THE REARING OF YOUNG DOGS. 63 



ments and observations having for their object the truth, and 

 that only. 



THE REARING OF YOUNG DOGS. 



To procure the whelping of dogs in the spring is undoubtedly 

 desirable in kennels where many dogs are reared ; and in such it 

 is usual to encourage heat^ as it is called, in the females by liberal 

 feeding, &c., so that the young thus early produced may benefit 

 by the genial warmth of the summer, and expand their limbs by 

 exercise in the open air more freely. The number of young that 

 are brought forth at a birth varies from one to twelve : instances 

 have occurred where sixteen have been whelped, and I once re- 

 moved the same number from a dead setter : five, six, and seven, 

 are common numbers^. How many it is proper for the mother 

 to rear, must depend on circumstances : one that is very strong 

 and healthy may, with full feeding, bring up five : but when the 

 breed is valuable, and great size and strength are required, four, 

 or even three, are more proper ; among the delicate breeds no 

 more should ever be allowed. If a foster mother is procured 'for 

 the supernumerary pups, she should, if possible, be of the same 

 breed with themselves ; for from the experience I have had in this 

 particular, I am strongly inclined to believe that the qualities of a 

 foster mother are, in some degree, transferred with the milk ; and 

 when the breeds are distinct, this must be very prejudicial, I 

 am also borne out in this opinion by the testimony of other 



observant sportsmen"^. Constitutional diseases may be likewise 



ft 



' Albertus relates his knowledge of a mastiff bitch which littered the vast 

 number of fifty young ones at three consecutive parturitions ; viz., nineteen 

 at the first, eighteen at the second, and thirteen at the last. 



^ The learned author of A Treatise on Greyhounds introduces some quo- 

 tations to shew that this effect had not escaped the attention of the antients. 

 Columella, lib. vii, c. 12, has the following remarks on it: — "Nee nimquam 

 ** los quorum generosam volumus indolem conservare, patiemur alienae nutricis 

 " uberibus educari, quoniam semper lac et spiritus maternus longe magis in- 

 " genii atque incrementa corporis augeut." Similar observations occur in Xe- 

 nephon. de Venat. 987 ; Oppian. Venat. i, 442 ; Cynosophium, &c. 



