CARE AND BREEDINGS. 117 



tions being borne out to a greater or less extent 

 by our own observations : 



After her puppies are about five weeks of 

 age a bitch will begin to vomit the contents of 

 her stomach for the puppies. I have known 

 many breeders of experience argiie tluit but few 

 bitches do so. Over and over again have I been 

 able to convince persons who, having immediate 

 care of the bitch and her litter, deny that the 

 bitch ever vomits to her puppies, that they are 

 wrong. Many bitches never vomit when the at- 

 tendant is about, and only appear to do so at 

 night; hence the belief tliat they do not do so 

 at all. It is the natural manner in which the 

 bitch feeds her whelp with partially digested 

 food, after her milk supply ceases to suffice for 

 their requirements. If the bitch is of good con- 

 stitution and in good health, the puppies flourish 

 remarkably on the diet thus provided, and in such 

 cases my experience leads me to believe that pup- 

 pies left with their dams do better than when 

 separated from them and, strange to say, bitches 

 who are in the habit of picking up all sorts of 

 apparently undesirable odds and ends do not 

 seem to do their puppies less well under these cir- 

 cumstances than cleaner feeders do. 



Many bitches eat the young soon as they 

 come if not closely watched, especially the first 

 time. There should be an attendant at time of 



