294 KENNEL SECRETS. 



are often filled and left in the pens between feedings, and 

 before fresh milk is put into them what remains of the 

 previous meal is simply poured out, or at best they are 

 but indifferently rinsed in cold water from the drinking- 

 pail. 



Until it has been proved that dogs are, by some pecu- 

 liarity of constitution, protected from the danger of milk 

 poisoning, clearly it is the duty of breeders to close every 

 door through which this accident might possibly enter. 

 Nor will prevention be difficult provided the milk is prop- 

 erly kept before it is served out, for all that is then re- 

 quired is to maintain cleanliness of the feeding-vessels. 

 And to this end, after they have been used they should be 

 well rinsed with cold soda- or lye-water, then filled with 

 boiling water and allowed to stand upon the top, or in the 

 oven, of a hot stove for ten minutes ; by which means, 

 and by none other, can they be made perfectly clean and 

 sweet, notwithstanding the notion that the scalding pro- 

 cess — merely pouring boiling water into them and at once 

 out again — is quite sufficient. 



While this method should be invariably applied in hot 

 weather, breeders will do well to persist in it during other 

 seasons, for one can never be too careful in his manage- 

 ment of young puppies, especially in the matter of foods 

 and all pertaining thereto, for even slight defects in them 

 are likely to be felt, and oftentimes with fatal conse- 

 quences. 



Attention to the skin and jacket is another matter for 

 consideration while on the subject of cleanliness, but it 

 need not long engage attention, for aside from keeping 

 them free from fleas and lice, and grooming them with a 

 brush every day after they are old enough to play about, 

 puppies demand but little in this direction. Grooming, 

 by the way, is advisable not alone because it stimulates 



