erly fed, that has free access to good
wholesome drinking water, can safely be left without a cathartic. Another
important fact to be observed in breeding Bostons, is the suitability of
certain stud dogs for particular bitches. It used to be my belief for a
number of years, and I suppose many dog men today entertain the same idea,
that a first class dog in every respect mated with a number of equally
well bred typical bitches would produce on an average a comparatively
uniform type of pups. Nothing could be further from actual results. The
same dog bred, say to four females practically alike in style, size,
conformation, color and markings, and from common ancestry, will give
perchance in one litter two or three crackerjacks, and the other three
will contain only medium pups. This same thing will occur every time the
dogs are bred. This is because the bitch with the choice pups and the dog
"nick," a phrase signifying that some psychological union has taken place,
not understood by man, in which the best points of both dogs are
reproduced in their offspring. Whenever one finds a dog eminently suited
to his bitch, do not make a change, always breed to the same dog. I am
perfectly cognizant of the fact that a great temptation presents itself to
want to breed to a better dog, a noted prize winner probably, expecting,
of course, that inasmuch as the dam did so well with a somewhat inferior
dog, she must of necessity do correspondingly better with an A 1 dog. The
reasoning is perfectly correct, but the result does not correspond. Very
inferior pups to her previous litter by the inferior dog surprise and
disgust the owner. In our kennels we have had numerous examples of this.
One bitch especially, years ago, when bred to "Buster," always gave first
class puppies of uniform type each litter, but the same bitch bred to some
noted prize winner always gave ordinary pups. Another bitch that at the
present time is practically retiring from the puppy raising business from
age, when bred to Hickey's Teddy IV., always had in her litter four
crackerjacks out of the seven or eight she always presented us with; when
bred to any other dog (and we have tried her with several), no matter how
good, never had a first class pup in the litter. Hence I repeat, if a dog
"nicks" with your bitch, resulting in good pups, do not on any account
ever change. Let the marriage last for life. Somewhat closely connected
with this last fact is another equally i