CHAPTER III
THE CARE OF A TERRIER
One of the most noted veterinarians in New York once said to me that, if it were not for too much or too little attention, he doubted if he should ever be called upon to treat a dog. He explained his meaning by adding that the toy dogs are generally killed by kindness and most terriers die of neglect. If this is true, and this doctor has a canine practice that keeps him busy from morning till night, there must be something radically wrong with the care of most dogs.
The terriers—for the evils of a candy diet and a life spent on silken pillows do not need to be even mentioned here—the terriers can, it is perfectly true, get along with less attention than most breeds of dogs, for they all have wonderful constitutions. Does that, however, give the terrier owner a free right and license to neglect his dogs?
It is almost a joke to keep such a naturally healthy dog as a terrier in the pink of condition. All he needs is dry, clean kennels, with decent bedding; good, nourishing food at regular hours; all the fresh water he wants to drink; plenty of exercise, and a little grooming. Given these few things and a terrier will be "disgustingly well," full of high spirits, and happy as a clam at high tide. It is really so easy to keep a terrier "fit," and it means so much to the dog and his owner, whether he be a dog owner for pleasure or profit, that it is nothing less than criminal not to do so.
Kennels, bedding, food and feeding, water, exercise, and grooming—these are the things which given proper attention mean a healthy and happy dog. Let us take them up, one at a time, for it is as often ignorance as thoughtlessness that causes the trouble.
The question as to the kind of a kennel is bound to have a variety of different answers according to whether one lives in the city or the country, in the North or the South, and whether one is to keep one dog or fifty. There are, however, certain fundamental considerations that apply to any home for dogs.
In the first place, all terriers, especially those wearing those wonderful, double, weather-proof garments we call "wire coats," are best off living the simple life out of doors. This is true in any climate. I used to have all sorts of troubles with the skins and coats of my wire terriers till I just turned them out, providing them with dry, draft-proof, but unheated shelters in which to sleep and where they could escape very bad weather.
My own experience has proved to me that wire coated terriers are worlds better off for being out every day and night in the year. Even in the severest weather they do not need artificial heat, if they have a perfectly dry, draftless, well bedded place to sleep in and to serve as a shelter on very wet, stormy days. A decent kennel for any dog from a St. Bernard to a Pomeranian is dry and draft-proof, and so the terrier owner can eliminate the question of artificial heating.
The man who lives in the city should try to keep his dog out in the yard as much as possible, and, if at all feasible, let him sleep there. Dogs have an inborn instinct to "bay the moon" and terriers are supposed to be great talkers. Moreover, city backyards, since the days when town residences were hollow stone piles lined with hides to keep the wind out, have always been a favorite rendezvous for Thomas Catt, Esq., and Mistress Tabby, meetings just as hard on the nerves of a self respecting terrier as they are on those of his sleepy master. The trouble is that, while master becomes a public benefactor by hurling his shaving mug out the window, the efforts of his dog to drive away the disturbers are regarded by the unsympathetic neighbors as quite as bad as the feline serenades and battle cries. No dog will bark at night if he is in a dark, quiet place, and the terrier in the backyard will sleep like a baby if he is shut up in a box covered with burlap.
The ideal terrier kennel is an oil barrel. These cannot always be obtained, but any barrel or keg intended to hold liquids, and so made water tight, will answer. A hole, just large enough to let the dog in and out, should be cut in one end. Then the inside may be painted with kerosene and a lighted paper dropped in. This cleans the barrel and destroys any insects, and is an excellent thing to do every month or so.