THE TOY BITCH WHEN PUPPING 9 



and Nature often, and very sensibly, arranges that she 

 shall do so when she has been regularly bred from 

 at her seasons for a number of times ; but outside 

 these occasions it is quite as often the dog's fault as 

 not. 



A question which is frequently asked is as to the 

 desirability or otherwise of giving a toy bitch worm 

 medicine, or an aperient, while she is in pup or just 

 before her babies arrive. It is as well to give one mild 

 dose of worm medicine about the end of the third week, 

 if the bitch is known to be troubled with these parasites 

 to any great extent ; but it would be much better 

 to have dosed her before her breeding time came on. 

 As to the aperient before pupping which we often see 

 advised, it is a totally unnecessary interference with 

 Nature, and when castor oil, a violent irritant to dogs, 

 is employed, it is a sheer piece of cruelty, likely to 

 have very bad effects. 



CHAPTER III 



THE TOY BITCH WHEN PUPPING 



Too much interference is generally alternated in the' 

 case of dogs with a disregard of their natural feelings 

 where the arrival of puppies is concerned. It is quite 

 natural that the little bitch, feeling distressed and 

 uneasy, should claim a great deal of notice and atten- 

 tion, and if she has been made a pet of she will expect, 

 and deserve, to be allowed to have her puppies in her 

 mistress's dressing-room or some similar luxury ; in 

 which she should be indulged. But once she has got 

 over the preliminaries, which I will presently describe, 

 she should, if possible, be left to herself as far as manual 

 assistance goes. Nature will bring the puppies into the 

 world far better than our clumsy hands, and the merest 

 little tyro of a year-old bitch generally possesses the 

 marvellous instinct teaching her to put her babies 



