WEANING. 207 



growth. But the tail and dew-claws may always be best done, 

 and with least pain, while with the dam ; besides which, her 

 tongue serves to heal the wound better than that of the youno- 

 puppy, who has hardly learnt to use it. Regular dog-fanciers bite 

 off the tail, but a pair of scissors answers equally well ; and the 

 same may be said of the dew-claw. If, however, the nail only 

 is to be removed, which it always ought to be, the teeth serve 

 the purposes of a pair of nippers jDerfectly, and by their aid it 

 may be drawn out, leaving the claw itself attached, but rendered 

 less liable to injury, from having lost the part likely to catch 

 hold of any projecting body. 



WEANING. 



When iceaning is fo he commenced, which is usually about 

 the fifth or sixth week, it is better to remove the puppies alto- 

 gether, than to let the bitch go on suckling them at long in- 

 tervals. By this time their claws and teeth have become so 

 sharp and so long, that they punish the bitch terribly, and 

 therefore she does not let them fill their bellies. Her milk 

 generally accumulates in her teats, and becomes stale, in which 

 state it is not fit for the whelps, and by many is supposed to 

 engender worms. The puppies have always learned to lap, and 

 will eat meat, or take broth or thickened milk, as described in 

 the last chapter ; besides which, when they have no chance of 



