vitiated atmosphere, and are deprived of exercise in the fresh 

 air, which is so essential to maintaining good health. Third, 

 the custom of breeding a bitch twice, with one day intervening. 

 This custom has been handed down from the dark ages, and, 

 strange to relate, is still quite popular. This practice, however, 

 is decidedly wrong. The second mating often wholly or par- 

 tially destroys the benefits accrued from the first. When we 

 realize that the period of gestation at most is only sixty-three 

 days, we certainly must admit that in forty-eight hours, or two 

 days, nature has not been idle if conception has taken place as 

 a result of the first mating. The bitch, if the mating was success- 

 ful, has already enveloped the ovum or ova and has started the 

 development of the future litter. Two days are two sixty-thirds 

 of the entire time required for full development, hence material 

 progress has been made; and yet custom selects this period for 

 another mating. Any one who has knowledge of the anatomy 

 and appreciates the continuity of the uterus in its normal state 

 with the other generative organs cannot fail to agree that a sec- 

 ond service is well calculated to undo all that has been done. 

 In support of this theory a carefully kept record shows that in 

 a given number of bitches mated to a popular stud dog (who 

 has been strictly limited to two bitches a week) there were 

 larger litters and fewer misses when bred once than when mated 

 twice. The percentage in favor of the former is double that of 

 the latter, and from a physiological standpoint it is just exactly 

 what we should expect. Another strong argument for the gen- 

 eral adoption of the rule' to mate only once, providing, of course, 

 that the union is in every way complete and satisfactory, is that 

 the stud dog is also greatly benefited, and as a result will most 

 certainly sire much stronger and healthier pups. 



Many are the traditions handed down, from no one knows 

 where, regarding the best time during the season to breed a 

 bitch. Claims are made that the sex of the pups can be regu- 

 lated by choosing the proper time, and in consequence often too 

 long a time will be allowed to lapse, and as a result the breeder 

 imbued with this fallacy will find that he must wait another five 

 months. Nature is a very reliable guide, and as a general rule 

 the bitch will be in full season between the eleventh to the four- 

 teenth days after showing the first signs of heat and then is the 

 time to mate with rightful expectations of good results. 



The theory entertained by many for a long time was to the 

 effect that the bitch determined the number of pups, whilst the 



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