In selecting a dog for a pet, the erroneous idea seems to prevail to a great extent of always getting a male. Here is where you often make a mistake, for if you have only one dog, a female is preferable in many respects. In the first place, a female is more affectionate, or shows it more than a male, is cleaner about the house, more obedient, and less liable to run away. The objection to a female seems to be that she will come in season; so she will, but this only happens once in every five to seven months, and then till again in season you have no trouble. A male dog is always "in season," and should there be a female that is in season, even a mile away, he will find it out, and, unless chained up, or gates of your yard watched very closely, your dog is gone, and then you find out what he discovered long before you did. Perhaps he'll find his way home again, but the chances are much against it, and you'll now have the chance to offer a reward for the return of your dog.

Perhaps you'll get him back, and perhaps you won't. If, when your female comes in season, you don't care to have her around, you send her to some kennel to board for a couple of weeks (as many do with me), and thus save yourself, for a trifling cost all this annoyance. There must be females or there wouldn't be any dogs at all. When a female first shows signs, if you will make note of the first day, you'll discover a bleeding, which will continue for from eight to ten days, a swelling of the vagina with it. This bleeding and swelling will begin to subside at from ten to twelve days, and then is when she is ready for breeding. You can't watch her too closely, for they are very cute and cunning, at such times, and will often fool you by slipping out, and then when ready, the first dog they meet is the favored one. Such mistakes as this, due to carelessness, is what produces so many curs that we see on the streets of every town or city. While I love any dog, yet I love best a thoroughbred. The cur may be as smart and as true and faithful as the pure bred one, but there should be no curs, and would not be if people were more careful at such times.

In case your female should get out, and served by some dog on the streets, and you desire to get rid of the puppies, do so as soon as they are born. Drowning is then the best way to do it. Take one pup at a time and hold it in a pail of water till dead, or, you can put the whole litter in a pail of water, putting a weight or stone on top of a cover that will hold it down to the water. To guard against danger of a caked breast in the mother, it may be advisable to allow one pup to live and nurse for a week; harder on the pup to be then drowned, however.

Another instant death is a teaspoonful of Scheeie's Prussic Acid for matured dogs. In giving it hold mouth open and upwards, pouring the li-puid well back on the tongue. Great care is necessary in handling such a potent drug, as it would be dangerous to human life if spilled over a cut or wound.