away from infected stock will be exempt.  Well do I remember my first dose of it.  I had loaned a friend of mine a young dog raised by him to show, as he was trying for a prize for Druid Merk as a stud dog.  The dog in question, Merk Jr., came back from the show rather depressed, and in a few days I had my entire kennel down with the disease.  It was in the spring of the year, cold and damp, and I succeeded in saving just one of the young dogs and Merk Jr.  After a thorough fumigation with a great quantity of sulphur I managed to get the kennels disinfected, and did not have an outbreak again for several years.  A bitch sent to be bred where a case of distemper existed, unknown to me, of course, brought it to my place again, and I had the same unfortunate experience over again; fortunately this time it was in the early fall, and weather conditions being auspicious, we lost only about twenty-five per cent. of young stock.  By extreme vigilance, in knowing the conditions of the kennels where bitches were sent for service, we succeeded in escaping an attack for several years, when an old bitch that had had distemper several years previously, brought back the germs in her coat from a kennel where two young dogs, just home from the Boston show, were sick with the disease.  This was in the spring, the weather was wet and cold, and a loss of practically fifty per cent. ensued.

One very interesting and peculiar feature of the last attack was, that half the dogs sick were given the best medical treatment possible, with a loss of one-half; the other half were not given any medicine whatever, and the same proportion died.  Of course, all had the best of care, nursing, and strict attention to diet paid.

I was very much gratified to observe that in these three attacks we have never had a dog that had a recurrence of the disease, and what is of far greater importance, have never had any after ill effect (with one solitary exception, when a bitch was left with a slight twitching of one leg) in the shape of the number of ailments that frequently follow, and in all cases after the disease had run its course the dogs seemed in a short time as vigorous as ever.  This we attribute solely to the strong, vigorous constitutions the dogs possessed.  A breeder who raises many dogs will have a very difficult feat to accomplish if he aspires to enter the show ring also.  In our case we were convinced at the start that these two would not go together.  When one considers that dogs returning from shows frequently carry the germs in their coats, and even the crates become affected, and while not suffering from the disease themselves, will readily convey it to the occupants of the kennel they come in contact with, also that the kennel man (unless a separate man has charge of infected stock exclusively) can readily carry the germs on his hands, person and clothing, it will instantly be perceived what a risk attends the combined breeding and showing.  I think it pays best in the long run to keep these two branches of the business separate.  The temptation to exhibit will be very strong, but before doing so, count the cost, especially if much valuable young stock is in the kennels.