Kitabı oku: «The Dog», sayfa 24

FRACTURES

A fracture is technically called a solution of continuity; but, as the general reader will imagine the definition can hardly be correct, with regard to a bone which may be broader than it is long, I will here define it to be the violent division of a bone into two or more parts.

Fractures are divided into comminuted, simple, and compound. The comminuted and compound, for the present purpose, may be regarded as one and the same; since it is obviously impossible to restore the bone of a dog which has been crushed into innumerable pieces; and such a state of the hard structure is scarcely possible to exist without the soft parts, as flesh or muscle, around the injury being involved, or the lesion rendered compound as well as comminuted in its nature.

Then it is simple fractures only that have to be dealt with in this place; and a simple fracture exists when a bone is snapped across into two equal or unequal pieces. It does not matter at what point the injury may occur; so that the bone be broken only into two pieces, and none of the flesh be torn, or the joint involved, the fracture is a simple one. In the dog, several simultaneous simple fractures may exist; as where the animal breaks across the whole of the four metatarsal bones proceeding from the hock to the foot; or snaps, which is of more rare occurrence, the entire number of metacarpal bones, proceeding from the joint, which is called the knee of the dog, towards the foot of the animal.

The bones, however, most commonly fractured are the ulna and radius in the fore-limb, and the tibia and fibula in the posterior extremity. Next to these in order are the femur or thigh-bone, in the hind-leg, and the humerus or arm-bone of the anterior limb. Then come the four metacarpal or metatarsal bones, being the same in number in both legs. These are all the author undertakes to treat. The first and last he manages pretty successfully. For the restoration of a fracture, all that is necessary is to bring the ends which have been divided together, and to keep them in the place into which your art has brought them. To accomplish this end, the author is accustomed to cut from a sheet of stout gutta percha three broad straight ribbons; then to soak these in warm water till they are pliable, having first cut in them several holes resembling button-holes, by the aid of a punch and narrow chisel. When they have lain in the warm water a sufficient time to soften, and no more – for the water of too great a heat shrivels up as well as softens the gutta percha – he draws forth one ribbon, and this he moulds to the front of the sound leg.

That done, he takes another piece of the gutta percha, and this he models to the hind part of the sound leg. The remaining slip is fixed to the side of the limb. After the pliable gutta percha has been forced to assume the shape desired, it is the practice of the writer to cover it with a cloth saturated in cold spring water, to hasten the setting of the material, and thereby shorten a process which always renders the dog somewhat uneasy. All this accomplished, he next braces the splints together, and fixes them upon the limb, by means of a long piece of tape; putting under them, next to the skin of the animal, a quantity of lint to prevent the gutta percha from irritating the flesh. The tapes he also runs through the holes previously made, and winds about the limb, or over the splints – rather, but not too tightly in the first instance – with the intent of arousing the restorative amount of inflammation. This quantity of inflammation, the reader may imagine, would be certain to ensue on so violent an injury as the separation of the hard supports of the body; but in this he is mistaken. I have known a favorite hound to break at once the four metatarsal bones, and though the splints necessary to promote a union were kept on above two months, nothing of the kind took place; at the end of which time all bandages were removed, and his movements effected the cure which my appliances were unable to bring about. Some persons even advocate taking off all bandages from a broken leg, and sending the dog for a walk, where union is tardy; but people who use such language talk about that, concerning which they literally know nothing. It is not one walk which will produce the desired effect; but repeated walks are required to accomplish what appears to the ignorant so certain to occur. Thus, to do nothing is far better in some cases than to perform much; since the absence of remedies accomplishes that which all the paraphernalia of the surgery is unable to produce.

There are cases, however, which cannot get well of themselves, unless deformity be esteemed of no consequence. Thus, when the radius and ulna are snapped right across, and the foot, deprived of all support, dangles at the end of the limb; here the interposition of surgical agency is absolutely required; for the fracture, if left to itself without the aid of art, would never assume its proper situation. So when the humerus or femur are fractured, the bones may unite of themselves; but in that case shortening of the limb and incurable lameness is certain to ensue. The practitioner aims not only to bring the separated ends of the bone together; but he endeavors, by the invention of various means, to keep them there, or to force the limb all the time of the cure to be and to remain at its fullest length. To prevent the tendency to contract in the limb, and consequently to shorten, is one of the chief difficulties which we have to contend with in the treatment of fractures. When a bone is broken, the muscles which hold the parts together sooner or later contract, and sometimes with such force as to draw the ends of the bone, which were once continuous, side by side; thus rendering the limb shorter than it was previously. This force is generally exerted immediately on the occurrence of the accident; but in some petted animals where the system is slow, it does not take place till some indefinite period has elapsed. Fortunate is the gentleman who is called on to treat a case before anything of the kind has occurred, as his difficulties will thereby be at first materially lessened; but when putting on the splints, he must be careful that they are strong enough and his tapes tight enough to keep the leg extended, or to resist the power which sooner or later he may rest assured will start up.

The bandages and splints having been on some time – the precise period of which cannot be estimated, – the leg will swell, especially the foot, and the tapes become so tight as to cut into the flesh. The practitioner pays little attention to the primary indication of swelling being about to take place; but when it has fairly set in, and threatens to do injury to the limb, he with caution loosens the tapes, thus permitting the blood freely to circulate.

The after-treatment of a fracture is comparatively easy. It consists merely in keeping the bowels open, attending to the general health, and in renewing the splints and bandages as often as may be necessary.

It is well to bathe the fractured limb, splints and all, in the following lotions: —

To be applied frequently.

The other measures are dictated entirely by circumstances.

OPERATIONS

There are very few of such offices to be performed on the dog. Among those, however, which do occur, is the removal of the toe. When a claw has grown completely round, and by being pressed into the flesh appears, in the judgment of the practitioner, to have provoked such injury as decidedly and imperatively requires the removal of the part affected, then the amputation of one toe may be undertaken. When the dog, to allay the itching of the extremities, gnaws or eats his own flesh from the toes, leaving black and ragged bones protruding, amputation is necessary. The member must in each case be amputated higher up than the injury. There is no absolute necessity to muzzle the dog, provided the master is present, and will undertake the charge of the head. When such has been the case, and the master has engaged to keep the attention of the dog fixed upon himself, I have removed a joint or two from the leg without the animal uttering a single cry; although the master, unused to such sights, has been seized with sickness so as to require spirits for his restoration. The master being at the head, or an assistant on whom you can depend being at that post; another placed to keep down the body; and a third to lay hold of and extend the limb to be operated upon, which must be uppermost; the animal should be thrown on one side. There it must be allowed to remain until sufficient time has elapsed to calm its natural fears.

The operator then takes one of Liston's sharp-pointed knives, and thrusts it quite through the flesh, a short distance above the injury; he then with a sawing motion cuts downward and outward till the knife is released. He next impales the member on the other side, keeping the back of the knife, as on the former occasion, as close to the bone as possible, and draws it forth in the same manner. He thus will have two flaps divided by a small notch, which coincides with the breadth of the bone. Through this notch, on the uppermost side, he must pass his knife, cutting upwards and inwards; thus upon both sides, till the lines made by the knife meet in a point. He will then, supposing the business to have been properly performed, see a bright pink living piece of bone in the centre; and to cut off so much, or even a little more than is visible, becomes his next object. For this purpose a saw, however fine, is tedious; because the bone to be cut through is not of sufficient body to allow the operator to put forth his strength, and on that account also does not leave behind it a smooth surface. The bone-nippers answer better. Without loss of time, therefore, the veterinary surgeon seizes a pair suited to the object in view, and with these he gently pushes back the flesh on all sides; he then, suddenly closing the handles, cuts short the protruding bone. The flaps that have been made are then brought together, when, if there is any bleeding, the raw surfaces are again exposed, and a few puffs with a pair of bellows, first having sprinkled the part with cold water, usually stop it. If that should not succeed, a small quantity of the tincture of ergot of rye suffices for the purpose; and all bleeding having ceased, the flaps are finally placed together, bound up in soft lint, and a leather or gutta percha boot placed over all, no dressing being applied or the boot removed for three days. When the wound is inspected, if, as frequently happens, the movements of the dog have disturbed the flaps, provided they are not drawn too uneven, the practitioner had better not touch them. The rectifying powers of nature in such cases are wonderful; and in those he had better trust rather than interfere with the process of healing, which he may remain certain has already commenced. In this fashion I have excised a dog's claw; and three months after the operation a spectator would have to compare one foot with another to discover that either was deficient in the proper number of appendages.

Capped Hock and Elbow. – The first of these is more rare than the last; but as, on the point of the bone in each joint, is situated a bursa or small sac, containing an unctuous fluid intended to facilitate the movement of the bone under the skin, they both are subject to injury; when they swell to an enormous size, and constitute a very unsightly deformity. If seen early, so soon as the tenderness has subsided, an ounce of lard may be mixed with a drachm of the iodide of lead, and the part well and frequently rubbed with the ointment. If in spite of the use of this ointment, which more often fails than succeeds, the tumor grows larger and larger, recourse must be had to an operation; else the disfigurement may ultimately become sufficiently great and hard to seriously impede the animal's movements.

An operation being determined on, the animal is best left standing; though, should it prove unruly, assistance sufficient to lift it on to a table, and thereon to lay it on its side, must be at hand. Everything being ready, and the dog in this case properly muzzled, the operator, with such a knife as he can work quickest with, makes an incision the entire length of the swelling, and even rather longer than shorter: he next reflects back both portions of skin, that is, the skin on either side of the swelling; and lastly, separates the enlargement from its base.

This removal will leave a huge, ugly, gaping wound, with a seeming superabundance of skin hanging from its side. Let him on no account remove a particle of that skin, however much more than is necessary properly to cover the wound there may immediately after the operation seem to be. Inflammation will, with the beginning of the healing process, set in, and the action of this inflammation contracts the hanging skin; so that if a portion be removed, there will remain an open wound to that extent; and as skin is slowly reproduced, the cure may be retarded for months.

The first part of the business being well concluded, the dog must remain muzzled, and be returned to its proprietor with a bottle of healing fluid, the sore which has been made being left uncovered. The healing fluid is to be used frequently; and if the case be a good one, the orifice quickly becomes small, and heals. In some animals, however, there is a disposition to gnaw or lick the part; thus undoing everything the veterinary surgeon has been accomplishing. To check this habit, a cradle round the neck; wide collars which prevent the head from being turned round; and various splints which, by keeping the limb extended, thereby hinder the animal from touching the wound, are employed. Any or all of these, in untoward cases, may be necessary; and in very high-bred animals the healing powers of nature are frequently slow, consequently in such the after-consequences of an operation are likely to prove very annoying.

DOG-BREAKING

CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. QUALIFICATIONS, IN BREAKER – IN DOG

1. Dog-breaking, so far from there being any mystery in it, is an art easily acquired when it is commenced and continued on rational principles.

2. I think you will be convinced of this if you will have the patience to follow me, whilst I endeavor to explain what, I am satisfied, is the most certain and rapid method of breaking in your dogs, whether you require great proficiency in them, or are contented with an inferior education. No quicker system has yet been devised, however humble the education may be. The education in fact of the peasant, and that of the future double-first collegian, begin and proceed on the same principle. You know your own circumstances, and you must yourself determine what time you choose to devote to them; and, as a consequence, the degree of excellence to which you aspire. I can only assure you of my firm conviction, that no other means will enable you to gain your object so quickly, and I speak with a confidence derived from long experience in many parts of the world, on a subject that was, for several years, my great hobby.²

3. Every writer is presumed to take some interest in his reader; I therefore feel privileged to address you as a friend, and will commence my lecture by strongly recommending, that, if your occupations will allow it, you take earnestly and heartily to educating your dogs yourself. If you possess temper and some judgment, and will implicitly attend to my advice, I will go bail for your success, and, much as you may now love shooting, you will then like it infinitely more. Try the plan I recommend, and I will guarantee that the Pointer or Setter Pup which I will, for example sake, suppose to be now in your kennel, shall be a better dog by the end of next season – I mean a more killing dog – than probably any you ever yet shot over.

4. Possibly you will urge, that you are unable to spare the time which I consider necessary for giving him a high education – brief as that time is, compared with the many, many months wasted in the tedious methods usually employed – and that you must, perforce, content yourself with humbler qualifications. Be it so, I can only condole with you, for in your case this may be partly true; mind, I only say partly true. But how a man of property, who keeps a regular gamekeeper, can be satisfied with the disorderly, disobedient troop to which he often shoots, I cannot understand. Where the gamekeeper is permitted to accompany his master in the field, and hunt the dogs himself, there can be no valid excuse for the deficiency in their education. The deficiency must arise either from the incapacity, or from the idleness of the keeper.

5. Unlike most other arts, dog-breaking does not require much experience; but such a knowledge of dogs, as will enable you to discriminate between their different tempers and dispositions, I had almost said characters – and they vary greatly – is very advantageous. Some require constant encouragement; some you must never beat; whilst, to gain the required ascendancy over others, the whip must be occasionally employed. Nor is it necessary that the instructor should be a very good shot; which probably is a more fortunate circumstance for me than for you. It should even be received as a principle that birds ought to be now and then missed to young dogs, lest some day, if your nerves happen to be out of order, or a cockney companion be harmlessly blazing away, your dog take it into his head and heels to run home in disgust, as I have seen a bitch, called Countess, do more than once, in Haddingtonshire.

6. The chief requisites in a breaker are: – Firstly, command of temper, that he may never be betrayed into giving one unnecessary blow, for with dogs, as with horses, no work is so well done as that which is done cheerfully; secondly, consistency, that in the exhilaration of his spirits, or in his eagerness to secure a bird, he may not permit a fault to pass unreproved, I do not say unpunished, which at a less exciting moment he would have noticed – and that, on the other hand, he may not correct a dog the more harshly because the shot has been missed, or the game lost; and lastly, the exercise of a little reflection, to enable him to judge what meaning an unreasonable animal is likely to attach to every word and sign, nay to every look.

7. With the coarsest tackle, and worst flies, trout can be taken in unflogged waters, while it requires much science, and the finest gut, to kill persecuted fish. It is the same in shooting. With almost any sporting-dog game can be killed early in the season, when the birds lie like stones, and the dog can get within a few yards of them; but you will require one highly broken to obtain many shots when they are wild. Then any incautious approach of the dog, or any noise, would flush the game, and your own experience will tell you that nothing so soon puts birds on the run, and makes them so ready to take flight, as the sound of the human voice, especially now-a-days, when farmers generally prefer the scythe to the sickle, and clean husbandry, large fields, and trim narrow hedges – affording no shelter from wet – have forced the partridge – a short-winged³ bird – unwillingly to seek protection, when arrived at maturity, in ready flight rather than in concealment. Even the report of a gun does not so much alarm them as the command, "Toho," or "Down charge," usually too, as if to make matters worse, hallooed to the extent of the breaker's lungs. There are anglers who recommend silence as conducive to success, and there are no experienced sportsmen who do not acknowledge its great value in shooting. Rate or beat a dog at one end of a field, and the birds at the other will lift their heads, become uneasy, and be ready to take wing the moment you get near them. "Penn," in his clever maxims on Angling and Chess, observes to this effect, "if you wish to see the fish, do not let him see you;" and with respect to shooting, we may as truly say, "if you wish birds to hear your gun, do not let them hear your voice." Even a loud whistle disturbs them. Mr. O – t of C – e says a gamekeeper's motto ought to be, – "No whistling – no whipping – no noise, when master goes out for sport."

8. These observations lead unavoidably to the inference, that no dog can be considered perfectly broken, that does not make his point when first he feels assured of the presence of game, and remain stationary where he makes it, until urged on by you to draw nearer – that does not, as a matter of course, lie down without any word of command the moment you have fired, and afterwards perseveringly seek for the dead bird in the direction you may point out – and all this without your once having occasion to speak, more than to say in a low voice, "Find," when he gets near the dead bird, as will be hereafter explained. Moreover, it must be obvious that he risks leaving game behind him if he does not hunt every part of a field, and, on the other hand, that he wastes your time and his strength, if he travels twice over the same ground, nay, over any ground which his powers of scent have already reached. Of course I am now speaking of a dog hunted without a companion to share his labors.

9. You may say, "How is all this, which sounds so well in theory, to be obtained in practice without great severity?" Believe me, with severity it never can be attained. If flogging would make a dog perfect, few would be found unbroken in England or Scotland, and scarcely one in Ireland.

10. Astley's method was to give each horse his preparatory lessons alone, and when there was no noise or anything to divert his attention from his instructor. If the horse was interrupted during the lesson, or his attention in any way withdrawn, he was dismissed for that day. When perfect in certain lessons by himself, he was associated with other horses whose education was further advanced. And it was the practice of that great master to reward his horses with slices of carrot or apple when they performed well.

11. Astley may give us a useful hint in our far easier task of dog-breaking. We see that he endeavored by kindness and patience to make the horse thoroughly comprehend the meaning of certain words and signals before he allowed him any companion. So ought you, by what may be termed "initiatory lessons," to make your young dog perfectly understand the meaning of certain words and signs before you hunt him in the company of another dog – nay, before you hunt him at all; and, in pursuance of Astley's plan, you ought to give these lessons when you are alone with the dog, and his attention is not likely to be withdrawn to other matters. Give them, also, when he is fasting, as his faculties will then be clearer, and he will be more eager to obtain any rewards of biscuit or other food.

12. Be assured that by a consistent adherence to the simple rules which I will explain, you can obtain the perfection I have described, 8, with more ease and expedition than you probably imagine to be practicable; and, if you will zealously follow my advice, I promise, that, instead of having to give up your shooting in September – for I am supposing you to be in England – while you break in your pup, you shall then be able to take him into the field, provided he is tolerably well bred and well disposed, perfectly obedient; and, except that he will not have a well-confirmed, judicious range, almost perfectly made; at least so far made, that he will only commit such faults as naturally arise from want of experience. Let me remind you also that the keep of dogs is expensive, and supplies an argument for making them earn their bread by hunting to a useful purpose so soon as they are of an age to work without injury to their constitution. Time, moreover, is valuable to us all, or most of us fancy it is. Surely, then, that system of education is best which imparts the most expeditiously the required degree of knowledge.