196 EVERYTHING ABOUT DOGS. 



RECEIVING PUPPIES. Many people who buy puppies do not give them proper 

 care on their arrival in the new home. In order to insure success with a puppy, 

 take it carefully from the crate in which it is received, making as little noise as 

 possible in so doing. Speak to it in a pleasant and sympathetic way, calling it 

 by its name, if it has any, which fact should always be ascertained before receipt 

 of the puppy from the seller, if possible. After removal from the crate, be care- 

 ful that the puppy does not get frightened and run off and hide. In order to 

 avoid this, let the youngster out into a space of moderate size at first. Bear in 

 mind that the journey, however short, has had the tendency to frighten and make 

 nervous any young dog. 



After allowing the puppy some freedom and an outing in an enclosure, for 

 sufficient length of time for it to attend to nature's calls, give it a bowl of boiled 

 milk and bread broken up, or a soft-boiled egg or two. Feed light for a few 

 days, at morning, noon a.nd night. If kept out of draughts and petted, the puppy 

 should soon get fully accustomed to his new home, and the sooner it is made to 

 feel at home by kindness and attention the better it will thrive and grow, and 

 the less will it feel the shock of the change to its new quarters. 



Remember that while it may, and probably did, start clean, it may reach you 

 soiled, due to getting in its own filth in box, so this must be considered, and you 

 remember that a bath, if only a sponging off, if in winter, and on their very 

 thorough drying, will soon very much improve its appearance. Before you buy 

 a pup, or even an adult dog, find out from its seller if it has been thoroughly and 

 successfully treated for worms, and if not, attend to this promptly (See Worms). 

 Very few breeders, however, nowadays, but do treat all their puppies for worms 

 before selling or shipping which they should do. The dog you receiive may 

 howl or cry the first nigiit in his new home, don't be surprised if it does (you 

 might do the same under the same circumstances), but put up with this the dog 

 is worth afl the trouble or interruption it might cau&e you and kindness will 

 soon cure it of this. 



FEMALES AS PETS. In selecting a dog for a pet, the erroneous idea seems 

 to prevail to a great extemt of always getting a male. Here is where you often 

 make a mistake, for if you have only one dog, a female is preferable in many 

 respects. In the first place, a female is more affectionate, or ghows it more than 

 a male, is cleaner abolit the house, more obedient, and less liable to run away. 

 The objection to a female seems to be that she will come in season; so she will, 

 but this only happens once in every five to seven months, and then till again in 

 season you have no trouble. A malt Jog is alivays "in season," and should there 

 be a female that is in season, even a mile away, he will find it out, and, unless 

 chained up, or gates of your yard watched very closely, your dog is gone, and 

 then you find out what he discovered long before you did. Perhaps he'll find his 

 way home again, but the chances are much against it, and you'll now have the 

 chance to offer a reward for the return of your dog. 



Perhaps you'll get him back, and perhaps you won't. If, when your female 

 comes in season, you don't care to have her around, you send her to some kennel 

 to board for a couple of weeks (as many do with me), and thus save yourself, 

 for a trifling cost all this annoyance. There must be females or there wouldn't 

 be any dogs at all. When a female first shows signs, if you will make note of 

 the first day, you'll discover a bleeding, which will continue for from eight to 

 ten days, a swelling of the vagina with it. This bleeding and swelling will 

 begin to subside at from ten to twelve days, and then is when she is ready for 



