238) REARING. 
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 appetite without 
which sufficient food for growth is not taken. 
REMOVAL OF DEW-CLAWS, &c. 
Before weaning, any cropping which is intended, whether of the 
dew-claw or tail, should be practised, but the ears should be left 
alone till the third or fourth month, as they are not sufficiently 
developed before. If, however, the operator does not understand 
his business thoroughly, it is better to leave the latter organs 
alone till a later period, as otherwise the proper quantity may not 
be cropped or rounded, as the case may be. Indeed, even the 
most skilful hand will hardly ever manage either the one or the 
other well before the fifth month ; and in hounds it is usual to 
defer it till they are nearly full-grown, as they often lose a,con- 
siderable 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 learnt to use it. Regular dog-fanciers bite off the tail, but 
a pair of scissors answers equally well; and the same may be said 
of the dew-claw. If, however, the nail only is to be removed, 
which it always ought to be, the teeth serve the purposes of a pair 
of nippers perfectly, and by their aid it may be drawn out, leaving 
the claw itself attached, but rendered less liable to injury, from 
having lost the part likely to catch hold of any projecting body. 
WEANING. 
When weaning is to be commenced, which is usually about the 
fifth or sixth week, it is better to remove the puppies altogether 
than to let the bitch goon suckling them at long intervals. By 
this time their claws and teeth have become so sharp and so long 
that they punish the bitch terribly, and therefore she does not 
let them fill their bellies, Her milk generally accumulates in her 
