Carriage Dog Information

In dalmatia, on the eastern Adriatic coast, the Dalmatian was trained to run alongside horsemen in the field, a dog well suited to this difficult task and one with excellent stamina. By the eighteenth century the breed's original purpose had fallen into disuse but later that century it arrived in Britain. Here, it came into use as a coach or carriage dog, although it was then common practice to cut down the ears, supposedly in order to increase the beauty of the breed. In some cases the entire flap was removed, exposing the ear cavity, but this increased exposure to infection and by about 1880 the practice had completely died out.

Canine hospitals were divided into several different classes, with those at the top of the range being well-equipped establishments such as those in use at veterinary colleges. Here, there was usually also a post-mortem department so that attempts could be made to trace the cause of death, for much valuable information could be obtained by following up fatal cases. Canine hospitals, as they were called, maintained] by individual practitioners, were a great deal smaller and only a few had the range of expensive equipment of the veterinary colleges.

Dog x-ray revolution
When the x-ray procedure was introduced in 1896, an exposure time of 20 minutes was required, making it of little use for veterinary science, but by the 1930s it had become widely used in canine work, particularly for diagnostic purposes. By then a good machine could take an x-ray of any part of a dog's body in as little as two seconds but portable machines were frequently used as practitioners simply could not afford to install their own equipment.

X-ray was of particular use in making correct diagnoses in leg and foot injuries to racing Greyhounds, after all, good dogs could be worth anything up to £300, some even as much as £1,000. The x-ray machine could also be used to assess bone abnormalities, such as the diseased condition of the jaw bone - a case of an Elkhound whose upper jaw was affected created much publicity, for without such advanced equipment, removal of teeth would have been necessary. Canine dentistry was then considered almost as elaborate and efficient as that for humans. Scaling of teeth was frequently carried out by experts, and if teeth were already loose, as many as 10 could be removed without anaesthetic, provided the person carrying out the operation was sufficiently dextrous. For difficult cases and distressed patients, morphine could be administered an hour before the operation to calm the nerves and help relaxation.

In the most up-to-date surgeries, ultra-violet ray treatment was used, although results were certainly not 100 per cent effective and the dogs must surely have looked somewhat incongruous wearing their protective goggles. Rickets and non-parasitic skin diseases could also be treated in this way, with fairly frequent success, and dogs suffering from eczema, ulcers, boils, abscesses, acne, alopecia and bruising sometimes also derived benefit.

Dog surgical procedures
Cleanliness had become recognized as a necessity and delicate surgery was frequently undertaken. Many bitches were spayed and successful operations were often carried out on the bladder, although there was always a certain risk involved. In eye surgery, the skill of the surgeon played a large part in whether the operation was successful or otherwise.

Limbs could be amputated and false legs fitted, and, although more risky, operations which involved incision of the intestine to remove foreign bodies or tumors were also carried out. Despite hygiene rules, infections regularly set in, resulting in death shortly following the operations.

In the years between the two World Wars, a white coat, spotlessly clean premises and high fees were by no means any guarantee that a surgeon had received training to qualify him as such. At that time there were many so-called quacks and charlatans about, and such people were readily able to hoodwink honest folk into believing that they had recognized qualifications.

Establishing dog laws
In 1919 the animals' (Anaesthetics) Act was designed to prevent the infliction of pain, making it illegal for certain operations to be carried out without general anaesthetic. There were fixed financial penalties for first convictions and imprisonment for subsequent offences, but the stipulations were not all they might have been and revision was needed. One major loop-hole was that general anaesthesia was only called for if an animal was over the age of six months. In addition, only certain amputation operations were required to be done under anaesthetic, others were not. Local anaesthesia was required for tail docking and ear clipping or rounding, but only if the animal was over six months, and only a local anaesthetic was used for correction of umbilical hernias and incision into the urethra.

Although the veterinary profession had progressed a long way by the 1930s, it is interesting to compare the situation then with that of today. In so doing we can recognize how very much has been developed and improved upon in recent decades.