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