IN SEASON. 227 



bitches never bred good ones after their first litters, and 

 all puppies in those litters were grand. 



Another important fact of which many breeders are un- 

 mindful is, that bitches must not be allowed to become too 

 fat, for where there is a tendency in that direction there 

 is usually a lack of constitutional vigor, an impairment of 

 the milk-secreting glands and some loss of fertility. Take, 

 for instance, a bitch that has been laying on too much fat 

 during her second year ; the chances are that when she 

 reaches maturity her procreative functions will be so lack- 

 ing that it will be hard to breed her, or if successfully 

 bred she will have small litters and poor puppies, also be 

 deficient in milk, for too much fat during the growing 

 stage means retarded development of the generative organs 

 and lessened activity in the mammary glands. 



Now assume that the bitch which is much too fat had 

 several litters before she became so. It will be hard to 

 mate her, because the natural promptings which charac- 

 terize the season have given place to almost complete 

 indifference. Again, her generative organs are much less 

 active than normal ; moreover, there are chances that they 

 have undergone some fatty degeneration which impairs or 

 entirely destroys their functional activity. Or if such is 

 not the case and she is successfully bred, the litters or the 

 puppies, or both, are quite certain to be small, because of 

 impairment of vital energy and vigor of the reproductive 

 powers, and not impossibly some mechanical obstruction 

 exerted on the generative organs by the fat deposited on 

 and near them. 



Some say a bitch can scarcely be too thin at the time 

 of service if she is strong and healthy and free from worms, 

 but she is nearest right, and her breeding powers are the 

 most vigorous, when in the middle state — that is neither 

 too fat nor too thin. 



