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In determining the choice of a breed it is to be remembered that some are better watchdogs than others, some more docile, some safer with children. The size of the breed should be relative to the accommodation available.

If only one dog, or two or three of the smaller kinds, be kept, there is no imperative need for an outdoor kennel, although all dogs are the better for life in the open air. The house-dog may be fed with meat-scraps from the kitchen served as an evening meal, with rodnim or a dry biscuit for breakfast.

The duty of feeding him should be in the hands of one person only. When it is everybody's and nobody's duty he is apt to be neglected at one time and overfed at another. Regularity of feeding is one of the secrets of successful dog-keeping.

It ought also to be one person's duty to see that he has frequent access to the yard or garden, that he gets plenty of clean drinking water, plenty of outdoor exercise, and a comfortable bed.

For the toy and delicate breeds it is a good plan to have a dog-room set apart, with a suitable cage or basket-kennel for each dog.

Even delicate Toy dogs, however, ought not to be permanently lodged within doors, and the dog-room is only complete when it has as an annexe a grass plot for playground and free exercise. Next to wholesome and regular food, fresh air and sunshine are the prime necessaries of healthy condition.

Weakness and disease come more frequently from injudicious feeding and housing than from any other cause. Among the free and ownerless pariah dogs of the East disease is almost unknown.

For the kennels of our British-bred dogs, perhaps a southern or a south-western aspect is the best, but wherever it is placed the kennel must be sufficiently sheltered from rain and wind, and it ought to be provided with a covered run in which the inmates may have full liberty. An awning of some kind is necessary.

Trees afford good shelter from the sun-rays, but they harbour moisture, and damp must be avoided at all costs. When only one outdoor dog is kept, a kennel can be improvised out of a packing-case, supported on bricks above the ground, with the entrance properly shielded from the weather.

No dog should be allowed to live in a kennel in which he cannot turn round at full length. Properly constructed, portable, and well-ventilated kennels for single dogs are not expensive and are greatly to be preferred to any amateurish makeshift. A good one for a terrier need not cost more than a pound.

It is usually the single dog that suffers most from imperfect accommodation. His kennel is generally too small to admit of a good bed of straw, and if there is no railed-in run attached he must needs be chained up.

The dog that is kept on the chain becomes dirty in his habits, unhappy, and savage. His chain is often too short and is not provided with swivels to avert kinks. On a sudden alarm, or on the appearance of a trespassing tabby, he will often bound forward at the risk of dislocating his neck.

The yard-dog's chain ought always to be fitted with a stop link spring to counteract the effect of the sudden jerk. The method may be employed with advantage in the garden for several dogs, a separate rope being used for each.

Unfriendly dogs can thus be kept safely apart and still be to some extent at liberty.

There is no obvious advantage in keeping a watch-dog on the chain rather than in an enclosed compound, unless he is expected to go for a possible burglar and attack him.

A wire-netting enclosure can easily be constructed at very little expense. For the more powerful dogs the use of wrought-iron railings is advisable, and these can be procured cheaply from Spratt's or Boulton and Paul's, fitted with gates and with revolving troughs for feeding from the outside.