While fractures are not of frequent occurrence in well-ordered kennels, they belong to that category of accidents against which there is sometimes no safeguard. A sudden twist, stopping in some hidden cavity while galloping over a field, jumping a fence, or from a carriage (one of the cleanest breaks of a hind leg occurred to a foxterrier bitch of ours while jumping off the carriage seat and catching her hind leg in the wire rail guard at the end of the seat), so one never knows when such accidents will happen. Simple fractures are so termed when a bone is broken into two pieces only; where a bone is broken into several pieces it is termed comminuted, and when the ends of the broken bone pierce the skin it is a compound fracture, which is the worst of all in the piecing. To detect a simple fracture is not always easy, though of course the other two conditions are more or less self-evident. In the case of a simple fracture, the limb should be taken hold of above the bruise or injury with one hand and with the other gently move the lower portion of the limb. If the bone or bones are fractured a grating noise will be heard and the jar of the broken bone can be felt.

In treating this condition great care must be exercised in bringing the broken ends together, and it is best that the services of a surgeon be procured. In case that is not available, or a home cure is decided upon, the ends of the fractured bones should be brought opposite each other, and then splints, well secured by bandages, must be applied to keep them in their places until the two ends are joined. This is generally from three to four weeks in the case of a puppy, and from a month to six weeks in a matured dog. If the case is not attended to immediately after the accident the parts swell, and this swelling has to be reduced before any attempt can be made to set the bones, and cold water or ice applied to the swelling will easily reduce it. Before applying the splints it is necessary to wind a bandage around the limb two or three times from the bottom to the top, as this has the effect of preventing the splints from causing unnecessary irritation. The splints, which are best made of wood of about one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness, of sufficient length to extend over the whole straight surface of the limb, should be four in number, viz., one for the front of the leg, one for the back and one for either side of it, and they should be just wide enough to cover the part of the leg on Which they are placed. Before applying them, the inside of each should be smeared with hot pitch, cobbler's wax or some such substance, so that they will adhere to the bandage and not slip, and then another bandage, which should be of considerable length (about six yards long) and one inch and a half to two inches wide, and which has been previously soaked in a thick solution of gum or common starch, should be wound round the limb from bottom to top. The object of the starch or gum solution is to give additional support, which it does when it gets stiff and hardens. After the operation the dog should be put into a quiet place - a large hamper or crate does very well - so that he can rest and not move about; but it often happens that the next day the part of the limb below the bandage is found to be swollen; if so the latter should be loosened for a short time, but it must be tightened again when the swelling subsides.

The above treatment is of course only advised in the case of simple fractures where an amateur may indulge his surgical skill.