Thus brought into intimate connexion with the human race

Thus brought into intimate connexion with the human race

Thus brought into intimate connexion with the human race

Thus brought into intimate connexion with the human race, and continually subject to observation, it is not a little strange that the dog should be universally misunderstood. There is no quadruped which is more abused; whether treated kindly or otherwise, the dog is equally made to suffer; and probably the consequences of over indulgence are more cruel in their result than is the opposite course of treatment. The health of the beast is perhaps best preserved when neglect deprives it of man's attention; then it may suffer from want, but it escapes many of the diseases which caprice or ignorance entail upon the generality of the tribe. There exists no creature more liable to disorder, and in which disease is prone to assume a more virulent or a more complicated form. To minister to its afflictions, therefore, demands no inconsiderable skill; and it becomes the more difficult to alleviate them, since canine pathology is not fully comprehended, nor the action of the various medicines upon the poor beast clearly understood; yet there are few persons who in their own estimation are not able to vanquish the many diseases to which the dog is liable. About every stable are to be met crowds of uneducated loiterers, possessors of recipes and owners of specifics, eager to advise and confident of success. I seldom send a diseased dog into the park for exercise, that my servant does not return to me with messages which strangers have volunteered how to cure the animal. I hear of medicines that never fail, and of processes that always afford relief. Persons often of the upper rank honor me with secret communications which in their opinion are of inestimable value; ladies frequently entreat me to try particular nostrums, and sportsmen not seldom command me to do things which I am obliged to decline. In fact, the man who shall attempt to treat the diseases of the dog, will have no little annoyance to surmount. He will soon discover that science unfortunately can afford him but partial help, while prejudice on every side increases the difficulties with which he will have to contend.