88 HOKSES AND HOUNDS. 



As soon as your brood bitches become at all liea\Tr, tLey 

 slioiild be removed from the kennel, and put into the paddock 

 intended for bitches and their whelps. In my plan for kennels 

 there are two low sheds, one facing the south, the other the 

 west, for this purpose. The larger you can afford to make this 

 paddock the better, but if the i)itches can roam at large, it is 

 far preferable for them, than being confined within ever so large 

 a place. Air and exercise will greatly contribute to the health 

 of the mother and her offspring, and, if possible, the brood 

 bitches should always have their liberty, care being taken that 

 they are shut up before the evening. To prevent their rambling 

 about in search of food, they should be fed regularly twice a 

 day, at eight or nine o'clock in the morning, and four or five in 

 the evening. They should not have too much flesh in their 

 meal, but if skim milk could be substituted for flesh, they would 

 do better on this diet. By over and injudicious feeding 1 have 

 seen bitches so feverish that their hair came off, and the whelps 

 when produced were scarcely worth keeping. It is a good plan 

 to give them a few Epsom salts in liquor, once or twice a week 

 before whelping. They are intended more as an alterative than 

 as physic. After whelping I give a tablespoonful of castor oil, 

 with sheep's head broth, or milk mixed with oatmeal, for two 

 or three days. From that time there is little fear of their doing 

 well, and as the whelps increase in size, the mothers will become 

 ravenous. I do not object then to their having raw flesh occa- 

 sionally, not in lumps or in large quantities, but let the feeder 

 cut most of the flesh from the bones, and then give them the 

 bones to pick. 



In_ selecting the whelps for keeping, take the longest and 

 heaviest, unless you are particular as to colour. Five are a 

 sufficient number for any bitch to rear if you wish them to be 

 of a good size; but for the first 'two days I should leave six or 

 seven with the mother, provided she has abundance of milk, 

 not otherwise. This is only to provide against accidents, for 

 bitches, if young, will often overlay and kill their whelps. Be 

 careful, however, not to keep more than five with the mother, 

 after two or three days have elapsed at farthest, or you will 

 spoil the whole litter. If you want to raise your pack to a good 

 standard, which is not to be done without fine brood bitches, 

 keep only four whelps with the mother, all bitches, and provide 

 some wet nurses for the others if they are of a favourite sort. 

 A terrier will bring up two as a makeshift, but I generally 

 prefer a hound about whose" own whelps you are not over par- 

 ticular, coming in at the same time with a favourite bitch, and 

 you may then save nearly all the litter, at least eight or nine 

 between the two. 



