Foster mothers can generally be obtained for trifling sums, but very rarely indeed within a day or even a week; therefore they should be sought for early; and the course that suggests itself as the easiest and surest is to advertise the want in the kennel papers at least a month before the bitches they are to assist are expected to whelp.

Quality need not enter into the considerations in choosing a foster mother, for a mongrel will do as well as a pure breed, and perhaps better. Nor is the question of size a very important one, notwithstanding some breeders insist that the two mothers should be of about the same size; and while it is better, of course, that they be nearly so, or the foster the larger, a difference in the other direction need not weigh heavily unless very great.

But it is of the highest importance that the foster mother be in good health, and imperatively necessary is it that she be not only absolutely free from mange and other contagious affections but that there exist not the slightest danger of her being the carrier of disease. For instance, did she belong to a kennel in which there were or had recently been cases of distemper, although she herself might be perfectly safe from the disease she would yet be ineligible, since she would likely transmit the germs in her coat.

With due regard to possible irregularities in the duration of gestation, it is advisable that the foster mother be due to whelp about a day earlier than the bitch whose duties she may be called upon to assume. Yet nice adjustments need not be attempted, for milk three or four days older than that of the adopted is generally well borne, and, in fact, instances are not infrequent where puppies in the first or second days of life do well on milk from a week to ten days old.

As for puppies that are in the last part of the first week, milk even three or four weeks old is often kindly received by them. And in one case the writer put puppies of this age to the breasts of a mother and brought back her milk, which had nearly all disappeared, after she had weaned her own litter.

Another case of even greater interest than this was that of a Gordon. Some five months after whelping, one of her mates, a toy, had a litter of puppies, of which this setter at once - became very fond. And as she was entente cor-diale with their mother she was permitted to pass much of her time with them and snuggle them as she would her own. Very strangely, indeed, ere the end of the second week - and doubtless in consequence of frequent tugging by the puppies - milk appeared in her breasts, which were absolutely dry when these little ones were born; and she nursed them regularly until weaned. More than this, after the toys had been weaned, two mastiffs about a week old were put to her breasts, and these, also, she carried to the weaning.

Considering that delay is extremely liable to prove fatal, obviously the transfer of the puppies to the foster should be made as soon as signs appear indicating that their mother will be unable to nourish them. And the fact deserves emphasis that to wait for positive proof in this instance is always hazardous.

As to disposal of the foster's puppies, if they are worth raising efforts should be made to nourish them artificially, otherwise they should be given to the suspected mother, and in case her milk takes on an increase some of her own little ones can be returned to her.

In discussing this subject it is quite the custom to intimate that it is a hard task to induce foster mothers to do their duty by their charges, yet the writer's experience is at variance, and only in one instance has he encountered any difficulty, although he has made many transfers, while in this exceptional case the introduction was so abrupt and due formalities so slighted the results occasioned no surprise.

A wise course to pursue in making the transfer is to remove both litters, put all the puppies into the same basket and keep them together for several hours. In the mean time the breasts of the foster mother will fill up, and the distension causing her some discomfort, she will generally receive the strangers as cordially as she would her own. If, however, to delay is dangerous they should simply be put to her breasts and she be made to understand that she has no choice in the matter. Careful watching will, of course, be advisable for a time, but if all goes well the first day no uneasiness need be felt thereafter.

Puppies can be fed by means of a spoon or nourished in the same way as infants deprived of their mother's milk. And in event of the latter, which is the easier, the apparatus used should consist of merely a small bottle and rubber nipple, in the top of which has been placed a small piece of perfectly clean sponge, which fits easily without compression. But as most of the nipples found in shops have such small holes, and the milk does not flow as freely as it ought, it will be necessary to enlarge one or more of them to about the size of a "darning needle."

Puppies that are nourished artificially require feeding nights as well as days, and during the first week once every hour and a half is none to often; while every two hours should be the rule in the second week, and three hours in the third.

All this time they must be kept in a very warm place, and in a basket lined with a piece of flannel or soft blanket. And during the first few days a fold of this should be laid over them lest draughts strike them and they become chilled.

As for the quantity of food to be given at each feeding, it should be sufficient to fill out their abdomens, but not distend them - merely enough to overcome that flabbiness of the abdominal muscles which is so apparent when the stomach is empty.

Milk is the food required, and it may be direct from the cow or in condensed form. In the first instance it should be scalded, allowed to cool until merely "blood warm," and then to each feeding should be added a "pinch" of the saccharated pepsin, an agent which contains the digestive principles of the gastric juice. By this means cow's milk will be rendered nearly, if not quite, as easily digestible as the canine mother's, and dilution will not be necessary, nor would it be advisable, for the former is not so rich as the latter.