THE DOG. 



■IHE MANAGEMENT OF PUPPIES. 



Should your cauiae she-pet have pups, it will be ■nell to adopt 

 the following directions. Don't handle them during the first 

 week any more than is absolutely necessary. The mother will 

 be spared considerable anxiety if you observe this. Beyond 

 making her a comfortable bed, or, rather, supplying her with 

 comfortable bedding material, and allowing her plenty of good 

 food, your attentions may be spared. Tou must, however, be 

 careful that excessive fondness for her progeny does not so far 

 lead her to neglect exercise as to injure her health. No doubt 

 she will, on the day foUowiug the birth of her family, be very 

 loth to respond to your whistle, and would much rather stay at 

 home and cuddle her babies than go a- walking. In this, how- 

 ever, — always assuming her to be a healthy animal, — she must 

 not be indulged. Take her a -short walk — say of a mile's 

 length, and then let her return to her family. Afterwards, she 

 may be expected to get about pretty much as usual. 



Some she-dogs are averse to suckling the pups they give 

 bu'th to ; others will, as is the case with cats, rabbits, and other 

 animals, eat them as soon as they come into the world. Both 

 sorts of dog are, of course, objectionable ; but, in my opinion, 

 the last-mentioned is least so. The she that evinces no iu 

 clination to give suck to her pups, is, in all probability, physi- 

 cally incapable of performing that necessary function, and will 

 remain so, to the expense and perplexity of her owner, as long 

 as she lives ; but the disposition to cannibalism is not likely to 

 be a fixed propensity. As no satisfactory cause for the ap- 

 parently unnatural act has yet been assigned, one cannot be 

 wrong in choosing to ascribe it to benevolent, rather than to 

 malicious motives. One thing is certain, that the animal may 

 eat her pups once, and never, in the whole course of her Ufe, 

 repeat the eccentricity. Indeed, it has been remarked that 

 such dogs are generally among the most affectionate and weU 

 disposed. 



As before stated, the mother of the pups must be generously 

 fed. Healthy pups wUl, after the first few days, add at least 

 an ounce daily to theu: weight ; and in cases where the un- 

 lucky mother has five or six youngsters, it may be easily 

 imagined that the drain on her system must be enormous — 

 five ounces of puppy-flesh and bone to be realized from her 

 teats 1 At the same time, it must of course be borne in mind 



