o be bred where a case of distemper existed,
unknown to me, of course, brought it to my place again, and I had the same
unfortunate experience over again; fortunately this time it was in the
early fall, and weather conditions being auspicious, we lost only about
twenty-five per cent. of young stock. By extreme vigilance, in knowing the
conditions of the kennels where bitches were sent for service, we
succeeded in escaping an attack for several years, when an old bitch that
had had distemper several years previously, brought back the germs in her
coat from a kennel where two young dogs, just home from the Boston show,
were sick with the disease. This was in the spring, the weather was wet
and cold, and a loss of practically fifty per cent. ensued.

One very interesting and peculiar feature of the last attack was, that
half the dogs sick were given the best medical treatment possible, with a
loss of one-half; the other half were not given any medicine whatever, and
the same proportion died. Of course, all had the best of care, nursing,
and strict attention to diet paid.

I was very much gratified to observe that in these three attacks we have
never had a dog that had a recurrence of the disease, and what is of far
greater importance, have never had any after ill effect (with one solitary
exception, when a bitch was left with a slight twitching of one leg) in
the shape of the number of ailments that frequently follow, and in all
cases after the disease had run its course the dogs seemed in a short time
as vigorous as ever. This we attribute solely to the strong, vigorous
constitutions the dogs possessed. A breeder who raises many dogs will have
a very difficult feat to accomplish if he aspires to enter the show ring
also. In our case we were convinced at the start that these two would not
go together. When one considers that dogs returning from shows frequently
carry the germs in their coats, and even the crates become affected, and
while not suffering from the disease themselves, will readily convey it to
the occupants of the kennel they come in contact with, also that the
kennel man (unless a separate man has charge of infected stock
exclusively) can readily carry the germs on his hands, person and
clothing, it will instantly be perceived what a risk attends the combined
breeding and showing. I think it pays best in the long run to keep these
two branches of the business separate. The temptation to exhibit will be
very s