Retriever: Its Points; Management; Training & Diseases (Labrador, Flat-Coated, Curly-Coated)

Three retrieving breeds, handled by a veterinary surgeon, at the exact moment the Labrador began to overtake the flat-coat.

Frank Townend Barton, M.R.C.V.S., published this manual in London in 1907, four years after the Kennel Club recognised the Labrador as a breed in its own right. Its seventeen chapters cover general management, external parts and conformation, then each breed in turn - the flat-coated, the Labrador and the curly-coated - followed by the management of the stud dog, the care of the brood bitch and the rearing of puppies, the breaking of a young dog to the gun, the liability of breakers and trainers (an unusual legal chapter that collectors still point to), and nine chapters on diseases and injuries.

Barton wrote as a qualified vet rather than a fancier, and the medicine is the making of the book.

This edition features:

• The complete 1907 text in seventeen chapters, by a Royal College veterinary surgeon
• The flat-coated, Labrador and curly-coated breeds, each treated separately
• Breaking a young dog to the gun, and the legal liability of breakers and trainers
• Nine chapters on diseases and injuries, from a professional veterinary standpoint