Rearing of Puppies 
65 
not only of Shepherds, but of all breeds that carry 
erect ears, of all wild dogs and all the wolves. The 
erection of the ear may take place within six weeks 
and may take until the eighteenth month. The ear 
that does not come up is a great exception. Then 
there are occasional influences that may tend to a 
prevention, such as air injury from a bite, or some¬ 
times distemper will cause an ear infection that may 
prevent the ultimate erection, but all these occur 
very rarely. 
Analogous with the ear carriage, we find the tail 
carriage. In very small puppies we find it assuming 
all sorts of positions; it may be very erect or carried 
very low. As the puppy grows it finally begins to 
stabilize itself, and at about the eighth month it 
usually has assumed its ultimate carriage. Bad ring 
or curl tails are usually evident at a very early age. 
At birth a healthy puppy weighs about one pound, 
and before the end of the first week will weigh from 
one and one-half to two pounds; the second week 
his weight will range between two and four pounds; 
the third week between three and five and one-half 
pounds. Between the third and fourth week there is 
a slackening of the increase, due to the fact that the 
puppy teethes at this time, so the weight at this time 
will be from three and a half to seven pounds; after 
this there is usually a steady increase of one and a 
half to two and a half pounds until the eighth week. 
