178 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



week, and then put back at the same work and worked 

 slowly, but daily, until the seventh week; then stop her 

 work and let her rest, feeding well. 



This brings us up to her whelping-time. If on a farm, 

 let her hunt her own place to whelp in. She will generally 

 find a good location, and bring forth a large litter of strong, 

 healthful puppies. Allow no stranger to disturb her dur- 

 ing the first week. Some brood bitches are exceedingly 

 nervous, and if disturbed will become restless, get up 

 and turn over frequently, trying to cover up their whelps. 

 Thus they are liable to lie on them and kill them. 



If you have such a bitch, it is best to prepare a kennel 

 for her to whelp in. This should be made roomy, and along 

 the sides a strip should be nailed, four inches wide, and 

 four inches from the floor. For bedding, tack carpet on the 

 floor, so she can not cover up her puppies and then lie on 

 them. This board along the side of the kennel will give the 

 puppies a chance to crawl under; also behind the dam, 

 while she can not get on them. 



If the weather be warm, it will be well to have nothing 

 but the board floor for them to lie on. If it be cold, it 

 will be well to remove the carpet in four or five days and 

 give a bed of clean straw, which should be changed twice a 

 week. The writer prefers to have a bitch whelp on nice 

 clean, dry earth; it acts as a disinfectant, and puppies 

 always have done better and have been less liable to dis- 

 ease when whelped and raised on an earthen bed. 



I have, during my experience of over thirty years in 

 breeding and rearing Deerhounds, made it a rule never to 

 feed the dam until she comes out of her kennel after food, 

 and then to give her some nice soup and scraps of cooked 

 meat, beef or mutton being preferable. She is now re- 

 quired to supply milk freely, and her diet must be strong, 

 and of good quality and quantity. Give her different kinds 

 of food oatmeal, cooked meats, bread, vegetables of dif- 

 ferent kinds, Spratt's codliver-oil biscuit, raw meat, and 

 plenty of bones to griaw at. 



Many writers and breeders say never to let a dam raise 



