104 - 
Bcaglcs and Beagling 
season’s work, consequently she is better prepared 
to assume the burdens of motherhood and bring 
much more satisfactory results. 
The first indication that the period of oestrum 
or season is at hand will he noticed by the close 
observer in the changed temperamental characteris¬ 
tics of the bitch. The timid ones become bold, very 
often irritable; the bold ones sometimes become 
timid and nervous. It is the external changes that 
must be carefully noted at this time however. The 
genitals will become swollen and as soon as this 
becomes apparent she should he isolated from her 
companions in a room that is positively inaccessible 
to males. Far the better plan is to have a room 
on an upper floor in a barn, which should be venti¬ 
lated by well barred windows, high enough from 
the floor so that there he no drafts. If she is taken 
out during this period it must he under constant 
surveillance and the better plan is to keep the bitch 
on lead. It is surprising how readily the dogs of 
a neighborhood detect the presence of a bitch in 
season in a locality, hence it becomes manifest why 
the room on an upper floor is desirable, for dogs 
will dig under the floor of a lower room and bitches 
will themselves find a way to dig out of what may, 
to all appearances, be an impregnable enclosure. 
In a day or two after the swelling is first noticed, 
a whitish discharge will become evident, and this in 
another forty-eight hours or less changes to a pale 
pink, increasing in quantity and color until it is a 
discharge of pure blood. The entire period of 
oestrum extends over twenty-one days; some times 
less and occasionally more, hut three weeks is the 
