TREATMENT OF THE MOTHER. 249 



night, — if her owner must leav^e her to herself he can go 

 away feeling that he has done about everything possible 

 to anticipate her wants. 



And now to consider in detail the treatment which 

 when possible should be given the mother and her pup- 

 pies at the time of whelping. 



Unless the weather is uniformly mild, at this eventful 

 period and for several weeks after it she should be quar- 

 tered in a room furnished with ample means for heating, 

 and for twenty-four hours at least its temperature must 

 not fall below 75° Fahr. ; while during the whelping and 

 until all the puppies are thoroughly dried and warm it 

 ought not to be below 80°. 



Each puppy is born in a bag, which consists of a 

 smooth, glistening and usually very thin membrane, and 

 contains more or less watery fluid known as the amniotic 

 liquor. This bag, while sometimes ruptured during labor, 

 is as a rule expelled intact, and when so the mother at 

 once proceeds to tear it open with her teeth. Having 

 succeeded she licks the little one for a minute or two — 

 which treatment acts as a stimulant and excites vigorous 

 movement — and then somewhat leisurely bites off the 

 so-called umbilical cord, one end of which is attached to 

 the middle of the puppy's abdomen, and the other to what 

 is known as the after-birth, a mass that looks not unlike 

 a large clot of dark blood. The cord bitten off, she 

 pushes the puppy with her nose around to a more con- 

 venient situation, continues to lick it for a time and 

 finally snuggles it up, generally to her neck, or if there 

 is a person in the room who she thinks may take it 

 from her she usually endeavors to conceal it with her 

 head. 



Now follows a period of relief from pain, which may be 

 short, not more than five minutes, or much longer, and 



