282 KENNEL SECRETS. 



it is hardly possible to keep them too warm, and certainly 

 the degree of heat already advised for the whelping room 

 — 80° Fahr. — cannot be any too great. 



Obviously the period of greatest danger from cold exists 

 in the first few hours after birth, while the little ones are 

 wet with the amniotic fluid, yet even when they have dried 

 and their own natural bodily heat has developed they are 

 very easily chilled. Nor do they gain resistance rapidly, 

 but continue in danger of this accident for at least three 

 weeks — the degree, of course, gradually subsiding. 



It will doubtless seem to some that the period of special 

 liability to chilling having passed, puppies might with 

 safety, even in cold weather, be put into stables, kennels 

 or other buildings unfurnished with heating arrangements ; 

 and to believe this is made easier by the mistaken impres- 

 sions which are so prevalent about the invigorating effects 

 of cold. Without attempting to discuss these notions it 

 is merely necessary to say that cold is to some degree 

 invigorating to men and superior animals, provided their 

 bodies have sufficient covering to retain the internal 

 warmth and they are well developed, abundantly nourished, 

 healthy and robust. 



In all presenting these conditions cold will ordinarily 

 tend to promote vigor and energy, but it can never do so 

 when any of them are in considerable degree wanting ; 

 and certainly it cannot properly be considered other than 

 inimical to the very young and very old, in whom the 

 powers of resistance are invariably low. 



Clearly, therefore, young puppies should not be exposed 

 to cold excepting when they are sure to resist its depress- 

 ing effects by free exercise. It is evident, moreover, that 

 such exposures should not be of longer duration than the 

 requisite exercise. And accepting this as essential to the 

 preservation of the health of puppies, also the fact, too 



