262 REARING. 
grow according to the demands made upon his mechanism, and 
if the muscles are left idle they do not enlarge, while the feet 
remain thin and weak, with the tendons and ligaments relaxed, so 
that they spread out like a human hand. Growing puppies should 
be provided with an area sufficiently large for them to play in, 
according to their size, and under cover up to the end of the third 
month; after which, if they have a sheltered sleeping-place to run 
into, they will generally avoid heavy rain. Young puppies play 
sufficiently in a loose box or similar enclosure; but, after the time 
specified above, they must either have their entire liberty, or be 
allowed the run of a large space, the alternative being bad feet, 
defective development, and weak joints. 
HOME REARING VERSUS WALKING, 
‘When one or two puppies only are to be reared, they may be 
readily brought up at home, excepting in towns or other confined 
situations where due liberty and a proper amount of sun and air 
cannot be obtained. But where a larger number are to be reared, 
as in the case of hounds, greyhounds, pointers and setters, d&c., 
there is a difficulty attending upon numbers, as a dozen or two 
of puppies about a house are not conducive to the neatness and 
beauty of the garden; besides which, the collection together in 
masses of young dogs is prejudicial to their health. To avoid this 
evil, therefore, it is customary to send puppies out at three or four 
months of age to be kept by cottagers, butchers, small farmers, 
&c., at a weekly sum for each, which is called “walking” them. 
Young greyhounds may be reared in a large enclosure, which 
should be not less than thirty or forty feet long, with a lodging- 
house at one end; but hounds do not take exercise enough in a 
confined space, and should invariably be sent out. It is only, there- 
fore, in reference to the rearing of greyhounds that the two plans 
can be compared, or perhaps also with pointers and setters, if they 
are taken out to exercise after they are four or five months old. 
The two plans have been extensively tried with the longtails, 
and in my own opinion the preference should be given to the 
home-rearing tf properly carried out, because it has all the advan- 
