things, such as rabbiting, she will always turn back, before following me, to the place where she saw me relieve myselfâfor nothing that I do escapes herâto sprinkle her own drops upon mine. So I feel that if ever there were differences between us they are washed out now. I feel a proper dog.
[1]
Napoleon at St. Helena
. Memoirs of General Bertrand, Grand Marshal of the Palace. January to May, 1821. Translated by Frances Hume (Cassell).
[2] Tulip, whom I brush and comb daily to rid her of her loose hairs, seems to me generally quite odorless. But occasionally the scent of her anal glands is strongly evident. It is a musky smell which I myself do not find disagreeable. Can it be to this that W. H. Hudson was referring when he wrote, in
A Hind in Richmond Park
, that all dogs, even the most âpetted lapdog, fed delicately and washed and brushed regularly every day,â smelt to him like carrion, ânot the smell of carrion lying and drying in the sun, but of a dead animal lying and decomposing in a pool of water in hot weatherâ? This curious passage, so thorough in its nastiness, has always puzzled me.
3. Trial and Error
Soon after Tulip came into my possession I set about finding a husband for her. She had had a lonely and frustrated life hitherto; now she should have a full one. A full life naturally included the pleasures of sex and maternity, and although I could not, of course, accommodate a litter of puppies in my small flat, that was a matter to which I would give my attention later.
The prospect of mating her presented no other serious problem. Slender though my knowledge was, it seemed sufficient. Bitches came into season or, more vulgarly, heat twice a year. The heat lasted for three weeks. During the first week the vagina gradually opened; during the third it gradually closed. Mating was accomplished at the peak, in the second week. It was all plain sailing. Indeed, such difficulty as I envisaged lay in the opposite direction, in preventing her from being matedâin protecting her, that is to say, from the attention of undesirable suitors. Undesirable suitors were stray dogs of other breeds, or of no breed at all; for although I had no profit-making interest in the matter, so beautiful a creature as Tulip should certainly have children as pretty as herself. The only question that remained to be settled therefore was the choice of a suitable mateâthe question, in fact, that confronts us all, but simplified in the case of bitches by the availability of a stud system of dogs for the hiring. Partly out of thrift, however, I discarded this solution. Why pay a fee for hiring a husband when there were quantities of good-looking Alsatians about who might be borrowed for nothing if one got to know their owners? But how did one get to know their owners? Tulipâs next heatâthe third of her life, but the first since she entered mineâwas close at hand. I could not rely upon a chance encounter. Might not a vet help? Any vet would probably include an Alsatian or two among his patients; it would be easy for him to sound the owners and put me in touch. All this a local vet obligingly did. He provided me with the address of a Mr. Blandish who lived in Sheen and owned a good Alsatian named Max whom he was willing to lend. Vets at this early period of my life in the dog world seemed to me an impatient race, but I trespassed further upon this oneâs time to inquire whether there were any particularly favorable days in the second week for putting the two animals together. That, said he, was a question the bitch herself would decide, but the ninth to eleventh days were considered normal. He added that I should find out whether Max had had any previous sexual history. Why? I asked. With a weary smile the vet replied that mating dogs was not always so simple a matter as I seemed to suppose, and that since Tulip was inexperienced it would be helpful to have a sire who knew the ropes. He
[1]
Napoleon at St. Helena
. Memoirs of General Bertrand, Grand Marshal of the Palace. January to May, 1821. Translated by Frances Hume (Cassell).
[2] Tulip, whom I brush and comb daily to rid her of her loose hairs, seems to me generally quite odorless. But occasionally the scent of her anal glands is strongly evident. It is a musky smell which I myself do not find disagreeable. Can it be to this that W. H. Hudson was referring when he wrote, in
A Hind in Richmond Park
, that all dogs, even the most âpetted lapdog, fed delicately and washed and brushed regularly every day,â smelt to him like carrion, ânot the smell of carrion lying and drying in the sun, but of a dead animal lying and decomposing in a pool of water in hot weatherâ? This curious passage, so thorough in its nastiness, has always puzzled me.
3. Trial and Error
Soon after Tulip came into my possession I set about finding a husband for her. She had had a lonely and frustrated life hitherto; now she should have a full one. A full life naturally included the pleasures of sex and maternity, and although I could not, of course, accommodate a litter of puppies in my small flat, that was a matter to which I would give my attention later.
The prospect of mating her presented no other serious problem. Slender though my knowledge was, it seemed sufficient. Bitches came into season or, more vulgarly, heat twice a year. The heat lasted for three weeks. During the first week the vagina gradually opened; during the third it gradually closed. Mating was accomplished at the peak, in the second week. It was all plain sailing. Indeed, such difficulty as I envisaged lay in the opposite direction, in preventing her from being matedâin protecting her, that is to say, from the attention of undesirable suitors. Undesirable suitors were stray dogs of other breeds, or of no breed at all; for although I had no profit-making interest in the matter, so beautiful a creature as Tulip should certainly have children as pretty as herself. The only question that remained to be settled therefore was the choice of a suitable mateâthe question, in fact, that confronts us all, but simplified in the case of bitches by the availability of a stud system of dogs for the hiring. Partly out of thrift, however, I discarded this solution. Why pay a fee for hiring a husband when there were quantities of good-looking Alsatians about who might be borrowed for nothing if one got to know their owners? But how did one get to know their owners? Tulipâs next heatâthe third of her life, but the first since she entered mineâwas close at hand. I could not rely upon a chance encounter. Might not a vet help? Any vet would probably include an Alsatian or two among his patients; it would be easy for him to sound the owners and put me in touch. All this a local vet obligingly did. He provided me with the address of a Mr. Blandish who lived in Sheen and owned a good Alsatian named Max whom he was willing to lend. Vets at this early period of my life in the dog world seemed to me an impatient race, but I trespassed further upon this oneâs time to inquire whether there were any particularly favorable days in the second week for putting the two animals together. That, said he, was a question the bitch herself would decide, but the ninth to eleventh days were considered normal. He added that I should find out whether Max had had any previous sexual history. Why? I asked. With a weary smile the vet replied that mating dogs was not always so simple a matter as I seemed to suppose, and that since Tulip was inexperienced it would be helpful to have a sire who knew the ropes. He
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