st be
avoided at all costs. When only one outdoor dog is kept, a kennel can
be improvised out of a packing-case, supported on bricks above the
ground, with the entrance properly shielded from the weather. No dog
should be allowed to live in a kennel in which he cannot turn round at
full length. Properly constructed, portable, and well-ventilated
kennels for single dogs are not expensive and are greatly to be
preferred to any amateurish makeshift. A good one for a terrier need
not cost more than a pound. It is usually the single dog that suffers
most from imperfect accommodation. His kennel is generally too small
to admit of a good bed of straw, and if there is no railed-in run
attached he must needs be chained up. The dog that is kept on the
chain becomes dirty in his habits, unhappy, and savage. His chain is
often too short and is not provided with swivels to avert kinks. On a
sudden alarm, or on the appearance of a trespassing tabby, he will
often bound forward at the risk of dislocating his neck. The
yard-dog's chain ought always to be fitted with a stop link spring to
counteract the effect of the sudden jerk. The method may be employed
with advantage in the garden for several dogs, a separate rope being
used for each. Unfriendly dogs can thus be kept safely apart and still
be to some extent at liberty.

There is no obvious advantage in keeping a watch-dog on the chain
rather than in an enclosed compound, unless he is expected to go for a
possible burglar and attack him. A wire-netting enclosure can easily
be constructed at very little expense. For the more powerful dogs the
use of wrought-iron railings is advisable, and these can be procured
cheaply from Spratt's or Boulton and Paul's, fitted with gates and
with revolving troughs for feeding from the outside.

Opinions differ as to the best material for the flooring of kennels
and the paving of runs. Asphalte is suitable for either in mild
weather, but in summer it becomes uncomfortably hot for the feet,
unless it is partly composed of cork. Concrete has its advantages if
the surface can be kept dry. Flagstones are cold for winter, as also
are tiles and bricks. For terriers, who enjoy burrowing, earth is the
best ground for the run, and it can be kept free from dirt and buried
bones by a rake over in the morning, while tufts of grass left round
the margins supply the dogs' natural medicine. The movable sleeping
bench must, of course, be of wood, raised a few inche