‘seldom do two owners of dogs agree as to how they should be fed – every dog owner has his own theory on the subject; perhaps this is not to be wondered at when the number of different kinds of dogs is taken into consideration, different dogs requiring different food. As a rule a dog is more hungry, and enjoys his food better, at about one o’clock in the day, and as this is a convenient time to feed house dogs the principal meal should [5-6] then be given, and may consist of meat, bread, and vegetables in equal parts. When the dog is fat it should be given dry, that is without any soup or gravy being added. The second meal should be given about seven or eight o’clock in the evening, and should consist of dog biscuit, given whole or broken up. If the dog is delicate or a bad doer he may have a second meal of the same kind as that given middle day [sic], but all dogs are better for having something hard to eat as it assists digestion and helps to keep the teeth in order. When a dog refuses the hard biscuit, a bone should be given two or three times a week. Kennel dogs, for convenience sake, should be trained to eat a small meal of dry dog biscuits or hound meal in the morning, and to have their principal meal in the evening. The advantage of this is that it assists in keeping them quiet during the night, and hounds and other sporting dogs are usually so sparingly fed that they will eat at any time they get the chance. Watch dogs, and others used for night work, must have their food in the middle of the day. When a large number of dogs is kept the cost of the food is a serious item, and it is important to use a food which is not only good, sound, and nourishing, but also cheap, such as may be made with crushed ship biscuits soaked in soup; the meat from which soup has been made should be cut up small and mixed with the biscuits. Sheeps’ heads , bullocks’ heads, paunches, shin of beef, bullocks’ throttles, and other odds and ends make most excellent and cheap soup for dogs.

A Bullocks’ head may be bought for two shillings, and will make sufficient soup for forty or fifty hounds, or other dogs of the same size. Horseflesh, of course, is cheaper, but dogs in our opinion do not do well on it, and we never advise its use if other meat can be obtained. Oatmeal is a food much favoured by some huntsmen, but it is very heating, and dogs fed on it are much inclined to skin trouble.’ (5-6)