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Cited byA.M. Ackerman to Our Dogs, 'A Plea for Kennelmaids?', Our Dogs 77 (6th Dec. 1929), p. 733.
Description:‘Sir,- Following my letter in Our Dogs on the subject of a Kennelmaids’ Association, I received a letter from Miss Alice Walshe setting forth a project which had evidently been in her mind some time and incorporated in her letter to you published last week.
Under the circumstances, I feel there is nothing for me to do but retire gracefully, at the same time offering any assistance and advice she may at any time require from me. I have forwarded her the letters I have received in this connection, and doubtlessly she will in due course reply to them.
Thanking you for your courtesy in publishing this correspondence, - Yours, etc.,
Adeline M. Ackerman.’
Relevant passage from A Kennelmaid:
‘Sir,- Will you allow me, through the medium of your excellent paper, to make a plea on behalf of the many girls who are doing kennel work as a livelihood? It is time a kennelmaid’s club or union was formed which would look after their interests. Few girls go in for kennel work unless they are really fond of dogs and prepared to work hard. Of course, there must be posts where a kennelmaid’s work is appreciated and a good home and wage provided. But in the majority of cases the kennelmaid is overworked, badly paid and fed, and seldom shown any consideration. Even their bedrooms are used as kennels. They are not considered real dog lovers if they have any interests outside their work. They are not even supposed to sew or read if they by any chance have finished their kennel work before bedtime. Surely even a most inexperienced girl should be paid at least ten shillings a week if she works well and is keen to learn. An allowance should be made for kennel overalls, Wellington boots, and a good warm waterproof coat. Every girl should have an hour free daily and a weekly half day or an occasional week-end. If the kennelmaid lives with the family she should be treated kindly and allowed to enter into their conversation and amusements when her work is finished, not snubbed and made to feel out of everything. If she does not live with the family she should at least have a comfortable, clean bed-sittingroom, with a fire in cold weather, and good wholesome meals decently served. I also think that a hot daily bath is essential.
Girls with private means can afford to take posts with small salaries just for experience, but what is to become of girls like myself, who are obliged to earn their own living, and do not like town life. I am a great lover of dogs and all animals, a real country girl, but well educated and a gentlewoman. I am really keen and interested, and a good clean worker, with a fair amount of experience and most anxious to get on. I am willing to help with any outdoor work, and I have a happy nature, but I cannot get a good post myself, and know of several girls who have had to go and work in towns and give up kennelwork, although they were ideally suited for it. I feel that if you will publish my letter you will be doing a great kindness to all kennelmaids, and may perhaps make their employers spare a thought from their dogs for the young girls who look after them. – Yours, etc.,
A Kennelmaid.’
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Cited byAnother Kennelmaid to Our Dogs, 'A Plea for Kennelmaids', Our Dogs 77 (15th Nov. 1929), p. 485.
Description:‘Sir,- May I, as one of the legion of kennelmaids, reply to your correspondent, “A Kennelmaid.” It is indeed time that we had a union to look after our interests – the sooner the better. What other profession (excluding the nursing profession, which is, I believe, even worse off that we are) paid about 10s. to 15s. per week for skilled work, whose working hours are from 6.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. daily, including Sundays; often on during the night nursing sick puppies or adults, sitting up with a bitch during whelping, or travelling all night to shows? True, none but a genuine dog-lover could do it, and in many cases we poor mutts get so attached to our charges that we just stay on because we hate to leave them. We get an occasional half-day – never a free week-end, Sunday or Bank Holiday. Our food is usually very poor and insufficient in quantity, and most of our pay goes to supplement it and provide extra bedding and necessities in our bedroom. The usual allowance for laundry is 2s. The laundry charge is 9d. for holland and 1s for white coats, which leaves 3d. for “other items”! On one job I had to ride 5 1/4 miles on a motorbike to the village inn for a bath, although there were two baths in the house. In another post I arrived to find I was expected to allow 9 small dogs, in various stages of “itch,” to share my bedroom. Needless to say, I slept alone that night and left next day. At the moment, after 14 years’ experience in leading kennels of various breeds, from Alsatians to Pekingese, I am working 16 hours daily, including Sundays, for 12s. 6d. and my keep. I have no help. I am afraid to move on because the next job may be worse, whereas this one is just bearable. Also, joy of joys! I am allowed to keep my little Pekingese with me, and he is all I have of my own now, I couldn’t leave him behind, and my next employer might not allow a pet. Why do they object to giving their kennelmaids that pleasure? Ours is a hard life of eternal grind and disappointment, and often sadness when we lose our charges by death or through a sale. Surely we might be allowed our own pet if guaranteed well trained in every way? So many of us would repay that kindness a hundredfold, and few, if any, of us would abuse that privilege.
We work hard all weathers – frozen hands and feet, often soaked to the skin, other times exhausted by the heat; we put our show dogs “down to the minute”; we train our show pups to “show all out”; we seldom grouse, but conjure up a smile for our employers’ visitors; our kennels are reviewed for the big papers, but the woman who does all these things this is the conscientious, overworked, underpaid, drudge, and worthy of better pay and consideration. Yours, etc.,
Another Kennelmaid.’
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Cited byF.C. to Our Dogs, 'A Plea for Kennelmaids', Our Dogs 77 (15th Nov. 1929), p. 485.
Description:‘Sir,- I was very interested in the letter signed “A Kennelmaid,” published in Our Dogs. If her’s [sic] is not an isolated case, I certainly think the matter should be looked into. I was always under the impression that kennelmaids had a good time; if this is not the case, I should like to hear from other members of who have complaints to make, then perhaps we might be able to form a club to cheer matters up. “A Kennelmaid” may have been unfortunate and got into a kennel the owner of which has no idea of method, time – in fact any organization at all. I quite agree with her that girls doing kennel work should have a certain amount of recreation, good food, a comfortable bedroom (bed-sitting room if possible), and by all means a hot bath. A tired kennelmaid, like a tired nurse, is a bad one, and it is useless to expect a girl to keep fit without being off duty for a certain amount of time. Sketching the daily work out roughly, as follows, it should be easy enough for an employer to arrange time off for his or her kennelmaids:-
On duty 7 a.m.
7 a.m.-8.30 a.m. - Feed puppies and prepare adults’ feeds.
8.30 a.m.-9 a.m. – Kennelmaid’s breakfast.
9 a.m.-10.30 a.m. – Feed adult dogs; finish cleaning kennels, doing any scrubbing that may be required.
10.30 a.m.-11 a.m. – Do any dressings, etc.
11 a.m.-12 – Exercise.
12 p.m.-1 p.m. – Feed puppies; cook meat for dogs’ evening meal; groom dogs.
1 p.m.-1.45 p.m. – Kennelmaid’s lunch.
1.45 p.m.-4 p.m. – Grooming, exercising, etc.
4 p.m. - Feed pups and adults.
4.30 p.m. – 5 p.m. Kennelmaid’s tea.
5 p.m.-5.30 p.m. Remove soil from kennels and kennel up.
6 p.m. – Off duty.
8 p.m. – Feed puppies.
On Sundays a kennelmaid should be free at 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., with the exception of feeding puppies or invalids, and off duty at 6 p.m.
A half-day per week from 2 p.m. should be quite easy to provide, and a whole day once a month. Of course, in epidemics of distemper a kennelmaid must be prepared to give up her time, but I am quite sure none of those who love the job will mind this.
The above time-table is for a kennel of 12 Irish Terriers which I run myself.
If you are good enough to print this letter, and there are any kennelmaidswishing to communicate with me, will they write to – Yours, etc.,
F.C.’
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Quoted byT. Quick, 'Puppy Love: Domestic Science, “Women's Work,” and Canine Care,' Journal of British Studies 58 (2) (2019), pp. 289-314.
Description:'affective bonds worked both ways. For kennelmaids who were dog owners as well as dog carers, their love of dogs in general could come into conflict with love for their own dog in particular. One correspondent noted that although conditions were unsatisfactory in the kennel where she worked, she was “afraid to move on because the next job may be worse … I am allowed to keep my little Pekingese with me, and he is all I have of my own now, I couldn’t leave him behind, and my next employer might not allow a pet.” [note: 'A Kennelmaid to Our Dogs, “Plea for Kennelmaids,” [Our Dogs no. 77 (8 November 1929)] 413.']' (308)
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Related toA.V. Lloyd, 'Kennelmaids: A Novel Calling for Women', Our Dogs 70 (27th Jan, 1928), [p. ]
Description:‘With so much being written of unemployment and its attendant evils, it is of more than ordinary interest to learn of new industrial pursuits which open up both pleasant and money-making opportunities. Although it is almost a platitude to say that dogs have increased in popularity to such an extent that dog-breeding has long since established itself as a recognised business undertaking, the practical worth of certain side-issues is not so readily appreciated. The calling generally described as “kennelmaids” is a case in point. A kennelmaid, obviously, is a girl or woman who looks after kennels – only rather more so! Looking after a dog sounds like a very simple procedure. Simple though it may be, those who can do so properly are certainly in the minority. That being so, a kennelmaid’s vocation automatically becomes – as it is - a specialised job requiring a high degree of understanding, knowledge, and skill. Her duties, although perhaps arduous, are never dull, and the responsibility of the whole or part of a kennel, embracing a number of different breeds of dogs, is no sinecure. Careful training is essential if a kennelmaid is to do justice to herself and her canine charges.
To begin with, and inherent love of animals is essential. Dogs in particular know instinctively whether an individual is to be trusted or not, and act accordingly. The vocation of kennelmaid is not intended for the girl who expects “a soft job” awaiting her. Hard and continuous work is the only way to success. Dog kennels are now organised and run on strictly practical lines. They can almost be described as hotels or boarding houses for members of the canine race, including also a nursing home and nursery.
It doubtless appears a plain, straightforward proposition to build a number of kennels, put the dogs into them on arrival, feed them, and in due course return them to their respective owners! So seemingly simple, that no one is advised to undertake the responsiblity unless they possess a wide knowledge of the various breeds of dogs, their peculiarities, and the various ailments to which they are subject. They must be able to recognise the preliminary symptoms of such common complaints as colds, distemper, gastritis, etc., and be qualified to prescribe treatment. The breeding and care of puppies also comes within the sphere of the up-to-date kennel.
In this brief description is indicated a few of the duties that fall to the lot if the intended kennelmaid. It will be gathered, moreover, that the profession is not one which can be contemplated lightly or entered into merely with the idea of “something fresh to do!”
When the opportunity arises, every dog owner should visit a kennel of dogs. More can be learned in half an hour than in a week of “book study.” It will be noted that unusual care is taken to keep both the dogs and their blocks of kennels spotlessly clean. No one realises more than the kennel owner that dirt and filth is the origin of innumerable canine diseases. Notice, too, unless it happens to be feeding time, that there are no oddments of food to be seen. Dogs are fed at regular hours each day, usually twice – not more – with the result that they are ready for each feed, finishing it off to the last scrap. The food used is worthy of comment. Almost without exception, meat dog biscuits, hound or terrier meal, constitute the main diet. Sometimes the biscuit is fed “dry,” at others in a mash form, well soaked with gravy or stock, or mixed with cooked meat. No such things as pieces of cake or “in-between-time” snacks are indulged in. Nothing is worse for dogs or puppies than soft pappy foods. They ruin the digestion or teeth and give rise to more or less serious intestinal troubles. If all dog-owners were to follow the expert’s example, the health of the average dog would be greatly improved, and a deal of unnecessary suffering eliminated. There is such a wide variety of dog and puppy biscuits available to-day that it is an easy matter to cater for any and every breed. Study your dog’s appetite as you would your own. He appreciates a varied diet.
Good as dog biscuits are, it is absurd to suggest that a dog can be “biscuit-stuffed” all day and every day without a change of food. A ration of cooked or raw lean meat should be given occasionally. The ration can be made by mixing table-scraps with a handful of terrier or hound meal, adding gravy, soup, or stock if any is available.
Both the kennelmaid and the ordinary owner of an ordinary domestic dog can will find their responsibilities lightened if commonsense is brought to bear on the canine problems with which they are continually faced. The dog not being a machine, no exact procedure can be laid down. Study your dog, he will repay you a hundredfold.’
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