In other words the dog is so constituted physically that he can digest both animal and vegetable foods, and from them when in correct proportions he will obtain all the nutritive principles required for the growth of his body and to replace the wear and tear upon its tissues. But although vegetable foods may contain all that he requires for these purposes, such is the peculiar construction of his digestive apparatus, unlike his master, it would scarcely be possible for him while under ordinary conditions to subsist on them alone, being unable to extract from them goodly proportions of their nutritive properties. Consequently, while it is perfectly proper to give him vegetable foods he should have animal foods as well, for were he deprived of them he would be likely in time to lose health and vigor.

While the proportions of the animal and vegetable ingredients of the diet cannot be fixed to suit all cases because of the many elements of variation, it can safely be said that where the former is meat one-third is about the right proportion for dogs in general that are not in training or being hard worked in the field.

This estimate is based on "solid" meat and without regard to the water in which it is cooked, for that - the broth - is scarcely more than stimulating and only slightly nutritious; yet it contains some important elements and should never be thrown away, but always used to soften the bread or other starchy food and returned to the meat.

Now, in order to pass this point and reach a closer estimate one must be guided entirely by the existing circumstances, and weigh in every instance the individual peculiarities, the conditions present, etc., etc. And what is of great importance he must duly consider the amount of exercise allowed, and accept without qualifications the rule that, within limits of course, the less exercise the less meat.

For instance, a man has a number of dogs that he cares for himself, but he cannot devote much time to them because he is at business during the day, and while absent they must be confined to the kennels. He is accustomed to let them out every morning and evening and allow them to scamper off into the fields for perhaps fifteen minutes, but rarely for a longer time, and this is about all the exercise they have except what they make for themselves in their yards or runs. The proportion of meat for them should be about one-fifth.

But supposing that this same man besides allowing his dogs their short morning and evening romps took them out every day for a sharp walk of half an hour. Then he could properly give them about one-fourth meat.

Assuming again that he is less devoted to business, has much leisure and contemplates working his dogs, and besides their short outings mornings and nights he has them out for an hour every day, during which time they cover a good bit of ground, he would then need to increase the quantity of meat and make the proportion about one-third, or perhaps a trifle over this.

Or if it was his custom, besides letting them out for a few minutes' frolic every morning and night, to give them a long walk on chain every day, or slow work behind a horse for twenty or more miles, his dogs might have nearly three-fourths meat.

While were they greyhounds and he had them in training, or hounds that he was working hard in the chase, or pointers, setters, or the like, that were doing almost daily hard work afield, they might have a diet consisting entirely of meat.

In a word, it is safe to assume that the more exercise a dog has the more meat he will digest readily and properly dispose of without ill effects.

Apropos of this, some trainers of greyhounds feed with a large proportion of farinaceous foods and claim a good showing, but, as one writer has in substance said, this is not decisive, and even better results might possibly have been attained had an all-meat diet been given.

There are breeders also who contend that more than one-third meat is demanded by all dogs, whether or not they are closely confined or being trained, or hard worked afield, while nearly as many insist that dogs on an average find ample support in a diet composed of six, eight, or even a greater number of parts of vegetable foods to one of flesh.

At this point it is well to remind the reader who is at either extreme that circumstantial evidence is by no means always conclusive. Also, that no two breeds, nor even two members of the same breed, are so constituted that the food suitable for one is precisely as suitable for the other.

Now it is an indisputable fact that some breeders feed very largely on meat and their dogs do well. Not unnaturally therefore they believe it to be the all-important food. On the other hand there are some who rely almost wholly on vegetables and starches, and they in turn are as strongly convinced that their diet is the only appropriate one for all dogs.

A novice accepts the theory of the first and feeds on flesh, but he does not meet with the success which he anticipated, and his dogs go wrong in the course of a few weeks and eventually become wrecks. Another tries the other theory, and with much the same ending - his dogs in time going to pieces.

The result of these unfortunate experiments would at first thought seem positive evidence that both theories were absolutely wrong, yet literally they proved merely that the diets employed were unsuited to the victims under the existing conditions. But had these dogs been placed under precisely the same conditions as those of the breeders whose radical views were accepted, then the results would undoubtedly have been different, and very likely each novice would have become an ardent advocate of the theory he adopted.

The fact is, there are many other influences which bear quite as heavily for or against the health of dogs as the dietetic, and one rightly fed may go wrong because of insufficient exercise, improper cooking, damp, draughty quarters, neglect of cleanliness, foul drinking water, etc., while another fed indifferently, on food poorly suited to his wants, may yet remain in good health under kindly hygienic influences.