58 THE AIREDALE 



they are full of water and waste. She needs 

 more concentrated nourishment. When you 

 think that you can fairly " see puppies grow," 

 you can appreciate how great a drain there is on 

 the mother. Because of this, it is never advisable 

 to let a terrier attempt to raise more than five at 

 the outside, and four is really better than five. 

 If a foster cannot be obtained very often the 

 local pound will have a healthy mongrel which 

 they will let you have for the license fee it is 

 kindness and economy to kill off the puppies in 

 excess of four or five. 



What ones to destroy is a delicate question. 

 It is usually safe to discard the last one born, 

 who is so often the runt of the family that he is 

 known to kennel men and veterinarians as the 

 " wreckling." It takes a very experienced eye to 

 tell much about the points of a new born puppy, 

 but two salient features to be remembered are 

 that not once in a hundred times will a light eye 

 get darker and any tendency to big ears is com- 

 paratively easy to spot and invariably gets 

 worse. A good safe rule in terrier puppies is to 

 save the ones with the longest, flattest heads, the 

 heaviest, straightest fore legs, dark eyes, small 

 ears, short bodies, taking these points in the or- 

 der named, but discarding any pup who is glar- 

 ingly off in any of these details. 



