EARLIEST PUPPYHOOD. 29 1 



None who have kept dogs need be told that the atmos- 

 phere of a room holding one of them soon becomes 

 loaded with offensive emanations from the tenant's body. 

 Now add to these impurities others, even in greater 

 abundance, such as arise continually and from numberless 

 sources wherever there is a litter of puppies, and contami- 

 nation is so rapid that efficient and safe renewal is well- 

 nigh impossible excepting in the mildest weather. 



In considering the question of ventilation the quarters 

 of nursing puppies may be likened to sick-rooms, for the 

 tenants of the latter require much more fresh air than 

 they would were they in good health, and yet the renewal 

 of the contaminated air must be less rapid owing to the 

 increased susceptibility to draughts. Puppies in propor- 

 tion to their size need more pure air and suffer greater 

 harm from bad air than mature dogs, and they, also, are 

 feeble and highly susceptible to draughts. Consequently 

 in both instances where artificial warmth is required, to 

 secure good ventilation will never be easy, and always 

 impossible without care and watchfulness. 



In warm weather, when open windows and doors are 

 matters of course, there is but little difihculty in obtaining 

 an abundant supply of fresh air, but the necessity is none 

 the less in cold weather, — a fact much too little appre- 

 ciated, — and to meet it in the case of puppies, as with 

 the sick, one of the most important essentials in a gener- 

 ous use of fuel. 



Duly mindful that draughts are a deadly menace to 

 puppies, the careful breeder will resort to some of the 

 numerous devices for opening the windows and at the 

 same time protecting the inmates. The simplest of these 

 devices is a board, about one foot in width, on the win- 

 dow-sill, and nailed or otherwise fastened to the inner 

 casing, about an inch from the sash. With this in place 



