St. Botolph’s Mistress King
That eminent authority, Sir John Seabright, the originator of the early race of bantams, known as the silver and gold spangled Seabrights, also conducted an exhaustive series of experiments on the inbreeding of dogs and demonstrated to an absolute certainty that the system was productive of weakness, diminished growth, and general weediness. His experiments had a world-wide reputation and the writer, when he first visited his large estates near London, little dreamed that in after years he would personally benefit by Sir John’s work. I believe the prevailing ideas in many quarters a number of years ago, as to the general stupidity of the Boston terrier (and in some isolated cases I believed well founded), arose from the fact that it was popularly believed he was too much inbred. I will give just one case of inbreeding in our kennels, tried for experiment’s sake, as a warning. I took the most rugged bitch I possessed and mated her to her sire, a dog of equal vigor. The result was six puppies, strong, and as handsome as a picture. When two months old they were sold to different parties on the Eastern seaboard, from Philadelphia up to the Canadian line. This was before the West had “caught on” to the breed. About two months later I had a letter from New York stating that the pup was growing finely, but that he seemed to be hard of hearing. A few days after this I received another epistle from Salem that the puppy I had sent on was believed to be stone deaf. It would be superfluous to add that the purchase money was returned, and the other four customers were notified of the condition of the others. It may seem somewhat incredible, but two out of the four stated that they believed the pups had defective hearing, and declined to receive their money back, and the other two stated that before my notification they had never observed that their dogs were deaf. Here was a case of the entire litter being perfect practically in every other respect, and yet every one stone deaf, and in my estimation not worth a sou. As we have never had a case of deafness in our kennels before or since, we attribute this solely to inbreeding.
Another important feature, little understood, and frequently much dreaded, is that of Antecedent Impressions. When a bitch has been served by a dog not of her own breed it has been proven in extremely rare cases that the subsequent litters by dogs of her own kind, showed traces (or, at least, one or more of the litter did) of the dog she was first lined by. The theory by physiologists is that the life-giving germ, implanted by the first dog, penetrates the serous coat of the ovary, burrows into its parenchyma, and seeks out immature ova, not to be ripened and discharged perhaps for years, and to produce the modifying influence described. Many breeders are unwise enough to believe that a bitch the victim of misalliance is practically ruined for breeding purposes and discard her. While, of course, we believe in the fact of Antecedent Impressions, we think they are as rare as the proverbial visit of angels. We have given this subject serious attention and have tried numerous experiments, using various dogs to ward our bitches, including a pug, spaniel, wire-haired fox terrier, pointer, and perhaps one other, and we have never seen a trace of these matings in subsequent litters. One case, for example: In another part of this book we allude to a dog spoken of by Dr. Mott, in his “Treatise of the Boston Terrier,” named “Muggy Dee.” The grandmother of this charming little dog was bred in our kennels, by name, “St. Botolph’s Bessie.” We sold her to a Boston banker, and she matured into a beautiful dog. Upon coming in season she was unfortunately warded by a spaniel on the estate, which so disgusted her owner that he gave her to the coachman. She proved a perfect gold mine to him, as she raised two litters of elegant ideal Bostons every twelve months for a great number of years, and never at any time showed any result of the misalliance.
On the subject of Mental Impressions we need say but little, as the chances of it ever taking place are so small that we merely give it a passing notice and say that in all our experience we have never been troubled with a case. For the benefit of the uninitiated will briefly state that this consists of the mental impression made on the mind of a bitch by a dog with whom she has been denied sexual intercourse, affecting the progeny resulting from the union of another dog with the bitch, generally in regard to the color, and this strange phenomena, when it does occur, is apt to mark usually one puppy of each litter.
A fact not generally known by breeders is that if a bitch is lined by a second dog at any time during heat, the chances are that a second conception may take place, resulting in two distinct sets of pups, half-sister or brother to each other. This fact we have proven.
There is one other important feature which must be noticed before this chapter is closed, and that is Predetermining the Sex. Most breeders, of course, are anxious to have male pups predominate in a litter, and it is a demonstrated fact that ordinary mating produces from four to ten per cent more males than females. For a number of years I had always believed it was impossible to breed so as to attain more than the excess of males above noted, but several years ago I accepted an invitation from Mr. Burnett, of Deerfoot Farm, of Southboro (the owner of Kate or Gyp, the mother of the breed), to spend the day. He was, as will be recalled, one of the earliest and most enthusiastic breeders of the Boston, and is now a scientific breeder of choice dairy stock. We had been discussing a number of problems in regard to raising stock, when he exclaimed: “Mr. Axtell, I believe I have discovered the problem of sex breeding. If I want heifer calves, I breed the cow as soon as she comes in season. If a bull calf is wanted, the cow is served just before going out of season.” And said he, “In nineteen experiments I have only been unsuccessful once, and I think you might try the same plan with your Bostons.” I have since done so, and although not nearly the same measure of success has attended my experiments as his, yet by breeding bitches at the close of the heat rather than at its commencement, the number of males in a litter has materially increased. Again, I find if a young, vigorous dog is bred to a similar bitch, females will predominate in the offspring, whereas, if the same bitch is bred to a much older dog, an excess of males will generally occur. Occasionally some dogs will be met with that no matter what mated with, will produce largely males, and some the opposite of this will nearly always produce females, and some bitches, no matter how bred, do likewise, but these are exceptions, and not the rule. A kennel man need never worry about sex, inasmuch as good dogs of either gender will always be in demand.
The law of Selection must be carefully attended to to insure the best results. Choose your best and most typical bitches for breeding, especially those that approximate rather to the bull type and are rather long in body and not too narrow in their hind quarters. I do not care if the dam has a somewhat longer tail than the dog, my experience has been that a bitch possessing a tight screw tail did not do quite as well in whelping as one having one a little longer. Do not consider this as suggesting that the tail is a matter of secondary importance, by no means, it is of primal import, and too much attention can never be given to the production of this distinguishing mark of the dog. A Boston without a good tail is almost as worthless as a check without a signature.
Be sure at the time of breeding the bitch is free from worms. A great many are troubled whose owners are totally ignorant of the fact, and this frequently accounts for non-success. Always remember that worms thrive the most when the alimentary canal is kept loaded with indigestible or half-digested food, and that liquid foods are favorable to these pests, while solids tend to expel them. Freshly powdered areca nut, in teaspoonful doses, and the same quantity of a mixture of oil of male fern and olive oil, three parts oil and one part male fern oil, I find are both excellent vermifuges to give to matured dogs. Give a dose and two days after repeat, and this, I think, will be found generally effectual.
Do not, on any account, allow the breeding stock to become too fat. Proper feeding and exercise, of course, will prevent this. It will be found if this is not attended to that the organs of generation have lost their functional activity, and if pups are produced, are, as a rule, small and lack vigor. My experience with Bostons is that it is very desirable to breed them as often as they come in season; if allowed to go by it will be found increasingly harder to get them in whelp. I think a stud dog, to last for a reasonable number of years, should not be used more frequently than once a week. I have found it pays best to give the bitch in whelp a generous feed of raw meat daily. It often effectually prevents the puppy-eating habit.