A Manual of Toy Dogs Part 4

Want of exercise is a frequent producer of skin disease. Dogs not sufficiently exercised, or kept much shut up in hot rooms, have inactive livers, whence all kinds of evils.

I have never seen but one case of "hide-bound" in a house-dog, and that not in a toy. The skin was thickened and hard. Although the complaint is an interesting one from its rarity, that same fortunate quality renders it unnecessary for me to enter into the question--a veterinary surgeon must undertake such a case.

=The Ears.=--The ears in toy dogs are often the seat of a slight congestion which has no particular cause, but is more common in some individuals than others, and generally occurs at intervals in those subjects which have once had it. If taken early, the cure of an attack is very simple; but if neglected, the congested state may increase and culminate in inflammation of the middle ear, ot.i.tis, and the bugbear "canker," of which we hear so much, and which is really extremely rare.

There are many stages of the trouble, from the slightly hot and red external ear, which causes the dog to put two claws in the pa.s.sage and try to scratch it, and sometimes succeed in making a sore place thereby, through the phases of rubbing the side of the head on the carpet or ground, groaning and shaking the head violently, and other manifestations of pain, up to the existence of real canker, when there is much soreness and redness externally, with swelling of the meatus, or pa.s.sage, a profuse and very dark brown discharge, and a very disagreeable odour.

There is always a slight characteristic smell about a "bad ear," which any experienced person can recognise in an instant, often before any other sign of trouble is seen. Some dogs--most, in fact--need watching in this respect. The moment the toy is seen to be a little one-sided as to head, or evinces any disposition to scratch his ear, a small lump of boric ointment should be put in the meatus, pushed in with the little finger, and worked about until it melts down into the pa.s.sage and convolutions. Next day the ear may be cleaned out with the tip of the little finger covered with a very soft handkerchief, and the ointment again used, and this, in slight cases, will effect a cure. Never attempt to put any hard instrument, or, indeed, any instrument at all, other than the soft suppleness of a feeling finger, into a dog's ear.

If the trouble has gone on a good while, and there is much brown discharge, it will be necessary to use a lotion. First of all use the ointment, as described, and clear away as much of the softened discharge as possible by this means, being, of course, exceedingly gentle in your manipulation, for these, at best, are very tender parts. Then take the following lotion: Warm water, 1/2 pt.; Goulard's extract of lead, 1 tablespoonful; powdered boracic acid, 1/2 dr. The boracic powder to be added to the water first, and the Goulard after, and the whole on no account to be used otherwise than nicely warm, or it will cause pain.

The bottle can, of course, be filled at once, and a little of the contents warmed for use as needed. Lay the patient down on the sound side, with the bad ear uppermost, and get someone to hold him firmly.

Then gently pour about half to one teaspoonful of the warm lotion into the ear, and work it about from outside. Keep him lying still for three or five minutes, then let him go, and fly! For he will shake the superfluous lotion all over you if you are not cautious. A great deal of remonstrant ploughing about generally follows, but the application does not really cause any pain, and will soon cure if persevered with--twice a day for a week or so. Such frightful and almost, if not quite, incurable cases as one sometimes meets with in sporting dogs, where the ears have become thoroughly diseased from, in the first place, getting wet and dirty, and being subsequently neglected, are, I rejoice to say, unknown among well-cared-for toys.

People are sometimes alarmed because their puppies' ears do not stand erect when they should, or are pointing in all directions but the right when they should drop. This is a common thing enough during teething, and will generally come quite right later on. If it does not, no active remedy--by operation--is permissible if the dog is to be shown, but a good deal can be done by oiling the ears and manipulating them constantly in the desired direction by ma.s.sage, while, in the case of youngish puppies, two or three thicknesses of horses' leg bandage plaster, cut to fit the inside and point of the ear, will either, if stuck in by warming it, help the ear to drop or to stand up, as is desired. This is a legitimate "fake," I may remark. But, of course, the process must not be used with any idea of deception, though it is allowable to aid Nature in the way she should go.

=The Eyes.=--The eye of the dog is an even more delicate structure than the ear, and only skilled surgical aid should approach it in any but the simplest ailments. Of these are the simple catarrhal ophthalmia, the symptoms of which are redness of the lining membrane of the lids, and a greenish discharge, turning brown and dry later, which comes from cold and weakness of const.i.tution. The victim of this must be kept in an even temperature, be not allowed to lie by the fire, or look into it, or to go out of doors in wind, hot sunshine, or cold, and be well fed with good nourishing meat and light, digestible food. The discharge should be wiped away from the eyes at morning and evening with a bit of sponge dipped in a warm boracic lotion which any chemist will supply of the proper strength; and immediately afterwards a little bit of yellow oxide of mercury ointment, about as large as a small split pea, should be gently introduced under the lid of the affected eye with a camel's hair brush. Do not, on any account, accept "golden ointment," if the chemist happens to offer you this old-fashioned remedy (I believe) for styes! It is made of the _red_ oxide of mercury, and is a very great deal stronger than the yellow oxide of mercury ointment, which, by the way, should be made in the strength of 2 grs. to the ounce. This latter ointment may also be used where, after distemper, a bluish film lingers in the eye.

Amaurosis is not uncommon in the dog. The eyes look perfectly right, but the dog is blind. This may be an hereditary condition, but sometimes comes in as a result of weakness pure and simple. Iron tonics, cod liver oil, nux vomica, etc., may be given, and sometimes prove effectual. Good living is essential. These cases are occasionally cured rather suddenly, but as a rule are incurable.

Simple cold in the eyes--or more often, only in one--is a very ordinary ailment, but distressing both to sufferer and owner. The affected eye waters more or less profusely, and is kept partly closed. Within, there is the same appearance as in catarrhal ophthalmia, but in a less degree, and there may be fever and const.i.tutional disturbance, in which case the patient must be treated for a coryza, or "common cold." A boracic and poppy-head lotion is the quickest cure for cold in the eyes, and is also useful in the ophthalmic condition. It soothes the pain greatly, and is best applied by means of a small all-indiarubber ball syringe. On no account must a syringe with a bone or gla.s.s or vulcanite point be used: the indiarubber nozzle is soft, and from it one or two drops can easily be inserted between the eyelids. The amount of resistance the patient makes will be proportionate to the severity of the inflammation, and as this lessens he will endure the operation with serenity. To make the lotion at home, buy a poppy-head, price about a halfpenny, from any chemist, and boil it for an hour or longer in half a pint of water, adding to this as it evaporates. When the water is sherry-coloured, dissolve 10 grs. of boracic acid powder in each fluid ounce, allow to cool, and use as frequently as convenient--once every hour, while the congestion of the lining membrane of the eyelids is active.

=Sore Feet.=--Eczema, or little boils between the toes and round the dew-claw on the front legs, is a trouble which besets some dogs.

Const.i.tutional treatment, as laid down for eczema, is needful, and as the dog will invariably worry the sores incessantly by licking, they should be dusted with zinc or ichthyol powder, and then bandaged or socked. If a dog is constantly licking its dew-claw, look at it to make sure it is not growing in. In this case it needs to be cut rather short, preferably by a veterinary surgeon, and the sore dressed. Dew-claws on the hind legs should always be removed by a veterinary surgeon in puppy-hood.

=Colds and Coughs.=--Colds, or coryza, beset dogs as they do humans, but in lesser degree. A chest cold needs a flannel cross-over, sometimes a hot linseed poultice (in treating dogs it is much better to use, if possible, some dry poultice which will not leave the dog sopping after it is removed), or a mustard-leaf. Rubbing with white vaseline oil and ten drops of turpentine to each ounce, if vigorously done, is as good for colds as for rheumatism. Everyone knows what a cold is, and the toy dog's cold should be treated like one's own. The clinical thermometer should be used, and if the temperature exceeds 100, a pill of 5 grs. of nitrate of potash should be given every four hours until it is normal again, or, if it cannot be got down thus, give 1/2 gr. of sulphate of quinine and 1 gr. of phenacetin, using the tabloids, and dividing them as desired. The strength must be well kept up. _Coughs_--the dog's hollow, deep-drawn brand--are a sore trial to the hearer. They sound terrible, but are seldom of much moment. If from cold, put a little vaseline or glycerine on the nose three or four times a day. It will be licked off, and give relief, while some dogs will eat glycerine lozenges if not flavoured with lemon. Vaseline, again, is an excellent thing for bronchial wheezing, such as pugs are especially subject to, and will always be taken if put on the nose. Cream also is soothing, and where is the dog that does not like it?

=Chest Diseases.=--The worst-sounding coughs are often the least important, and may pa.s.s off in a few days without treatment, but a bronchial rattling in the throat calls for care. Bronchitis in toy dogs must be treated exactly as in children, and, needless to say, the dog must not go out until the acute stage is pa.s.sed. Most clean dogs will go to a box of earth in a cellar. A bronchitis kettle must be kept going in the room, and the patient will need an invalidish diet and much petting and amus.e.m.e.nt to carry him through the dull hours of discomfort. Dogs have congestion of the lungs, pleurisy, pneumonia, just as people do, and need the same careful nursing. Medicine in such cases is usually unnecessary, because it worries the patient and can do little good. A mild fever mixture may be prescribed by the vet, who should always be called in the moment the breathing goes wrong. Dulness, la.s.situde, shivering, and a high temperature--the clinical thermometer is of all things needed here--with troubled breathing, are symptoms of the highest importance, and skilled aid should be immediately called to them. The amateur cannot diagnose these lung and chest troubles.

=Stomach Coughs.=--Very dreadful coughs are sometimes heard proceeding entirely from the stomach. For these a little course of indigestion treatment often does wonders. Or, again, coughing _may_ be caused by a fish-bone or something similar in the throat, though this is the rarest of all causes in the dog, owing to his possessing a most tremendous gullet, quite out of proportion to his size.

=Shivering.=--Shivering is a bad trick some dogs acquire, and others have by nature. It generally, if unaccompanied by a high temperature, means nothing whatever, unless it be nerves. But, short of the Weir Mitch.e.l.l treatment, I imagine nothing benefits these latter more than a mild scolding, with admonitions "not to be so silly."

=Hysteria.=--There are, most certainly, hysterical dogs, and their temperament is that of the habitual shiverer, though very thin-skinned toys sometimes really shiver from cold. A hysterical dog will bark itself quite out of breath at the least disturbance, and shriek exactly like its prototype human. Nature cannot be changed, but a tonic sometimes does good. Excitability and nervousness are characteristic of some breeds. Poms are, perhaps, the most excitable of small dogs, and pugs certainly the least so.

=Obesity.=--Extreme fatness may be a disease in the dog as in the human being, and in this case it is cruel to accuse the poor creature of systematic over-eating, as it is everyone's impulse to do. The bromides and iodides are useful, but cannot be prescribed haphazard. Thyroid gland tabloids may also be tried, beginning with one once a day, and gradually creeping up to three a day, according to the dog's size. Their effect on the digestion is not always happy, so that the dog must be watched to a.s.sure the owner of its toleration of them.

=Poison.=--Not an ailment, but a subject which needs a few words, is the taking of poison by toy dogs. Unluckily, there is always risk in a town, not only of the wilful poisoner, who apparently exists, but of the ingestion of poisoned meat or bread and b.u.t.ter put for rats or beetles, and afterwards thrown out. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred a poisoned dog has had strychnine, this being the favourite drug of all those who employ poison at all. a.r.s.enic is too slow, and of other poisons, thank Providence! the vulgar have mostly no knowledge. The symptoms of strychnine poisoning are, firstly, excitement--the patient runs about, and barks with a peculiar strident shriek. According to the quant.i.ty of the poison taken and the quant.i.ty of food in the stomach at the time, this stage occupies a longer or shorter period. Taken shortly after a good meal, the poison seems less rapid in action than when the stomach is empty. Presently come convulsions, and constant shrieking; then the limbs stick out and are perfectly stiff and rigid. Even at this stage the dog can often be saved if means are at hand. Never be without a bottle of syrup of chloral in the house; it will keep indefinitely.

First make the dog sick. Use sulphate of zinc in water, or weak mustard and warm water, and give plenty of this latter. The best way is by putting it in a phial, and running it down the throat by way of a pouch of lower lip drawn out from the teeth at the angle of the mouth. As soon as the patient has been sick, give a teaspoonful of the syrup of chloral in water. This is the antidote to strychnine. If you cannot wait to make the patient sick, give the chloral at once--but give it: and the dose may be repeated every two hours until the convulsions cease. For a tiny pup or dog under 5 lbs. the dose may be halved. Recovery from strychnine is very rapid, and it leaves, as a rule, no ill effects, though there is a widespread belief, and a mistaken one, that it subsequently affects the kidneys.

All the other kinds of poison dogs are likely to get or be given work as irritants, and these need veterinary diagnosis. Salt, I may here remark, is so violent and irritating a purgative to the dog that it is next door to a poison, and the effects of castor oil in his intestine are not so very far behind. Constant drugging is a thing as much to be avoided in dogs as in their owners, and I cannot too strongly deprecate the foolish practice--foolish or worse--of giving doses of castor oil after shows, or as so-called prophylactics--preventives of illness. If a dog has been much confined at a show, and is likely to be irregular in consequence, a little pure olive oil with his dinner (not the nut oil often sold by grocers as olive oil) will do no harm, although a dinner of oatmeal gruel or boiled sheep's liver would be much more sensible and act better; if he seems well and lively, leave him alone. Some people actually go the length of dosing their puppies with castor oil at intervals, for no reason that I can ascertain beyond a vague idea that it "clears the system." So it does--of strength and the healthy mucoid secretion of the intestine, without which natural functions cannot be properly performed. Syrup of buck-thorn, or cascara sagrada, is another medicine that should never be given to small dogs: it is far too irritating and severe. When we have such excellent aperients as olive oil, magnesia, and rhubarb among drugs, and boiled sheep's liver among meats, we want no semi-poisonous irritant and violent drugs like castor oil, which, in the end, produce the very condition they were supposed to cure, and by pulling down the system, open the door to illness.

=Fits.=--Of these, epileptic fits are the most dangerous and by far the least common. A dog suffering from epilepsy which is thoroughly established, is practically incurable, in the present state of canine medical science. Later, perhaps, the Rontgen rays may be beneficially applied to this disease in dogs, as in human beings. In a popular manual it is scarcely necessary to go further into the subject than to say that epilepsy need not be suspected unless the convulsive attacks are more or less recurrent, and so frequent as to exhaust the animal. Not until we have tried such treatment as an amateur can safely give, which is quite enough to cure ordinary teething or suckling fits due merely to some reflex irritation affecting the brain, and found it fail, need we fear epilepsy; and when we do fear it with any reason, skilled advice and diagnosis is absolutely needful, since the case must be watched and treated on its merits.

Suckling fits are exceedingly common among small, highly-organised, and sensitive b.i.t.c.hes. They generally begin about the end of the second week of nursing puppies, and do not seem to be in any way caused by overstrain; that is, a small female suckling five puppies is not more likely to suffer from these fits than one only bringing up a brace.

Their exact cause is difficult to determine, since very healthy, well-fed animals may have them in common with those that are weak and miserable from under-feeding (which in this case is synonymous with feeding on a non-meat diet) or kennel life.

Whatever the cause, the symptoms are always easy to recognise. The b.i.t.c.h first loses interest in her litter, though her milk-supply is seldom, if ever, lessened. She twitches, and her eyes look dull and filmy, or gla.s.sy and staring. She wanders restlessly about, and sometimes pants in the same way as she did when expecting her confinement. Now is the time to intervene, and give one teaspoonful of syrup of chloral with an equal quant.i.ty of water. If this is not done, the attack will proceed to staggering, shrieking, and more or less violent convulsions. The administration of the chloral generally causes the symptoms to subside gradually; but should the patient be no better in two hours, repeat the dose, and if giving bromide of pota.s.sium in 5-gr. doses twice or three times a day, immediately after food, does not keep her right, she must go on taking the chloral.

Neither chloral nor bromide affects the milk; if any of it pa.s.ses therein, the quant.i.ty is so very minute as to make no difference to the puppies. It is not at all necessary to take the b.i.t.c.h away from her litter; in fact, it is better to let her go on feeding them. Some will wish to leave their babies, and these should be taken to them and shut in with them, four times a day, and during the night. If she is thoroughly well fed, it never does the b.i.t.c.h any harm to bring up her family, and it would be a very great pity for the puppies to be lost when it is not necessary. But it is exceedingly important that she should be kept in a state of hyper-nutrition--that is, that she should have as much good, underdone meat as she can digest. Bromides are lowering, and besides this, the state of the nerves demands the highest possible feeding. It may be expensive to feed a "fitty" b.i.t.c.h on good beefsteak or roast mutton four times a day, giving her a sponge cake the last thing at night and a little milk, or, what is much better and more digestible, a raw new-laid egg or raw fresh cream, in the early morning; but it is, on the whole, a cheap way of saving a litter of valuable pups. If there are a large number of pups, some may be given to a foster-mother; but as a rule these are difficult to get, and not often satisfactory. Bromides should always be given immediately after food; on no account when the stomach is empty. Chloral may be given at any time when there is a necessity for it. The 5-gr. bromide tabloids obtainable at any chemist's are very useful; it is unnecessary to dissolve them in water for dogs, but, as before stated, they _must_ be given with or directly after food.

Teething fits should be treated, as far as medicine goes, exactly as suckling fits. Just as a badly-reared, non-meat-fed b.i.t.c.h who, by reason of an anaemic habit, harbours worms, is a poor subject for the latter trouble, so is a puppy that has been brought up on milky slops and large, wet messes of oatmeal and bread and milk, and thus has a weakened digestion, very likely to suffer badly from fits that in a strong young dog would pa.s.s off with small trouble. There is usually some warning of teething fits, as staring eyes, etc.; but sometimes, and especially if a puppy of from six to ten months has been much excited, taken out walking on a hot day, allowed to play in the sun, or dragged unwillingly on a lead, they come on very suddenly. While out in hot sun, the dog may suddenly give a shriek and begin to run with all his might, taking no notice of calls. As a general rule, he has the sense to run home, unless some officious person on the way imagines him mad and acts as silly people do under such circ.u.mstances.

If it is possible to catch the runaway, he should have his head covered to keep the light out of his eyes, and be taken home as quickly and quietly as possible to be shut in some cool and perfectly dark place until the fit pa.s.ses off sufficiently to give him a dose of chloral.

Afterwards he should have a diet of minced, underdone meat, with bromide of pota.s.sium to follow, for a day or two. A plunge into cold water will often stop a fit like this, but is too heroic a remedy to be safe unless the circ.u.mstances are very urgent. Cold sponging to the head is good, and quiet and darkness are essential. Some times teething fits go on increasing in frequency and severity until they merge into epilepsy, and the dog is lost. This is occasionally caused by allowing a very young, highly nervous, and excitable dog to be with others of the opposite s.e.x, when these should be in seclusion.

Fits, very much like mild teething fits, are not uncommon in run-down dogs suffering from anaemia and the likely corollary, worms. These are often very transient, and a course of tonic treatment, with rest from excitement, and good feeding, will banish them.

CHAPTER IX

CLUB STANDARDS, DESCRIPTIONS AND POINTS OF VARIOUS TOY BREEDS

=Pomeranians.=--These are now divided into Pomeranians (over 7 lbs.) and Pomeranians Miniature, and the Committee of the Kennel Club have laid down the following standard, applying from June 1, 1909:

THE POMERANIAN.--_Appearance._--The Pomeranian in build and appearance should be a compact, short-coupled dog, well-knit in frame. His head and face should be fox-like, with small erect ears that appear sensible to every sound. He should exhibit great intelligence in his expression, docility in his disposition, and activity and buoyancy in his deportment. In weight and size the Pomeranian varies considerably. He must be over 7 lbs., but preferably he should weigh about 10 to 14 lbs.

_Head._--The head should be somewhat foxy in outline or wedge-shaped, the skull being flat, large in proportion to the muzzle, which should finish rather fine, and be free from lippiness. The teeth should be level, and on no account undershot. The hair on the head and face must be smooth and short-coated.

THE POMERANIAN MINIATURE--_Appearance._--The Pomeranian Miniature in build and appearance should be a compact, short-coupled dog. His head and face should be like a miniature fox, with small, erect, and very mobile ears, p.r.i.c.ked and brought well together, and in no case lop-eared. He should be full of life, intelligent in expression, and docile in disposition. The Pomeranian Miniature should preferably weigh about 3 to 5 lbs., but must not exceed 7 lbs. Dogs above 7 lbs. must be registered as Pomeranians. Dogs below 7 lbs. in weight must, at twelve months of age or after, be registered or re-registered as Pomeranians Miniature, and being so registered or re-registered, can never compete in cla.s.ses for Pomeranians. _Head._--The head should be wedge-shaped and rather foxy in outline, but the skull may be rounder than the Pomeranian.

STANDARD AND SCALE OF POINTS AS LAID DOWN BY THE POMERANIAN CLUB.--Secretary, G. M. Hicks, Esq., Granville House, Blackheath, London, S.E.[2] _Appearance._--The Pomeranian in build and appearance should be a compact, short-coupled dog, well-knit in frame. His head and face should be fox-like, with small, erect ears, that appear sensible to every sound; he should exhibit great intelligence in his expression, docility in his disposition, and activity and buoyancy in his deportments.--15 points. _Head._--Somewhat foxy in outline, or wedge-shaped, the skull being slightly flat (although in the toy varieties the skull may be rather rounder), large in proportion to the muzzle, which should finish rather fine, and be free from lippiness. The teeth should be level, and on no account undershot. The head in its profile may exhibit a little "stop," which, however, must not be too p.r.o.nounced, and the hair on head and face must be smooth or short-coated.--5 points. _Eyes._--Should be medium in size, rather oblique in shape, not set too wide apart, bright and dark in colour, showing great intelligence and docility of temper. In a white dog black rims round the eyes are preferable.--5 points. _Ears._--Should be small, and carried perfectly erect, or p.r.i.c.ked like those of a fox, and, like the head, should be covered with soft, short hair. No plucking or tr.i.m.m.i.n.g is allowable.--5 points. _Nose._--In black-and-tan, or white dogs, the nose should be black; in other coloured Pomeranians it may more often be brown or liver coloured; but in all cases the nose must be self not parti-coloured, and never white.--5 points. _Neck and Shoulders._--The neck, if anything, should be rather short, well set in and lion-like, covered with a profuse mane and frill of long, straight, glossy hair, sweeping from under the jaw, and covering the whole of the front part of the shoulders and chest, as well as flowing on the top of the shoulders. The shoulders must be tolerably clean and laid well back.--5 points. _Body._--The back must be short, and the body compact, being well ribbed up, and the barrel well rounded. The chest must be fairly deep, and not too wide.--10 points. _Legs._--The forelegs must be perfectly straight, of medium length--not such as would be termed either "leggy" or "low on leg"--but in due proportion in length and strength to a well-balanced frame, and the forelegs and thighs must be well feathered, the feet small and compact in shape. No tr.i.m.m.i.n.g is allowable.--5 points. _Coat._--Properly speaking, there should be two coats, an under and an over coat--the one a soft, fluffy under coat, the other a long, perfectly straight and glistening coat, covering the whole of the body, being very abundant round the neck and forepart of the shoulders and chest, where it should form a frill of long, flowing hair, extending over the shoulders, as previously described. The hindquarters, like those of a collie, should be similarly clad with long hair or feathering from the top of the rump to the hocks. The hair on the tail must be profuse and flowing over the back.--25 points. _Tail._--The tail is a characteristic of the breed, and should be well twisted right up from the root tightly over the back, or lying flat on the back, slightly on either side, and profusely covered with long hair, spreading out and flowing over the back.--10 points. _Colour._--The following colours are admissible: White, black, blue, brown, black-and-tan, fawn, sable, red, and parti-colours. The white must be quite free from lemon or any colour, and the blacks, blues, browns, black-and-tan, and reds free from white. A few white hairs in any of the self-colours shall not absolutely disqualify, but should carry great weight against the dog. In parti-coloured dogs, the colours should be evenly distributed on the body. Whole-coloured dogs with a white foot or feet, leg or legs, are decidedly objectionable, and should be discouraged, and cannot compete as whole-coloured specimens. In mixed cla.s.ses--_i.e._, where whole-coloured and parti-coloured Pomeranians compete together--the preference should, if in other points they are equal, be given to the whole-coloured specimens.--10 points. Total--100 points.

Footnote 2: In most cases the names of the Secretaries of the various clubs are given, but it must be remembered that an annual re-election takes place.

Also catered for by the North of England Pomeranian Club. Secretary, J.

Tweedale, Valley House, Oversley Ford, Wilmslow; and the Midland Counties Pomeranian Club. Hon. Secretary, Mrs. E. Parker, Meadowland, Uttoxeter Road, Derby.

=Toy Spaniels= (English).--Points as defined by the Toy Spaniel Club.

Hon. Secretary, Miss M. Hall, Chalk Hill House, Norwich. _Head._--Should be well domed, and in good specimens is absolutely semi-globular, sometimes even extending beyond the half-circle, and absolutely projecting over the eyes, so as nearly to meet the upturned nose.

_Eyes._--The eyes are set wide apart, with the eyelids square to the line of the face--not oblique or fox-like. The eyes themselves are large, so as to be generally considered black; their enormous pupils, which are absolutely of that colour, increasing the description. From their large size, there is always a certain amount of weeping shown at the inner angles; this is owing to a defect in the lachrymal duct.

_Stop._--The "stop" or hollow between the eyes, is well marked, as in the bulldog, or even more so; some good specimens exhibiting a hollow deep enough to bury a small marble. _Nose._--The nose must be short and well turned up between the eyes, and without any indication of artificial displacement afforded by a deviation to either side. The colour of the end should be black, and it should be both deep and wide, with open nostrils. _Jaw._--The lower jaw must be wide between its branches, leaving plenty of s.p.a.ce for the tongue and for the attachment of the lower lips, which should completely conceal the teeth. It should also be turned up or "finished," so as to allow of its meeting the end of the upper jaw, turned up in a similar way, as above described.

_Ears._--The ears must be long, so as to approach the ground. In an average-sized dog they measure 20 ins. from tip to tip, and some reach 22 ins., or even a trifle more. They should be set low on the head, and be heavily feathered. In this respect the King Charles is expected to exceed the Blenheim, and his ears occasionally extend to 24 ins.

_Size._--The most desirable size is from 7 lbs. to 10 lbs. _Shape._--In compactness of shape these spaniels almost rival the pug, but the length of coat adds greatly to the apparent bulk, as the body, when the coat is wetted, looks small in comparison with that dog. Still, it ought to be decidedly "cobby," with strong, stout legs, broad back, and wide chest.

The symmetry of the toy spaniel is of importance, but it is seldom that there is any defect in this respect. _Coat._--The coat should be long, silky, soft, and wavy, but not curly. In the Blenheim there should be a profuse mane, extending well down in the front of the chest. The feather should be well displayed on the ears and feet, where it is so long as to give the appearance of their being webbed. It is also carried well up the backs of the legs. In the King Charles the feather on the ears is very long and profuse, exceeding that of the Blenheim by an inch or more. The feather on the tail (which is cut to the length of about 3-1/2 ins. to 4 ins.) should be silky, and from 5 ins. to 6 ins. in length, const.i.tuting a marked "flag" of a square shape, and not carried above the level of the back. _Colour._--The colour varies with the breed. The King Charles is a rich, glossy black, and deep tan; tan spots over the eyes and on cheeks, and the usual markings on the legs are also required. The Ruby Spaniel is a rich chestnut red. The presence of a _few_ white hairs _intermixed with the black_ on the chest of a King Charles, or _intermixed with the red_ on the chest of a Ruby Spaniel, shall carry _very great weight against_ a dog, but shall not in itself absolutely disqualify; but a white patch on the chest, or white on any other part of a King Charles or Ruby Spaniel shall be a disqualification. The Blenheim must not on any account be whole-coloured, but should have a ground of pure pearly white, with bright, rich chestnut or ruby-red marking evenly distributed in large patches.