FEEDING 227 



or training it is advisable to have a special biscuit prepared with the pro- 

 portion of meat doubled or trebled, or feed fresh meat in addition to the 

 regular-biscuit. 



"The number of meals a dog should be given daily is a matter fre- 

 quently discussed. I prefer to give a light meal in the morning (fed dry), 

 such as two or three dog biscuits or their equivalent, and a full meal at 

 night. The morning meal should be given at least one hour before the dog 

 is put down in the field, so as to enable the stomach juices to partially digest 

 it. Under no circumstances should a dog be worked directly after feeding 

 a full meal. The stomach, like all muscles and organs, requires during 

 action an increased blood supply. During exercise the blood is drawn from 

 the stomach and other internal organs to other parts of the body and the 

 food, instead of being digested, lies as a heavy load with a liability to fer- 

 ment and produce diarrhea or dysentery that will incapacitate the animal. 

 Table scraps and 'pick ups,' if clean and fresh, free from fat and grease 

 (they seldom are), may be tolerated for house or pet dogs, but the sports- 

 man who attempts to take his dog through a hard season's hunting on such 

 food is blind to his own and his dog's interests." 



Feeding Puppies. — Now as to feeding of puppies. As soon as they are 

 weaned, which should be done gradually, and which you will find under 

 head of "Breeding," their food should consist of boiled or scalded milk 

 (never feed raw milk to puppy) in which soak some bread. Potatoes and 

 gravy, bread and gravy, and soups with plenty of vegetables in, such as 

 carrots, turnips, beets and rice. Chicken gravy or the gravy from stewed 

 giblets in which some flour has been added, is a very nourishing and fa- 

 vorite food for puppies. If the scalded milk is found to be too constipating, 

 add some oatmeal porridge to thicken it. When he is cutting his teeth, 

 crumbs of toast, hard cracker or crusts of stale bread are needed. No one 

 cares to eat the outside slice of a loaf, so that may be made stale, hard, and 

 broken up for the liUle dog, well soaked in the soup or milk. Spratt's 

 Patent makes a special puppy biscuit that is very good to feed to the young- 

 sters as soon as their teeth will admit of chewing same, which biscuit 

 should be broken up into small pieces. You can also feed this softened in 

 soup. When the puppy is about up to three months old, 1 would then give 

 this biscuit for one meal a day, fed dry but broken into small pieces. A 

 very little cooked beef and mutton, cut up very fine can now be given 

 mixed in with their other foods, and some of the mush of stale bread (see 

 article on Feeding) will be all right to give them, in which you can mix 

 thoroughly the finely cut up meat, but not too much meat until a little 

 older. Puppies up to three months of age should be fed four times a day 

 and then gradually cut down to three meals a day, which will generally be 

 often enough to feed until they get to be from four to five months old. At 

 six months old, or about there, I put them on the regular bill of fare with 

 the grown dogs, excepting that their portion of cooked meat is not so 

 liberally dealt out at supper, but the large bones they have free access to 

 with the older dogs. I don't believe in keeping a puppy on a milk diet too 

 long, and think it best to break them off from this when they get along to be 

 three or four months old and let water be their drink. 



Burn all your chicken, turkey and fish bones or any small bones like 

 those from a lamb chop. Small bones are dangerous. Dogs chew them up 

 rapidly and being tender, make slivers of them, and if one of these small 

 slivers gets into a dog's throat the wrong way or fails to pass through 

 without any detention — it's generally a case of "good-bye dog." Many dogs 

 have died from this alone. 



Avoid sharp bones, especially fish and chicken bones, as you would 

 poison, for they frequently are more effective in killing a dog than is 

 strychnine or some other deadly agent; in that poison can be neutralized 

 by powerful antidotes or removed by the use of emetics, while a bone finds 

 its way into the intestines and does its deadly work without hindrance. 



Confections, cake and dainties of all sorts should also be tabooed from 

 the bill of fare; they are not the natural food of a dog, and beside their 

 weakening effect create a false and dainty appetite which interferes with 



