When it is impossible to provide a yard with a hard surface and the other conditions - ample sunlight, etc. advised, instead of using indifferent quarters the owner should give the puppies the run of his own dooryard and lawns, being careful always while yet they are very young not to let them out until the ground is dry. And he should keep in mind the fact, already made prominent in "Feeding," that in order that puppies may be generously fed and thrive as they ought and come up firm and strong on good and shapely legs and feet they must be kept on the move much of the time between daylight and dark.

A yard suitable for older puppies and mature dogs has certain conditions which are important enough to deserve description here.

It goes without saying that in every instance it should be as large as possible. For dogs of varieties of fairly good size, pickets three or four inches in width and eight feet long may be used in building the fence; and they, by the way, should be nailed on inside the rails.

After the posts have been set in place a trench not less than one foot in depth should be dug between them in which to sink the pickets, and in filling this stones that can be conveniently gathered should be mixed with the dirt, and all tamped down as hard as possible.

The pickets now stand seven feet above ground, and unless the tenant of the yard is of small breed this is none too high, for even among heavy and seemingly clumsy dogs there are not a few that can make their way over a fence six feet in height.

To save the pickets from being gnawed two or more base boards will be required, and these should be from six to eight inches in width and about three inches apart.

A fence of this sort freely admits the air and sunshine, and the rails being on the outside and nothing within to afford a foothold, to jump it is well-nigh impossible. If, however, an inmate succeeded in making his way over, there would be nothing to do but to build the fence higher, although some advise putting a ledge around the tops of the pickets for the jumper to strike his head against. But this plan is not advisable, for the blow or fall might cause serious injury, and one should not take any chances with good dogs.

A fence of pickets has been advised for the reasons that it is cheaper than any other, is easily constructed and quite durable. Without doubt, however, an iron fence is the best and safest in every way, but such is expensive, although not necessarily very decidedly so if made of rods passed through top and bottom rails spiked to posts and set at about the same distances from the ground as the rails of picket fences of about the same height.

A more sightly fence than one of wooden pickets can be made of wire-netting, and were the same closely woven and of wire of good size it would do nicely were the dogs of small breeds. But this netting must be very strong to hold a large dog.

While a picket fence constructed as described is suitable for most dogs, there are a few notorious burrowers and gnawers - working terriers and dachshunds, for instance, which can only be held by a "close-board" fence having a foundation of large stones to a depth of two feet. And this fact suggests the advisability of all making themselves familiar with the peculiarities of the dogs which they are purchasing before they undertake to build quarters for them.

The ground within every dog yard ought to be sloping, that rapid drainage may occur after rain falls. And it should be given a hard surface as advised for puppy yards. But the subject of expense is one that must be considered by many readers, therefore it becomes necessary to advise how the ground should be treated when it is impossible to cover it with flags, cement or other concrete.

If the soil is rich or the subsoil of clay, and in fact if it is other than sandy or gravelly, the surface must inevitably be very soft and muddy during many days of the year unless there is good drainage. The easiest and least expensive means to this end, and one very nearly as effective as any in ground like this, is known as the blind-drain. And a sufficient number of these drains having been laid, the surface of the entire yard should be covered to the depth of three or four inches with sand, coal-dust or ashes, by which means it will be made comparatively dry; and that it should be so is of the highest importance, for dampness has a most destructive influence on dogs, and especially those that are under restraint - in fact there is scarcely a more potent cause of disease.

In all yards there should be a comfortably large bench for the dogs to lie upon, and this can properly have a roof over it at all times, also back and sides in cold weather, during which it should stand in the most sunny place, while in summer it should be much in the shade, for dogs are frequently victims of what is evidently sunstroke.

Here, as in puppy yards, frequent cleaning is imperatively demanded, and especially in hot weather, when the heat acting upon filth makes it literally a hot-bed for disease. And, by the way, the breeder is especially fortunate who is so situated that he can provide two kennels and two yards for his puppies so that one set can be used one day, then vacated and thoroughly washed out and left to dry until the following day, when it can be again occupied and the other treated in the same manner.

While insisting that all puppies and dogs should have yards in which to exercise themselves and take the air on pleasant days the fact is duly appreciated that in occasional instances this provision will be absolutely impossible; and these appear in cities, in many sections of which the breathing spaces between the houses are often only a few feet in width, and in which it is the common custom to chain dogs to small out-door kennels during the day and admit them to the kitchens or basements at night But even in the presence of such unfavorable conditions the owners can manage to lessen somewhat the force of the confinement.