248 KENNEL SECRETS. 



If a bitch seems to favor a certain place for whelping 

 and its conditions are quite favorable — that is, it is easily 

 accessible, snug, warm and otherwise healthy— her choice 

 should be accepted, for there she will feel more contented. 

 But in absence of any decided preference she should be 

 put into a clean, comfortable room or pen — never a box 

 which will not easily admit her owner — with a floor space 

 so ample and a platform so large that she can work herself 

 around her puppies on all sides. 



As the degree of liability of a bitch lying on her pup- 

 pies depends very greatly upon the size of her platform it 

 should always be large enough to accommodate several 

 like herself. And this provision seems the only one 

 which promises much in the way of prevention, although 

 some breeders think that the danger can be still further 

 lessened by using the means which is so commonly 

 employed with swine, namely, a strip of board, from 

 four to six inches in width, around the room at just the 

 height of the bitch's back when lying down. 



This would keep her out from the walls, and if a puppy 

 happened to be caught under her it would have a chance 

 to reach the space beneath the ledge and escape. Yet 

 while this device has undoubtedly some advantages, 

 whether or not it is well to resort to it is an open ques- 

 tion. The ledge must be very low or the bitch would try 

 her best to squeeze under it. And if she could not do so 

 she would be liable to fret, fearing some of her puppies 

 were away from her ; and every time she got up to hunt 

 for them the chances of her getting on them would be 

 much increased. Thus one might intensify the danger of 

 the accident in trying to prevent it. 



Her bed made up and the bitch provided with a vessel 

 of clean, fresh, cold water, and a pan of milk, — with a 

 piece of ice in it if the weather is hot, lest it sour before 



