454 DOGS USED FOR SPORT. 



offspring in good condition, it is decidedly better to commence feed- 

 ing the litter with other food when they are four or five weeks old, 

 in order to avoid too sudden change of diet when they are taken 

 from the mother. About the best food at such time, is good sweet 

 cow's milk with the addition of a little scalding hot water, to which 

 may be added after a few days, well-cooked corn or oat meal, the 

 latter being preferable. When seven or eight weeks of age, give 

 them beef or mutton soup with mush and milk ; substituting in turn 

 wholly or in part, scraps from the table as this age is doubled. 

 Meat, bones, bread, vegetables, gravy, etc., form an excellent diet 

 for growing puppies of this age, as well as for adult animals, when 

 given in quantities sufficient to keep them in proper condition. One 

 of the most important matters in the rearing of young animals is, 

 that they be kept in proper form, consequently they should ht fre- 

 quently fed, and receive as much food as they will eat cleanly. If 

 feeding is allowed but twice a day, they become almost famished, 

 and eat so ravenously when supplied as to become " potbellied," 

 and misshapen, and frequently out of health ; consequently from 

 the time they are weaned until they are two or three months old, 

 they should be supplied with food at least five times per day, the 

 two extreme meals being given at corresponding early and late 

 hours of the day. After three months thrice daily will be found 

 sufficient. 



In regard to the rearing of pups solely upon animal food, we may 

 say, that so far as personal experimental knowledge reveals, it is by 

 no means the proper course to pursue. Youngsters thus fed will, if 

 not overtaken by disease, grow to an unreasonable and undesirable 

 size, and having become habituated to meat only, it will be found 

 difficult to induce them to accept of sufficient vegetable food to keep 

 them in anything like proper condition for work. Besides they are 

 more apt to maul or mouth the game they retrieve. All growing 

 pups and adult hunting dogs require more or less meat with their 

 food, but in the case of the former, it is better for the animals, if it 

 be in the form of broth mixed with their mush. 



AGE. 



To tell the age of a dog approximately, examine the upper front 

 teeth. Until eighteen months old, these are rounded on the edge; 



