DETERMINATION OF AGE. 175 



The temporary teeth are twenty-eight in number six 

 incisors, two canines, and six molars in each jaw. 



They are softer, wider apart and get more so with the 

 growth of the jaw, smaller and more pointed, than those 

 that will succeed them. The incisors of the dog are very 

 characteristic, owing to their cusps or points, usually three 

 in number. 



The shedding of the teeth begins at about the four- 

 teenth to the sixteenth week ; but in this case the central 

 incisors are the first to be renewed, and the upper molars 



FIG. 11. ANTERIOR VIEW OF THE INCISORS AND CANINE TEETH IN A YEAR-OLD Doa 



(CHAUVEAU). 



are cut before the lower. Usually the canines appear soon 

 after, but they are more frequently delayed than the other 

 teeth. However, there is a good deal of difference, often 

 in even the same litter, as to the exact age at which the 

 renewal begins, the teeth are all shed, and the permanent 

 set is completed. Usually the dentition is complete before 

 the fifth month, but in the smaller breeds the completion 

 of the process may be delayed till the sixth or eighth 

 month. 



There is no increase in the number of incisors or 

 canines, but the molars in the second set are twelve in the 

 upper jaw (occasionally fourteen) and fourteen in the 



lower, making the total number of teeth forty-two, as in- 

 13 



