e>0 KENNEL SECRETS. 



also, to give them occasionally an uncooked bone to 

 which a little meat is so firmly adherent that they can- 

 not detach it except by much hard work, that they may 

 acquire early a fondness for raw meat, which is often dis- 

 tasteful to them at first. 



After they are two months old their vegetable and meat 

 soups should be made quite thick, and for this purpose 

 stale well-baked bread, rice or a little oatmeal that has 

 been " cooked on honor," may be employed. Or dog 

 cakes can be used for occasional change, but these be- 

 ing dense and hard it will be necessary to soften them 

 by soaking in cold water for several hours — preferably 

 overnight — and then, after crushing with the fingers, to 

 put them into the kettle to boil with the other ingredients 

 of the soup. 



But whatever the foods resorted to for the purpose of 

 thickening, in the last feeding at night the proportion 

 of meat should be one-fourth — that is, there should be no 

 more than three parts of vegetables and starches to one .of 

 meat. And very soon it will be advisable to remove the 

 meat and vegetables from the soup, and, after mixing 

 them with stale bread, crackers, rice or other well-cooked 

 starchy food, use merely sufficient broth to soften the 

 various ingredients. 



After the second month, puppies of the largest varie- 

 ties should have a little cod-liver oil in their teed at 

 eleven, each puppy's portion being about one-fourth of a 

 teaspoonful at first. And as this oil is laxative in over- 

 doses it will be necessary to have an eye to the droppings ; 

 but if no effect on the bowels is noted the dose can be 

 gradually increased to a teaspoonful, and after a short 

 time repeated at the last meal — at night. 



It is well to advert here to the notion held by many that 

 young puppies should have " sloppy " food until they are 



