THE BKOOD BITCH. 525 



of events. In making this statement we attribute to the writers no desire to impose on 

 public credulity, but we think they have too often forgotten the influence which surrounding objects 

 exercise over the mind of a pregnant female. This opinion is shared by many breeders of 

 live stock, and it is notorious that a celebrated breeder of black polled cattle had his premises 

 and fences tarred, with the express object of assisting Nature in keeping the colour of his 

 stock as deep as possible. It is, however, quite impossible for us to go at length into the 

 subject, and it must therefore be dismissed with the remark that as many breeders firmly 

 believe, from personal experience, that such a thing as past influence is possible, especially in 

 the case of maiden bitches, due vigilance should be exercised in the thorough isolation of 

 bitches when in season, or more than a temporary evil and disappointment may occur 



PUPPING. 



Having selected a proper mate for his bitch, and sent her to him, all anxiety is removed from 

 an owner's mind for some time at least ; for during the first period of going with young, the bitch 

 will require no special diet or attention. It may be here stated, for the benefit of the uninitiated, 

 that the period of gestation amongst dogs is sixty-three days, and that this time is rarely exceeded 

 unless something is wrong, though it sometimes occurs that the whelps make their appearance 

 some days before they are expected. During this period the bitch should be allowed plenty 

 of exercise, but during the latter portion of her pregnancy she is peculiarly liable to chills ; 

 every care should therefore be taken to avoid any risk of her taking cold, and all washing 

 operations and violent exercise must then be suspended. Our own experience has taught us that in 

 the majority of instances it is almost impossible to tell whether or no the bitch is in whelp until 

 the third or fourth week, and on many occasicns we have known breeders to be in doubt for a 

 much longer period ; in fact, on discussing with a very well-known Pointer- exhibitor the accouche- 

 ment of one of his exhibits during a show, he assured us that when she left home she had shown 

 no traces of being in whelp, and as a matter of fact her time was not up until the following week. 



A week or so before the date on which it is expected that she will whelp, the bitch should 

 be installed in the quarters in which it is arranged the interesting event is to take place. The 

 reason for this is that dogs must get used to a kennel before they will make themselves at home in 

 it, and this feeling is peculiarly perceptible in the case of a bitch who has recently whelped ; for 

 in many cases she will try and carry her puppies (greatly to the damage of the latter) back to 

 her old quarters rather than let them remain in a kennel to which she is unaccustomed. 

 Having got her reconciled to her change of abode, the locale of which should, if possible, be away 

 from the other dogs, so as to let her have more quiet (but warmth and absence of draught are even 

 more essential than isolation in such cases), and supposing the time of her whelping to be near 

 at hand, it is desirable that the bitch should be provided with a diet of a more strengthening 

 character than that which she has been in the habit of receiving. This need not consist entirely of 

 meat or other heating foods, which can only tend to increase her discomfort in parturition, but 

 may be made of scraps well boiled or stewed, with the addition of bread, meal, or rice, which in 

 their turn will absorb the gravy or soup, and form, in conjunction with the scraps, when the latter 

 are chopped up, a meal which is both wholesome and nutritious. A few days before the puppies 

 make their appearance a considerable change is usually perceptible in the bitch ; the presence of 

 milk can be detected, and a considerable enlargement of the stomach takes place. Her behaviour 

 too, clearly indicates that she is uneasy and in pain, and in many instances the appetite entirely 

 fails, and the bowels become confined. In the latter case a mild purgative of either castor, 



