The Boston Terrier and All About It | Page 8

Ears 5 Neck 5 Body 10 Legs and Feet 10 Tail 10 Color and Coat 10 Symmetry 10 --- Total 100
CHAPTER III.
KENNELING
It goes without saying that any place is not good enough for a dog, although when one considers the way some dogs are housed in small, dark outbuildings, or damp, ill-lighted and poorly ventilated cellars, or even perhaps worse, in old barrels or discarded drygoods boxes in some out-of-the-way corner, it is not surprising the quality of the puppies raised in them.
A great many people who only keep one or two dogs keep them in the kitchen or living room, and here, of course, conditions are all right, but the fancier who keeps any considerable number will find that it pays to house his dogs in a comfortable, roomy, dry building, free from draughts, on high lands (with a gravel foundation, if possible), that can be flooded with sunshine and fresh air. Such a kennel can be simple or elaborate in construction, severely plain or ornamental in its architecture, but it must possess the above characteristics in order to have its occupants kept in the pink of condition. Where half a dozen dogs are kept, I think a kennel about 20 feet long, nine feet wide, with a pitched roof, nine feet high in the front, and at the back seven feet, with a southern exposure, with good windows that open top and bottom, and a good tight board floor will do admirably. This can, of course, be partitioned off in pens to suit, with convenient runs outside wired at the top to prevent dogs jumping over. The building should, of course, be well constructed, covered with good sheathing paper, and either clapboarded or shingled. Such a building should be cool in summer and warm in winter, and thoroughly weather proof. If provided with a good "Eureka ventilator" and well painted, the dogs and their owner will be satisfied. Where a much larger number of dogs are kept, then a corresponding amount of floor space is a necessity. I rather like the style of a kennel, say from fifty to a hundred feet long, twelve to fifteen feet wide, with an open compartment or shed, about twelve feet long (in which the dogs can take a sun bath or get the air if the weather is not favorable to go outside. This also makes an ideal feeding pen), in the middle of the house, without outside runs to each pen, and each run opening into a large exercising yard, so that all the dogs may have a good frolic together, of course, under the watchful eye of the kennel man.
The large breeders will also require a separate building at some distance from the main kennels for use as a hospital, a small kennel for his bitches in season, and some small, portable kennels which can be placed under adequate shade trees for his litters of puppies during the hot weather. It would be an excellent plan if good shade trees could be planted to cover all the runs, but if this is not possible, then it is advisable to have at the rear of the kennels a clear space covered over with a roof, say ten or twelve feet wide, for the dogs to have free access to during the heat of the day.
Perhaps a description of our own kennels, entirely different in construction from these, and costing more to build, may be of interest here. We have two buildings, seventy-five feet apart, built exactly like a house, with two stories and a high basement or cellar, twenty-five feet wide and thirty feet long. One of these houses is lined with matched paneling and divided off on each floor into separate compartments; the other is only boarded, one thickness of good paper and clapboarded and, of course, not nearly as warm. This second building has no pens in it. The basement has a stone wall at the back, but on the east, south and west sides is boarded to the ground, and has a dry gravel floor. These buildings are well supplied with windows (the same as a house), and get the sun all day. In these buildings we have no artificial heat whatever, and all stock, except small puppies, are kept there. Our pups in the winter have warm quarters until they are four months old, when they are placed in the south side of the warmer kennels. All puppies are kept in the cool basement in the hot weather, and during the summer our bitches in whelp are kept there also. We have not any separate runs attached to these buildings, which entails a much closer watch on the dogs, of course, but each building opens into a very large enclosure with abundant shade trees, and the