to the clouds overhead. It is a sight that has but one equal, that of a portly, pompous gentleman chasing his own hat. Even if a dog is perfectly trained indoors, he may break loose when first taken out on the street, but he can easily be made to understand that master is to be boss on the street as well as in the house. One of the best habits a city dog can have is that of keeping close to his owner's heels crossing streets. A dog is perfectly well able to cross a crowded street, but in busy thoroughfares a dog and his master are apt to get separated, and all may not be so fortunate as the Washington physician who had his champion Airedale returned with a note which read:
"Dere Doc—Here is your Yeller Dog. Will you Please give me 15 cents I hate to ask so much but i had to fead him 2 days."
The Airedale who lives in the country is more fortunate than his brother in town. His preliminary education is just the same, but he gets a college course in hunting, and maybe a little post-graduate work in cattle driving. All that has been said about house-breaking and teaching to mind applies with equal force to the country dog. If there are not so many interested spectators to make it embarrassing it is just as provoking to have a runaway dog in the meadows and pastures as in the streets and avenues. A single motor at sixty or seventy miles an hour on the turnpike is harder for a dog to dodge than the whole flood of traffic that streams up and down the city thoroughfares. So, city or country, teach your dog to mind.
An Airedale will take as naturally to rats, woodchucks, and such vermin as a lot of little yellow ducklings will to the mill pond. But to make assurance doubly sure, it is best to introduce him to mice or small rats when he is four or five months old, then leading on and on till you can end with the biggest game found in America. This is the way terriers are broken in England. It has been found that if a terrier is jumped bang at Mr. Woodchuck, for example, he may be spoiled by biting off more than he can chew the first time.
In the Rockies, where Airedales are used on grizzly and mountain lion, the dogs hunt in packs, and the old dogs train the youngsters. Example and experience make an excellent pair of tutors, and the work is such that unless the lessons are grasped pretty quickly, there will be a dead dog.
The gradual system of breaking applies to water. The veins of the Airedale are filled with the blood of the otter-hound, and from this ancestor he has inherited a love for the water. Practically all Airedales will swim naturally without any training at all, but once in a while there comes along one who does not take to water. He should be coaxed in, not taken by the scruff of the neck and pitched overboard. Methods like that are not generally successful when dogs are concerned.
In hunting and swimming the Airedale is but following the strongest instincts that he has. All one has to do is to curb and direct these instincts. Experience will do the rest, for the dog has brains and is very quick to learn, and the teacher is proverbially a good one. In driving cattle and sheep, however, the dog is going into a new trade, as it were, and not one to which he was born. He proves his versatility by the quickness with which he can learn to be an excellent drover. The easiest way is to take him out with a dog experienced in this work. If this cannot be done, one will have to train him himself, and this is not so difficult as it sounds, but it is best to make sure that the dog has carefully learned that minding trick above mentioned before undertaking this.
Almost any and all dogs are watch-dogs, but the Airedale, because of his size and intelligence, is a particularly good one. It is not the wisest policy to chain up a dog at night, for he will be much more apt to sound false alarms, and in any case of real need he is powerless to give active defense of himself or his friends. The watch-dog ought not to have his big, heavy meal at night, or he will go to sleep and snore peacefully till cock crow, while if fed but lightly, he will rest in a series of cat naps, if a dog can do that.
The Airedale is more practically useful than any other breed of dog. He can do more things better than any other variety. It is this eminent utility of his that has been one of the greatest factors in his success, but he would never have become so widely popular with men, women, and children of all classes had it not been that behind his usefulness there is sterling character and good disposition.
The terrier owner is a "lucky devil," for his dogs do not, as a rule, spend a great deal of time in the hospital. All members of the terrier family, from the giant of the race, the Airedale, way down to little Scottie, owe a big debt to nature for having blessed them with remarkably robust constitutions. They do not catch cold from every draft; they throw off the various contagious diseases; even when really sick, they make wonderfully rapid recoveries.
All dog flesh, however, is heir to certain diseases, and even the most healthy and strong are not exceptions to this rule. Many of the books on doggy subjects are so deep and technical that the poor novice who has waded through their sonorous and involved phrases is really more at sea about how to treat his sick dog than before he took them from the shelf. Other books on dogs, especially the popular ones, are so brief in their descriptions that no amount of study of them can teach much. It is my object to steer between these two extremes and to tell something of the common ailments, so all may understand their causes, symptoms, and treatments.
Two good rules for the amateur veterinarian to learn at the very outset are: In case of any doubt, or if the case is at all serious, time, money, and maybe the dog's life will be saved by calling at once upon a registered D.V.S.; and nine times out of ten a dog's ailments are the same, with the same symptoms and results, as among humans. A dog, therefore, can receive the same treatment as people, for the same medicines act upon him as upon yourself. In the case of the terriers, the dose is one-fourth of that for an adult human. To use more commonsense than medicine is another good rule to use, for nursing and a little attention to diet often effect a cure without any drugs at all.
Remembering that the same treatment that you would give yourself cures your dogs makes it unnecessary to go into such ailments as cuts, burns, colds, stomach disorders, and poisons. There are, however, some distinctively canine ailments. For convenience let us take these up alphabetically.
Canker of the earis not by any means so common in terriers as in the long-eared breeds, but it sometimes affects dogs who go a great deal in the water, though it may be caused by any foreign substance getting into the ear. There are two forms—the external and the internal. The external shows itself by sores on the ear flaps, which are most painful and cause the dog to scratch and paw at his ear. The sores ought to be cleaned thoroughly with hot water and dressed with zinc ointment daily. In bad cases the head may be bandaged to prevent aggravation of the ulcers by scratching.
The internal form is harder to cure. Its symptoms are hot, inflamed ears, pain, pawing, and rubbing the head against the floor or walls. The interior of the ear should be douched out with warm water and boracic acid or witch hazel, and then syringed with a solution of one part of spirits of wine and twenty parts of water. Afterwards the ear should be carefully dried out with cotton on the end of a pencil—care must be taken not to injure the interior of the ear—and finally dusted with boracic acid.
Chorea, or, as it is sometimes called, St. Vitus's Dance, is generally a legacy of distemper. It is a peculiar nervous twitching, generally affecting the forelegs and shoulders. It is almost incurable, but good food, exercise, and a tonic may work wonders.
Crampsin the hindquarters may sometimes attack a dog who goes a great deal into the water and they are not unknown as a result of cold and damp kennels or great exposure to cold. The symptoms are a more or less complete paralysis of the hindlegs, accompanied by great pain. The dog should be given a hot bath and the affected parts, after a careful drying, should be rubbed well with chloroform liniment.
Diarrhoea, which may be caused by food or worms, can usually be stopped by a mild purge of half castor oil and half syrup of buckthorn, which may be followed by a dose of prepared chalk. Boiled rice is an excellent food for dogs suffering from disordered bowels.
Distemperis the bane of the dog owner's existence. It is a highly contagious disease generally attacking puppies, and is comparable to scarlet fever in that one attack successfully gone through usually means immunity. It was formerly thought that distemper could arise spontaneously from improper feeding or unsanitary kenneling, but the germ of the disease has been isolated, and while poor food and dirty kennels increase the chances of the disease by lowering the dog's resistance, they are not in themselves causes.
The distemper germ is possessed of remarkable vitality and may be transferred either directly from dog to dog or through the medium of crates, bedding, clothing, and even the air. Shows are a source of spreading the disease, though there is much less danger of this now than formerly for the veterinary inspection and proper disinfecting methods have improved conditions wonderfully. A bitch from an infected kennel may give distemper to the inmates of the kennels she visits for breeding purposes. Plenty of soap and water, disinfectant, and elbow grease make a distemper prevention that is much better than any cure.
The discovery of the distemper germ has naturally resulted in the making of an anti-toxin, by attenuating the virus till a weakened form is obtained. Using this to inoculate a well dog, a mild form of the disease attacks him, but this "vaccination" has not proved unqualifiedly successful, especially when used by amateurs.
The commonest form of distemper is catarrhal, with symptoms much like those of an ordinary cold, lack of appetite, fever, disordered bowels, vomiting, staring coat, rapid loss of flesh, and discharges from the nose and eyes. The distemper germ, however, may attack other organs than the nose and eyes. The lungs and bronchial tubes and the stomach and intestines are also seats of the trouble. These forms are harder to diagnose and harder to cure. The presence of dysentery and sometimes of jaundice are indications that the digestive tract is involved.
I know of no sure cure for distemper, and I never knew a dog owner who did, though, to be sure, they all have their favorite remedies. There are no end of patent specifics on the market, and some of these are very good, but the best thing for a tyro to do is to call a veterinarian. Leave the doctoring to him, at least till you have had the experience gained by a couple of good cases of distemper in your kennels. There will be plenty for you to do without bother about prescribing.
The dog with distemper must be isolated, and you must take the precautions that you would if there were smallpox in the neighborhood. Wash with disinfectants, burn sulphur candles, scrupulously destroy all bedding—use all the knowledge of antiseptic disinfecting that you have.
As for the patient, you will find that nursing is just as important as medicine—in fact, the more I have to do with the disease, the less medicine I administer and the more care I give to nursing. Keep up the dog's strength with almost any sick room food that he will eat. Raw meat, eggs, gruels, soups, milk, all these are good, and the dog should be fed often. The discharges from the nose and eyes should be wiped away regularly.
If the nose becomes very badly stopped up, so that breathing is difficult, the dog's head may be held over a pail of hot water in which a little turpentine has been dropped and he made to inhale the fumes. If the throat and bronchial tubes are affected, give a little cough syrup—any one will do, but be careful not to give enough to upset the stomach. See that the dog has plenty of water to drink and keep him out of all drafts, though the room must be well ventilated.
Fitsseem to be a part of the life of most puppies. They are not dangerous and usually pass off without bad effects. But fits are a symptom, and the cause should be removed. They may be caused by worms, stomach troubles, or heat. Keep the dog quiet and give him a dose of castor oil and buckthorn.
Insectsof several kinds take pleasure in seeing to it that neither the dog or his owner gets lazy. The commonest and the easiest to get rid of are fleas, but they are dangerous as being the cause of tapeworm, for the tapeworm of the dog spends part of his life (in the larva form) in the fleas. There are any number of good flea soaps on the market and a dozen good flea powders, so little need be said about ridding the dog of these pests.
Lice are harder to get rid of, but the dog can be freed of them in the same way as of fleas. Care should be taken to get rid of as many of the lice eggs, little black specks that stick to the hair, as possible. Ticks are the least common, but because of their habit of burrowing into the skin cannot be washed out. The best way is to give the dog a good rubbing in a dressing composed of olive and kerosene oils, equal parts of each, followed by a bath.
Kennel Lameness, or rheumatism, affects a dog similarly to human beings, there being a soreness of certain parts—usually the foreshoulders or back—and pain, with even swelling of the joints. The dog should be kept in a light, dry, well-ventilated place, his bowels kept open, and the food given light, but nourishing. A little sodium bicarbonate or sodium salicylate added to his drinking water will be found to be beneficial, and hot baths and rubbings with liniments eases the pain considerably.
Skin diseasesare among the common troubles of the dog owner, for there are three varieties. The wire terriers seem to suffer a good deal from eczema,—this is especially true of Scotties,—and their owner is sure to know it before he has been in the game very long. It is a skin disease, noncontagious, arising from the blood and showing itself in red eruptions which burst, oozing their contents and forming scabs. The hair comes off, and by scratching the dog aggravates the condition.
High feeding and too little exercise are the usual cause of the trouble, and the root of the matter must be gotten at before a cure can be effected. A good purge should be given and the dog put on a light, simple diet. The sores should be washed clean and then treated with a wash of four parts of sugar of lead and one part of zinc sulphate in water. Fowler's Solution is also given sometimes, but this is a poison and ought not to be administered save on a veterinarian's advice.
There are two forms of mange—sarcoptic and follicular, both highly infectious, and the latter so hard to cure that many dog owners would almost rather kill a dog than go through the siege with the constant danger of inoculating other dogs. The sarcoptic form is more on the surface and attacks dogs under the legs, which become red and inflamed, little reddish pimples forming, which break and form dark red scabs. The follicular mange usually starts on the back near the tail or over the collar. The hair falls out, red scabs form and there is a peculiar odor. It is difficult to tell just which form one is dealing with after the case has gone far, but at the outset it is comparatively easy.
Both of these manges are caused by parasites which live in the skin. The microscope reveals these, and this is the only way that one, at the outset, can be sure he is dealing with mange and not eczema. The dog should be thoroughly cleaned and then dressed with the following ointment: creosote ½ oz.; oil of cade 1 oz.; zinc ointment and lanoline each 3 ozs.; and sulphur ½ oz. This is not a pretty or a nice mixture, but it has done the work more than once for me. The main thing with mange is cleanliness and keeping everlastingly at it. Skipping a day in the treatment will add a week to the cure. Sarcoptic mange caught in time can be cured in two weeks. Follicular mange may take three months, or even longer, to be cured completely.
Wormsare almost sure to be found in all dogs not regularly treated for them, and they are the cause of a good deal of trouble. Puppies are favorite victims for these internal parasites and youngsters who serve as hosts for these undesirable visitors never do well. Worms come from fleas, sheep and cattle stomachs and intestines, and sheep heads. Three varieties are common—the round, thread, and the tape, the last the most dangerous.
Puppies should be given a good vermifuge when weaned and the treatment should be kept up all through the dog's life. Emaciation, vomiting, bloating of the stomach, bad breath, and dragging the rectum along the ground after stool are the usual evidences of worms, but the wise dog owner does not wait for such signs. There are several good vermifuges on the market, usually containing santonin, male fern, or acerca nut, but naturally I do not feel that this is the place to mention them by name. Almost any of them will do the work if the manufacturer's directions are followed.
In conclusion, a word or two about giving medicines. The best way to hold a terrier is to sit in a low chair and place him so that his body is under you and his shoulders between your knees. To give a pill you do not need help for so small a dog, but by putting your left hand over his mouth and pressing you force him to open his mouth by forcing his lips against his teeth. Lift up his head and put the pill as far back as you can on his tongue and hold his mouth closed till he has swallowed.
With liquids you will need an assistant to pour the medicine into the natural funnel you make of the dog's mouth by pulling his lips on one side out. In this you do not open the mouth but merely hold up the head. The medicine should be poured slowly between the teeth and lips and the mouth held closed till swallowed.
Let me again impress the importance of remembering the similarity of canine and human ills. It is also well to bear in mind that careful nursing is usually very much better than dosing, especially when the dosing is done by one who is not perfectly sure just what he is doing and why he is doing it.
Transcriber's Note:Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.
Transcriber's Note:
Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.