192 REARING. 



After the third week, when the puppies begin to run about, access 

 should be given them to a larger run, and an inclined plane 

 should be arranged for ihem to get up and down from their 

 boarded stage. If the weather is cold, the best place for a bitch 

 to whelp is in a saddle-room warmed by a stove, or an empty 

 stall, with a two-foot board placed across the bottom, opposite the 

 stall-post, so as to prevent the puppies getting among the horses. 

 In either case there is 'an amount of artificial heat, which conduces 

 to the growth of the puppies, and allows them to be reared suffi- 

 ciently strong to bear any cold afterwards with impunity. If the 

 weather is not cold, an ordinary horse-box is the best place which 

 can be chosen, fixing the boarded stage at a distance from the 

 door, and either sanding or slightly littering the brick floor, ac- 

 cording to the weather ; but the latter is to be preferred, excepting 

 in a very hot summer. In these boxes puppies take a vast amount 

 of exercise, which they require for health, and to give that appe- 

 tite without which sufficient food for growth is not taken. 



REMOVAL OF DEW-CLAWS, ETC. 



Before weaning, any cropping which is intended, whether of 

 the dew-claw or tail, should be practised, but the ears should be 

 left alone until the third or fourth month, as they are not suffi- 

 ciently developed before. If, however, the operator does not 

 understand his business thoroughly, it is better to leave the latter 

 organs alone, until a later period, as otherwise the proper quantity 

 may not be cropped or rounded, as the case may be. Indeed, ever 

 the most skillful hand will hardly ever manage either the one or th" 

 other well before the fifth month ; and in hounds it is usual to de- 

 fer it until they are nearly full grown, as they often lose a consider- 

 able quantity of blood, which interferes with their growth. But 

 the tail and dew-claws may always be best done, and with least 

 pain, while with the dam ; besides which, her tongue serves to heal 

 the wound better than that of the young puppy, who has hardly 

 learned to use it. Regular dog-fanciers bite off the tail, but a pair 



