THE CARE OF YOUNG PUPPIES 29 



is absolutely imperative. It is quite useless to 

 imagine that bringing puppies into the world 

 possessed of all the desirable points is the only end 

 at which you have to aim ; even assuming that you 

 are only breeding dogs for working in the field, it 

 is essential that they should have good bone and 

 sturdy frames. 



The cardinal principle to bear in mind in the up- 

 bringing of puppies is that they must be fed little 

 and often. Two or three meals a day may suffice 

 in exceptional circumstances, but as a general prin- 

 ciple it must be laid down that from the sixth to 

 the tenth week, at any rate, a meal should be given 

 every three hours of the day, and that this should 

 not be in excessive quantities. The diet should be 

 as varied as possible. Assuming that milk and broth 

 are the foundations, you may mix with these bread, 

 puppy biscuits, broken and first soaked in hot water, 

 well -boiled rice, and oatmeal. My own experience 

 has been and that coincides also with the views 

 of many of our oldest breeders that, after meat, 

 nothing equals brown bread. The difference between 

 puppies fed on brown bread and white is something 

 remarkable, and needs seeing to be really believed. 

 Plenty of meat also is called for, for, after all, that 

 is the natural food of a dog, and it is absurd to 

 fly wholly in the face of Nature, even when the 

 animals are reared under more or less artificial con- 

 ditions. Too many slops are not to be recommended ; 

 as soon as the puppies are old enough let the food 

 be of a solid nature, and when they are strong enough 

 to eat well -crushed puppy biscuits, let them have one 

 or two dry meals a day. 



With the larger varieties bone and size are 



