The popularity of the dog as a companion, as a guardian of property,
as an assistant in the pursuit of game, and as the object of a
pleasurable hobby, has never been so great as it is at the present
time. More dogs are kept in this country than ever there formerly
were, and they are more skilfully bred, more tenderly treated, and
cared for with a more solicitous pride than was the case a generation
ago. There are fewer mongrels in our midst, and the family dog has
become a respectable member of society. Two million dog licences were
taken out in the British Isles in the course of 1909. In that year,
too, as many as 906 separate dog shows were sanctioned by the Kennel
Club and held in various parts of the United Kingdom. At the present
time there exist no fewer than 156 specialist clubs established for
the purpose of watching over the interests of the different breeds.

Recognising this advance in our national love of dogs and the growing
demand for information on their distinguishing characteristics, I
am persuaded that there is ample room for a concise and practical
handbook on matters canine. In preparing the present volume, I have
drawn abundantly upon the contents of my larger and more expensive
_New Book of The Dog_, and I desire to acknowledge my obligations
to the eminent experts who assisted me in the production of the
earlier work and whose contributions I have further utilised in these
pages. I am indebted to Mr. W. J. Stubbs for his clear exposition
of the points of the Bulldog, to Colonel Claude Cane for his
description of the Sporting Spaniels, to Lady Algernon Gordon Lennox
for her authoritative paragraphs on the Pekinese, to Mr. Desmond
O'Connell for his history of the Fox-terrier, and to Mr. Walter S.
Glynn, Mr. Fred Gresham, Major J. H. Bailey, Mr. E. B. Joachim and
other specialists whose aid I have enlisted.