THE TEETH. 321 



with cattle, for the teething of a spaniel is over by the 

 time the animal is seven or eight months old. 



The teeth preserve their freshness and whiteness 

 until the dog is twenty months or two years old; 

 when they begin to be tarnished, and t\\efleur-de-lys 

 shape of some of the front teeth is changed to a more 

 rounded one. This is hastened or retarded by the 

 general health of the dog, and by the kind of food on. 

 which he lives; so that there is nothing about the 

 animal that will indicate the age with any degree of 

 certainty. The dog of five years old, who has plenty 

 of exercise, and is fed on soft food, will have a mouth, 

 full two years younger than another who has been in. 

 constant confinement, or who has been grossly fed 

 upon flesh. Some breeds of dogs, however, lose the. 

 teeth particularly early, and the difficulty of judging 

 of the precise age of course increases every year. In 

 the general course of things, supposing the animal to 

 be of a strong and healthy breed, the middle front 

 teeth of the lower jaw begin to be rounded at sixteen, 

 months, or between that period and two-and-twenty 

 months; the central lobe of the Jleur-de-lys is gone, 

 and the whole of the edge is level at between three 

 and four years old. 



The same process commences in the next incisors 

 between two years and a half or three years, and 

 terminates between four and five ; and in. the corner 

 front teeth it commences at four years, and is com- 

 pleted at five. The wearing away of the upper front 

 teeth has not been so carefully noted, and therefore of 

 these teeth nothing can with confidence be asserted. 

 p 5 



