Collins Complete Dog Manual. Collins Dictionaries

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СКАЧАТЬ Golden Retriever Gentle, biddable and highly intelligent. A good working dog as well as an excellent family pet. Good with children and a great companion and Gundog. Needs frequent exercise and mental stimulation. Enjoys flyball and obedience. Rottweiler Intensely protective and highly intelligent, this is a good guarding breed. Needs good socialization and kind but firm training. Not suitable to be left with young children. Needs lots of walking (at least, twice a day), free running and games for stimulation. German Shepherd Dog Highly intelligent and a wonderful guarding and working dog, the German Shepherd makes a good family pet if it is trained and well socialized. Needs kind but firm handling. Needs and enjoys as much exercise as it can get. Excels at obedience and agility training. Parson Jack Russell Terrier Intelligent, alert and always busy, this dog loves to hunt. An easily trained fun dog that loves to live within its family pack and is good with children. Affectionate and a watchful guard dog. Needs lots of exercise with walks, free running and playing stimulating, imaginative games. Cavalier King Charles Spaniel A gentle, docile and intelligent little dog. Confident and fun-loving with a friendly nature, it makes a good family pet and loves to play with children if they are not too rough. Needs two short daily walks, free running and play – less exercise than bigger Spaniels. Boxer Exuberant, full of fun, loyal and affectionate. A good guard dog and a loving family pet. Good with children but can be over-boisterous with very young ones. Enjoys exercise and needs lots of walks, free running and games for mental stimulation. Yorkshire Terrier Playful, inquisitive, a good companion and the perfect small pet, especially for the elderly. A spirited, game little dog that enjoys hunting and playing games. At least two short walks a day plus playing games in the garden and running. English Springer Spaniel Gentle, loving and good with children. Craves affection and hates to be left alone. Highly intelligent and easy to train. A loving family pet as well as a good working dog. Needs plenty of free running, daily walks and play. Excels at agility and flyball. Cocker Spaniel Gentle, intelligent, biddable and easily trained. A good companion and family dog, especially with children. A happy working dog, good at retrieving. Needs a lot of exercise, especially free running, as well as daily walks. Poodle Highly sensitive, loving and intelligent, the Poodle can be easily trained and makes a delightful family pet. It is gentle with children and a good companion for all ages. Has unbounded energy and loves exercise and playing games – can’t get enough! Dalmatian Affectionate, anxious to please and loves human company. Devoted, loyal and very attached to children. A dog that is more suited to country than town life. Boundless energy and needs a lot of exercise – as much as you can give. Dobermann Loyal, affectionate, intelligent and easily trained, its power must be controlled and it needs kind but firm treatment. An hour a day walking plus free running and games. West Highland White Terrier Intelligent, inquisitive and mischievous with an independent spirit. A good family dog that loves to be involved in every activity. Relatively easy to train. Naturally active and needs lots of exercise, especially free running and playing.

Finding a Dog

      It has never been easier to find out about dogs, and the latest most convenient and complete way to do this is by using the Internet.

      (© Jean Michel Labat)

      It is simplicity itself to click on to the Kennel Club’s own website, or one of the others that relate to pets, and link into the breed history, breed clubs and the breeders themselves. It is possible to communicate with breeders and owners around the world and to download photographs and articles. The Kennel Club will also provide you with the telephone numbers of any breeders close to where you live. However, if you are looking for one of the rarer dog breeds, you will have to be prepared to travel further afield.

      There are literally thousands of books on breeds of dogs and there are many specialist bookshops dealing in the subject. Public libraries are also an excellent source of information, and if they haven’t got a particular book they will order it specially for you.

      There are weekly newspapers devoted to pedigree dogs, their care, exhibition and breeding as well as some monthly magazines publishing information on every aspect of owning pet dogs. One UK magazine even has a section on finding dogs, with a list of consultants for every breed. A phone call can put you in touch with a friendly expert who is not there to sell you a dog but to provide unbiased information so you can make an informed decision.

      Pedigree or Mongrel?

      At about this juncture you will have to decide whether you want to own a pedigree dog or a mongrel. Some authorities claim that pedigree dogs are less healthy than mongrels or cross breeds. Although this may be so with a few breeds, there is no scientific evidence that will prove the case generally. There are two reasons why a dog is classed as a pedigree:

      • The first is that his ancestry is known and recorded.

      • Secondly, he breeds true; that is to say that if you mate a dog and a bitch of one breed the resultant puppies will be replicas of their parents (colour excepted).

      One of the main advantages of a pedigree dog is that within close parameters you will know how big he will grow. You will also know the sort of temperament he is likely to develop. However, buying a mongrel is a bit like a lottery – unless you have some specialized knowledge, the little creature at eight weeks might be a giant at eighteen months; he may have inherited some nasty genes from one of his parents that may not manifest themselves until he is two years old or even older.

      The Kennel Club, the Internet, canine newspapers and magazines can all help you to find the right pedigree dog or puppy for you. Many prospective owners go to dog shows to seek out breeders but with today’s All Breed Championship Shows, which are held over three days, it is as well to find out in advance on which day your favourite breed is being exhibited. A telephone call to the Kennel Club or a study of the canine newspapers will reveal the most convenient day; the smaller open shows that take place over one day may not schedule your particular breed.

      Pet shops and puppy farms

      There are traps into which the unwary can fall: the selling of puppies and young dogs is now a multi-million pound business, and unfortunately there are a few unscrupulous breeders, dealers and retailers waiting for the gullible. Most people have seen on television and read in the national newspapers of ‘puppy farms’. However, these are not farms in the true sense of the word but places where puppies are bred with no thought to their welfare, physically or mentally, and fed on cheap and inferior foods with no veterinary СКАЧАТЬ