2l6 KENNEL SECRETS. 



legs grow the most rapidly at first, then the growth here 

 lessens and the body and head in turn grow the fastest. 

 Consequently they claim that if a bitch threatens to be 

 "leggy" and "spindling," she should be bred at her first 

 period. 



Before attempting to solve this problem there is a 

 theory which finds ready acceptance among physiologists, 

 and is sustained by the experience of many stock breeders, 

 which should be duly considered. This is, that the breed- 

 ing of immature animals is liable to arrest the develop- 

 ment and prejudice the general health of the mothers, 

 also increase the mortality of their offspring and predis- 

 pose that offspring to barrenness and sterility. 



In other words, in accordance with this theory, in early 

 breeding there is danger of permanent injury to the 

 mother, deficiency on the part of the offspring — as impair- 

 ment of constitutional vigor and special predisposition to 

 attacks of disease — and that offspring is liable to be 

 less fertile, this latter defect being inherited from the 

 ■mother, who these theorists maintain is less fecund 

 while yet immature than she will be after reaching 

 maturity. 



That statistics show that women under the age of 

 twenty are less productive than those between the ages 

 of twenty and thirty is a fact. That offspring of mothers 

 while yet immature and less fecund are liable to inherit a 

 tendency to lessened fertility is not at all unreasonable. 

 Many authorities in stock-breeding are very ready to 

 accept that early breeding has the effects stated on the 

 lower order of animals, and they evidently find ample sup- 

 port in the experience of intelligent breeders. 



Considering all this, also that there is no reason for 

 believing that bitches are notable exceptions to other 

 domesticated animals and beyond the plainly evident laws 



