308 
and in future operations you will be able to 
discard inferior puppies at any earlier age. 
But it is a great mistake, if you intend to 
form a kennel for show purposes, to sell 
or part with your puppies too early. It is 
notorious with all breeds that puppies 
change very much as they grow. The best 
looking in the nest often go wrong later, and 
the ugly duckling turns out the best of the 
litter. This is especially true of Dachshunds, 
and it requires an expert to pick the best 
puppy of a litter at a month or two old, and 
even he may be at fault unless the puppy is 
exceptionally well reared. 
It is not within the province of this 
chapter to give minute directions for rearing 
puppies, but I may just mention a few points 
for the benefit of novices. 
The main point I would lay stress upon 
is that to rear Dachshund puppies success- 
fully you must not overload them with 
fat—give them strengthening food that does 
not lay on flesh. Lean, raw beef, finely 
chopped, is an excellent food once or twice 
a day for the first few months, and, though 
this comes expensive, it pays in the end. 
Raw meat is supposed to cause worm troubles, 
but these pests are also found where meat 
is not given, and in any case a puppy is 
fortified with more strength to withstand 
them if fed on raw meat than otherwise, 
and a good dosing from time to time will 
be all that is necessary to keep him well 
and happy. 
Young growing puppies must have their 
freedom to gambol about, and get their 
legs strong, and this is another point I wish 
toemphasise. Never keep the puppies cooped 
up in a small kennel run or house. If you 
have a fair-sized yard, give them the run of 
that, or even the garden, in spite of what 
your gardener may say—they may do a 
little damage to the flowers, but will assuredly 
do good to themselves. They love to dig 
in the soft borders: digging is second 
nature to them, and is of great importance 
in their development. 
If you have not a garden, or if the 
flowers are too sacred, it is better to place 
your puppies as early as possible with 
respectable cottagers, or small farmers, 
THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 
especially the latter, with whom they will 
have entire freedom to run about, and wili 
not be overfed. My own plan is to keep 
my puppies at home till they are two or 
three months old, and then put them out 
to “walk’? on a farm, and leave them 
till they are six months old, when I pass 
judgment on them. 
My puppy kennel has a very spacious 
covered-in run attached, facing south. A 
low brick wall twelve inches high ‘runs all 
round three sides, and on this is built a 
double matchboarded shed. The front is 
entirely filled with greenhouse “lights,” 
hinged at the top and made to open to admit 
air without allowing rain to enter. There are 
also ventilators above these and just under 
the roof. Inside, the floor is slightly higher 
than the ground outside, which slopes away. 
This floor was arranged in the following 
way :—The ground was dug out to a depth 
of two feet and filled in with ashes well 
pressed down. On top there are six inches 
of dry garden mould, also well pressed down, 
but capable of being forked over and re- 
newed from time to time. This makes a very 
sanitary, warm floor for the puppies to run 
about on; it never smells offensively, and 
it is always dry, the droppings can be easily 
removed, and even if left a day or two are 
deodorised by the earth. I also had an 
artificial “earth”? or tunnel made in the 
run extending the whole length, and end- 
ing in a “den.” This was constructed of 
boarding on the sides and top, and buried in 
the run to a depth of several inches. This 
artificial “earth? was copied from that 
used in Germany, where, at the dog shows, 
trials for Dachshunds and terriers are some- 
times held on fox and badger, and my 
puppies find it a never-ending source of 
amusement. Here they play for hours, 
running in and out, and here every tit-bit 
in the shape of bones is taken, to be con- 
sumed at leisure. Great is the excitement 
when the fortunate possessor of a bone 
comes to bay in the den of this run, the 
other puppies charging him in_ rushes, 
fighting and scrambling and keeping up 
an incessant barking till either the bone is 
consumed or they lie down exhausted to 
