Avoid the following common dangers: 1. The confidential man who tells you he has another offer of double the sum for which he is offering you the dog, but would sooner you had it because he likes the look of you, bless your pretty face! It is on the plain face of it unlikely that he should lose a good, solid sum simply to oblige a total stranger!

2. The "perfect lady" who tells you her husband is so particular he won't allow her to keep a stud dog, and she can let you have her's at a bargain.

3. The lady who tells you that her little girl cried so bitterly when she brought the dog to show you that she doesn't know what she shall do if you buy it,

4. Mistaking meteors for fixed stars.

5. The brood bitch which " is simply too pretty to be spoilt by having puppies."

6. The dog that is "just changing his coat," or whose ears are just coming on nicely, but appears with neither.

7. The dog that has "got a slight chill after the show."

8. The dog that is temporarily lame through being cramped in his basket.

9. The brood bitch that has "just lost a litter through the servant's neglect." This usually means that the owner, two vets., and three sons have been up all night for a week.

10. The dog who has knocked its teeth out playing with a ball. This happens, but it means unsound teeth.

11. The dog that has won under its breeder or previous owner only, and the puppy whose face "will shorten up by and by."

12. The gentleman who offers to sell you his dog just after it has won at a show.

13. The lady who tells you she is a club judge, and uses this as a lever to induce you to purchase from her.

14. The lady who repeatedly tells everybody she is so devotedly fond of her dogs that she can't bear the idea of selling them.

15. The owner who will not allow anyone to be present on stud occasions.

16. The man who has another purchaser unless you decide immediately.

17. The manNvho wants your stud dog on approval before purchasing.

18. The lady who talks incessantly about her own honesty. Don't be afraid of people who write and say they will " county-court" you. Let them do it Don't let yourself be bullied.

Don't send on approval without deposit.

Don't be taken in by the lady who runs down your dog or puts it back in the judging ring, and who a few weeks later makes you a small offer for it, simply out of kindness.

Another thing I would advise a novice is never to give valuable specials and never to guarantee more than one class at any show. The amount of money I have lost in this way would be more than enough to buy all the best dogs on the bench, and in addition to losing my money I have earned nothing but hostility through it. The better specials I gave, the more the exhibitors quarrelled over them, and when they did not win them the more angry they got with me over it. Just as if I ought to have told the judge how to award them!

People seem to imagine that if a man gives good specials he must be a multi-millionaire, that everything he offers, from dog collars to candelabra, should be of solid gold, studded preferably with diamonds. The same material seems to be desired even if the prize happens to be an arm-chair or an umbrella.

The abusive letters I have received on the subject have made me laugh more than a little, at the same time I have laughed with a rather sorry heart as I find that all efforts to improve and encourage my breed seem to result merely in encouraging the wrong sort of people and the wrong sort of dogs. To continue giving prizes under such circumstances is impossible and undesirable.

I should like to warn beginners with money, of one fatal mistake. Do not buy a dog on the strength of what he has won or because he has beaten your best dog. Use your eyes first and see if you think him beautiful. Never buy a dog you don't care for just because someone tells you he is lovely and will beat yours. It is human nature to buy the winner of some important championship, but it does not pay. Often there is a sort of tacit under-Standing between the owner of the dog and the judge, that the dog had better win as there is money about. Never buy a dog without seeing him, on the strength of his reputation.

I have never myself cared in the least what a dog has won or lost, but have always bought on what I con-315 • sidered to be the merits of the animal, or for some very good reason of my own. I have often bought the V. H. C. and refused the challenge-prize winner, and have never regretted it. I may say that I have never in my life allowed anybody to persuade me into buying dogs I did not like. They might have been champions twenty times over; it would never have made any difference.