Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Read a book...




It's September 6 and according to the crazy calendar, today is Read a Book Day.  So I thought we would read one of the old dog books in my human's collection of old dog stuff.  This particular book has a copyright of 1893.  So it's a few years older than my human.  Just a few.

While I don't have the space to read the WHOLE book to you, I thought it would be interesting to look at a few quotes from the book.  For example, here's a quote from the Chapter titled "Animal Foods":

"To a dog that has fallen off in coat and is under weight no better dietetic treatment can be administered than plenty of new milk with one, two or more - according to his size - raw eggs, lightly beaten up in it for breakfast and the same thing at noon in about half the quantity of milk taken in the morning.  And if he is a dainty feeder, when night comes another egg or two can wisely be mixed with his meat."    So this guy REALLY likes eggs for us dogs.  In fact, he REALLY advocated for eggs.  We haven't generally been given lots of eggs - but my human will no doubt study more about it.  I was surprised to see the part about milk.  Guess not as many dogs back then were lactose intolerant.

Another part in this chapter said this:
"The subject of fish is one soon disposed of.  All kinds that have recently been caught and properly cooked can occasionally be used in feeding dogs, but merely to vary the diet, for while nutritious, as usually served they are not very digestible; moreover, dogs seldom show any fondness for this food and generally eat it under protest, as it were."   Clearly he NEVER met a PON.  Because I never met a fish I didn't like!

And in the chapter titled "General Dietary" we have this info if you have a kennel with several large dogs:
...the following may be instituted in cold weather:  Put one pailful of beef trimmings into a kettle and add two and one-half pailfuls of water, a few potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots, parsnips, or the like, not forgetting two or three onions, which in small quantities are appetizing to dogs as well as man.  All this should be seasoned with two good handfuls of salt. And salt, by the way, should always be added to broths, "puddings" and all other kinds of foods which man would wish seasoned were they for him. Now let it simmer for several hours; and when well cooked, crush the vegetables and break up the meat. Assuming there is enough food here for two suppers, on the second day boil up one or two cabbages until they are soft, a pinch of carbonate of soda being added to the water, mince well and add to the food left over the previous day."  In this recipe I was surprised by the addition of onions - although they did say small quantities - because onions can be toxic to dogs.  And the salt?!  Hello high blood pressure.  No wonder none of the dogs who were around when this book was written are not alive today.

And here's some info from the chapter on "Washing and Grooming":
"The general rules are as follows:
Never wash a dog within two or three hours after eating heartily.  The best time is about an hour before feeding, for then if he is depressed by the bath his food will do much to bring on reaction and restore him.
Use lukewarm water as always for with cold water it is scarcely possible to effect cleanliness.
...In case he shivers or seems languid give him a generous quantity of warm milk."  So clearly, just like us PONs, dogs in the olden days didn't necessarily enjoy bath time either.   My human feeds us THROUGHOUT grooming and bathing.  Who wants to wait until the torture is over?!  And here we have MORE milk.  Not sure about this...

And here is a VERY interesting quote in the chapter on "Exhibiting':
"The truth of the familiar and crude apothegm "It costs no more to keep a good dog than a poor one" has evidently found wide acceptance, for mongrels are rapidly disappearing and their places are being filled by purebreds."  Well isn't THAT different from today?!  This was written in the pre-doodle days... Clearly we purebreds have some promotional work to do nowadays....

And now let's take a look at some of the breed photos.  YOU be the judge as to whether these breeds have changed any:

The Great Dane:



The Greyhound:



I THINK this might be the Border Collie:



The pug AND the poodle!:



The Chow-chow (!), the Schipperke, and the Bedlington terrier:

This is obviously a SMALL snippet of info from this book.  Sometimes some of the old advice may be great, but then again, we HAVE learned a thing or two about us canines since then - so we can't JUST go on old info.  Mind you....my human is old and sometimes she DOES have some good ideas.  Or at least we humor her that her ideas are good!

Before I close - thanks for all the congrats on the FG's big win.  I didn't see it on the national news, but I might have missed that segment.  Both he and my human are pretty darn happy.  Well...she is.  He just knows he went to a cool place, met neat people and dogs, and got EXCELLENT treats.

Anyway, have a good one - and go and read a book!  Peace and paws up!!!


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