I can advance no theory to account for this, in fact, I am quite aware that it sounds unscientific. I can only say that it is the result of experience. Certain combinations of blood seem to agree with each other, and a bitch will sometimes produce finer stock to a quite plain dog than to the best champion that she can be sent to. It is impossible to make beginners realise this, especially as the fact has often been made use of unscrupulously to trick beginners into buying bad dogs on the false representation that they get good stock. Nor will novices believe that the smallest dogs are generally bred from large bitches and more often than not from large sires as well, and they persist in wasting much valuable time in making disheartening attempts to breed from the smallest stock they can procure, and then condemn the breed as delicate.

It is easy enough to breed flat-skulled puppies from small bitches, but you will never breed the proper skulls safely.

The largest dog I ever bred was sired by a dog six and a half pounds in weight and of the smallest strain in England. His dam was the smallest brood bitch I ever saw, and even smaller than the sire.

We used to call two of the puppies the Giant and the Dwarf, as at three months old the dog weighed eight pounds and the bitch one and a quarter pounds.

The average weight of a Blenheim puppy should be from two to three pounds at two months old. If lighter than this they are not likely to grow up strong or healthy.

In judging puppies in the nest, if you want a very short face look carefully to its finish of muzzle, i. e., the lower teeth (or rather gums) should be in front of the upper ones, otherwise the puppy's nose will drop as it grows older and so lengthen out. Puppies "shoot" their noses at about five months old and sometimes later, and the noses go back in some few months more. This is a very anxious moment, as, if the nose has a downward tendency, it will never shorten right up again.

You can always tell a real "flyer" from the very moment of its birth. Its head is perfectly globular, almost like a ball with a face on it, the nose is broad, with a wrinkle over it. Tiptop flyers are unmistakable. The semi-flyers are rather difficult to judge in Blenheims at the moment of birth, but, roughly speaking, the broader the head and the higher the skull, the better the dog will be; and occasionally a seemingly narrow head will come all right if the underjaw is decidedly protruding and the skull rises from the nose at a right angle. If a puppy is not an obvious flyer at four months old it will never be perfect If you are doubtful about a puppy's face at three or four months and think it might be a flyer, and yet are not entirely certain, look at its paws. If it has small, fine feet, it will be all right, but if it has heavy, thick paws it will grow too fast, and its nose will lengthen. I am speaking here of picking out a future champion of the highest class of Toy Spaniels.

Puppies are always born with pink noses, but they turn black gradually, beginning about the fourteenth day. A small, black spot appears on the nose. If this is well in the middle, the nose will be completely black; if at the side it is doubtful. They open their eyes about the ninth day. The eyes are at first clouded and blue, but the cloudiness clears as the puppy advances in age.

The markings of Blenheims when born are so faint as to be hardly visible, but this need cause no more anxiety than the pink nose, as they both darken later on.

A Toy Spaniel does not often sire his best stock till he is about four years old. Toy Spaniels are often extremely difficult to mate, and it is most inadvisable to mate a valuable stud dog with a very small bitch, as, once injured or frightened, he may never be induced to mate again. Keep your own stud dog, or if you send away your bitches, either see the services yourself (two services are customary), or get a friend to do so. In this way much disappointment is avoided, and no breeder of any repute would object to your doing so, as if your bitch then fails to breed you cannot blame the stud dog or suspect its owner of sharp practice. Do not let your bitches get too fat or they may cease breeding, I advise breeding at the first heat, as, if the bitch is immature, she will miss, whereas, if she is strong and forward, she will breed without difficulty.

Toy Spaniels go on breeding very late. Miss Annie Todd had a bitch called Queenie that had her last puppies at the age of twelve, and had litters of three and two puppies the two previous years.

The dogs will go on breeding to any age, and, roughly speaking, the older the dog the better puppies he gets. There are seldom more than three or four puppies in each litter at any age, though I have known a Blenheim rear a litter of nine. This is, however, very inadvisable, as it is far too exhausting, and the rearing of an enormous litter often prevents a bitch from breeding again for a couple of years. I know of a Blenheim bitch who is still alive and well at eighteen, but she has stopped breeding.

For a bitch that is persistently barren I can suggest no better remedies than plenty of exercise and not very rich feeding. In desperate cases where nothing seems of any use breeders can try the old breeding recipe of mating to a thorough cur or a totally different species and of a suitable size. If the bitch breeds to this connection the puppies can easily be got rid of, and the next time the bitch is put to a thoroughbred dog she will almost certainly breed to him all right. The more inbred and highly bred the bitch is, the more likely this is to succeed, the coarser breeding being more prolific than the inbred stock, and once the bitch starts breeding, she will generally continue to do so, the great difficulty being to get her to start. This method was, I believe, first suggested with regard to horses by a Persian writer.

As I shall presently show, I do not consider the question of telegony to be of any practical importance to the breeder.

Among Toy Spaniels there is an enormous percentage of dogs that are incapable of reproducing their species. Buyers should be careful to have nothing to do with those dogs which are entirely imperfect in conformation, but those that are partially imperfect are often the very best stud dogs possible. The most deceiving are those who to all appearance are perfectly formed, but which have an active dislike to any female which is in a condition to breed.

In the case of a perfect dog which, though occasionally keen, fails to mate, it is often the fault of the owner if he cannot be got to succeed, I have bought more than one dog given up as entirely hopeless by its owner and the vets, but which has proved a most valuable sire in my possession.

As to the danger of infection by a previous sire, it is certainly not one that need be taken into consideration by breeders. If it occurs at all (which I am inclined to think does occasionally happen), it happens so seldom that no one has ever been able to collect evidence enough to prove it. In any case, it would only affect isolated individuals, and probably only as to a single character, and, considering the way in which the characters of an actual cross can be eliminated by a knowledge of the principles of breeding, I do not think breeders need trouble themselves about so small a matter as the possible influence of a previous sire on a single puppy.

As to the vexed question of in-breeding, if it is desired to perpetuate and decide a certain characteristic, close in-breeding will secure it, but care should be taken to exercise the greatest moderation and judgment in doing so, for if there is a flaw in the constitution this also will assert itself and become more pronounced with every repetition of the incross. Inflammation of the brain, blindness, and rickets are the commonest results of any abuse of in-breeding. It must be remembered that the Toy Spaniel stock in England is limited, and that it has already been very much in-bred, so that breeders should try and get strong out-crosses rather than in-breed still farther. Owing to the quarantine regulations, no outside stock is likely to come into England. I think it should be made easier for breeders to import prize stock from abroad by allowing the local veterinary surgeons to look after the imported dogs for the regulation period, as many breeders cannot possibly afford the charges made by big veterinaries, and the breed deteriorates for want of fresh blood I entirely approve of quarantine, but I think it should be more rationally managed, so as to avoid injuring the breeds in this naturally restricted island; and the charges made by veterinary surgeons for the detention of dogs in quarantine should be supervised and limited by the Board of Agriculture, which should also carefully avoid creating anything like a monopoly in its choice of places of detention.

It must be remembered that detention for six months at a veterinary surgeon's away from its mistress is certain death for a Toy dog, and tinder some circumstances provision should be made so that ladies with pets should be allowed to keep their own dogs under daily supervision from a vet,, and, if necessary, under lock and key in a cage with a locked run to it. This would be perfectly easy with very small dogs, and perfectly practical. The Government Inspector could transport the dog to its cage himself, and the local veterinary could see it daily.