I am constantly being asked about the management of house dogs, and from the extraordinarily elementary questions which I am always answering, I think a practical chapter on the subject will be useful.

A house dog should be clean, well-behaved and obedient; he must not worry visitors, scratch their clothes, or rush barking to the door every time it is opened. He must only bark at burglars, or growl at suspicious characters. Some pet dogs bark just for nonsense in a way that exasperates a visitor, and I know one lady whose dogs (Pomeranians) bark so continuously, that existence in her house becomes impossible for all but the totally deaf, and as I am not deaf, I have to content myself with becoming temporarily dumb, as it is useless to attempt to make oneself heard.

Good manners are a matter of training.

Cleanliness is easily taught to young dogs. Let them run out of doors the very first thing in the morning and the last thing at night, and several times during the day as well, and you will not have much to complain of. Always let the dog out immediately after a meal. When fully trained he will eventually ask to go out by scratching at the door. Meanwhile should your puppy misbehave he should be taken to the scene of action and sharply scolded and smacked and put outside at once.

He will soon learn to be ashamed of being dirty and will mend his ways, but you cannot expect him to be clean if you neglect to allow him out at proper intervals. Keep a switch for correction and do not smack with your hand. The hand should never become an object of fear but should be kept for caresses. Indiscriminate barking should be stopped immediately by a determined word of reproof and, if necessary, a sharp tap with a switch.

If a dog has diarrhea, never punish him for misbehaviour as he cannot help himself. A well-trained dog suffers much misery and shame at doing what he knows to be wrong, and he will often look most appeal-ingly at his owner for forgiveness.

Always teach a house dog to lie anywhere he is told, and scold him if he moves from a place where you have ordered him to lie. This is an invaluable habit and must be taught early. Perhaps the most important thing of all is to teach a dog the meaning of the word " no," once he knows this all other teaching becomes easy.

Feed twice a day, at midday, and at eight or nine in the evening. For a ten-pound dog give about as much as will cover the bottom of a dessert plate each time. The undesirable foods are rare meat, tapioca, carrots, salt, and sweet stuffs. Do not give meat more than once a day and always well cooked. Stale bread with gravy, especially brown bread, is very good and also milk (if fresh) and milk foods, but not too sloppy for grown-up dogs. Some dogs cannot take milk at all. Champion Windfall, for instance, is immediately sick if he takes milk, and he cannot eat much bread, though he prefers it to anything else. For a very delicate, tiresome feeder try dried haddock, this is some times greedily eaten when meat will not be touched Molassine biscuits are greatly liked.

If a dog is always thirsty and inclined to indigestion this can often be cured by giving him very hot water to drink instead of cold water. He does not like it and drinks much less, and the heat of the water helps his digestion. I had a dog once that used to faint after drinking cold water. He had a very short nose and used to get the water into his nostrils and immediately fall over in a dead faint. This frightened me horribly till I got used to it, and I cured him entirely by giving him hot drinking water and never letting him drink at all immediately after meals. A little green vegetable is good occasionally for London dogs, but country dogs do not require it so much, though a little green food does them no harm.

Toy Spaniels do not require nearly as much outdoor exercise as bigger dogs. If they have the free run of the house they keep themselves exercised running up and down stairs, but if allowed they are capable of taking almost unlimited exercise with benefit.

In lifting a pet dog people who are not accustomed to dogs make a great mistake at times. The proper way to lift a dog is to grasp him from behind with both hands just as you would pick up a Rugby football. Never take him by the front paws and lever him up by the shoulders or you run a great risk of breaking his leg just under the point of the shoulder. Many people lift dogs in this way and then are astonished because they scream and hide under a sofa next time they are wanted. The next best way is to lift a dog by the scruff of the neck. When the skin is very loose (a thing which varies with individual dogs), it is the best way of all if done properly; but the skin must be taken in a big fold and grasped firmly with the whole hand and not pinched in the fingers. The proper place to take hold is just over the shoulder blades. It is cruel to lift a dog by the actual skin of the neck or above the ribs. A dog taken up properly will not squeak, but only if grasped in the wrong place, and if you catch him in the middle of the back you must not blame him if he bites you. Different dogs have different fancies about how they like to be lifted.

Champion Windfall prefers being taken up with the left hand under his chest just behind the elbows and the right hand firmly grasping him by the tail; so does Champion Featherweight. When they want to be lifted they back towards me, sticking their tails up as handles. Do not clutch a puppy and whisk him up suddenly. It startles him and makes him giddy and he gets to cringe when picked up.

Don't make your dog sleep on a cushion on the floor. The passion which dogs have for getting on chairs, beds, etc., regardless of the mud on their feet is only their natural anxiety to get out of the floor draughts, and a dog's bed should always be raised from the ground.

The ears of Toy Spaniels often trail in their plates when they eat and get very greasy, and to avoid this just tie a handkerchief loosely round the neck during the meal with the ears tucked into it. This will keep them out of the way.