Up to this time the puppies have been given shin bones from which the meat has been scraped. Now all the large ones - also nearly cleaned - that are taken from the soup should be thrown into their yards after breakfast, but the small pieces, sharp splinters, etc., must be withheld, for they might choke them. It will be well, also, to give them occasionally an uncooked bone to which a little meat is so firmly adherent that they cannot detach it except by much hard work, that they may acquire early a fondness for raw meat, which is often distasteful to them at first.

After they are two months old their vegetable and meat soups should be made quite thick, and for this purpose stale well-baked bread, rice or a little oatmeal that has been "cooked on honor," may be employed. Or dog cakes can be used for occasional change, but these being dense and hard it will be necessary to soften them by soaking in cold water for several hours - preferably overnight - and then, after crushing with the fingers, to put them into the kettle to boil with the other ingredients of the soup.

But whatever the foods resorted to for the purpose of thickening, in the last feeding at night the proportion of meat should be one-fourth - that is, there should be no more than three parts of vegetables and starches to one of meat. And very soon it will be advisable to remove the meat and vegetables from the soup, and, after mixing them with stale bread, crackers, rice or other well-cooked starchy food, use merely sufficient broth to soften the various ingredients.

After the second month, puppies of the largest varieties should have a little cod-liver oil in their feed at eleven, each puppy's portion being about one-fourth of a teaspoonful at first. And as this oil is laxative in overdoses it will be necessary to have an eye to the droppings; but if no effect on the bowels is noted the dose can be gradually increased to a teaspoonful, and after a short time repeated at the last meal - at night.

It is well to advert here to the notion held by many that young puppies should have "sloppy" food until they are three or four months old. But this is a grave mistake, and were it not enough that at least two feedings of thick concentrated foods are absolutely demanded for support, structure-building, etc., there is still another important reason for feeding puppies on them instead of always on milk and thin broths. No one needs to be told that these little ones are extremely liable to be infested with worms soon after birth, and that if the pests are once lodged in their intestines, unless quickly expelled there are many chances of their proving fatal.

Now, sloppy foods greatly favor worms, but solid foods are hostile to them, because they force them, mechanically, to break their hold on the mucous lining of the intestines to which they cling, and gradually sweep them down the canal out of the body. Consequently for this reason, if for no other, it is advisable that thick foods be given at as early an age as possible.

En passant, it is well to allude briefly to that ancient theory that "raw cow's milk" is conducive to worms. It certainly cannot cause worms, but there is ample reason for the belief that it favors their growth or at least is not unfriendly to them. It furnishes ample nourishment for their support, and at the same time they are in no way unpleasantly affected by it. Beyond this, raw cow's milk is really not kindly received by a puppy's stomach, in the lining of which it causes more or less irritation, which in turn results in an increased secretion of mucus, and this mucus is supposed to be the repository of the ova or eggs from which the worms are propagated.

In using vegetables the fact must be kept in sight that they deteriorate with keeping, and while some become hard and stringy and therefore much less digestible, others are soon absolutely unfit for man or dogs. The so-called greens should be as fresh as possible; the potatoes must not be too young nor too old; and the carrots, turnips, beets and the like, always in good state of preservation. The cabbage while yet sound and wholesome is soft but crisp, but when the leaves have wilted fermentation has occurred in them and they are most noxious, causing among other disturbances the generation of an enormous amount of gas in the intestinal canal.

It must also be borne in mind that a large proportion of these substances are more or less laxative in their action, consequently the droppings must be watched to determine whether or not they are wisely used. And they, like all other foods, should be varied frequently, mashed turnips being in excess of other vegetables in one evening meal, potatoes in the next, perhaps, and so on down the list, not omitting cabbages, which when long and well boiled, minced fine and thoroughly mixed with meat, can generally be used to advantage once or twice a week.

And it goes without saying that should constipation be noted it will be advisable to increase the quantity of the "greens," they being the most laxative, while if the bowels become too free the use of all vegetables should be discontinued for a time and milk and bread or rice constitute the nourishment.

What is known as flour gruel is the remedy to check the discharges, and this is made by boiling wheat flour long and well in skimmed milk; or the flour can be baked in an oven until it has turned a light brown and then added to boiling milk, and given without further cooking as soon as it has cooled. And in both instances sufficient flour should be used to thicken the milk to the consistency of oatmeal porridge.

It is not merely sufficient to fill the stomach of a puppy or mature dog, or in other words to supply in proper amount that one substance which best meets his requirements, for there is risk of falling off in condition unless different substances of the same classes are employed in rotation. Therefore breeders should hold variety in diet of importance to health; and they may accept that when it is afforded, not only the appetite but the digestive powers are better for it.

Admitting all this, one soup will be made of beef; the next of mutton; then one of veal, fish or other animal food. At the same time, while duly appreciating that an admixture of several kinds of vegetables will make the soup more wholesome, nutritious and appetizing, as already advised a different kind will be a little in excess every day. And so it will be with the starchy foods, bread being largely relied upon for thickening one day, oatmeal the next, then dog cakes, rice, etc.

Thus varying the diet and carefully noting the effects of every change, a good sound dietary can soon be established, with the assurance that among the various foods there will be all the important elements required for tissue-building, strength and renovation; or in other words, for growth, vigor and health.

Beef and mutton will furnish variety enough in the way of animal food for puppies until they are three months old; after which veal and fish can be added to the list of materials, and no further additions need be made from this class of foods during the next two months. Then a bit of tripe, well boiled in milk and minced, may be given now and then if well borne. But all additions must be experimental and made gradually, for although they may be in the right direction the stomach in some instances will require time to conform to them.

The milk can properly be scalded during the first two or three months, but after that it will scarcely require this treatment and can be given "raw."

At the fifth month, when the number of feedings is reduced to three daily, milk and bread in sufficient quantity to meet all requirements cannot safely be given for breakfast, for fear of putting too great weight upon the limbs; consequently thereafter good rich soups or quite solid feedings of vegetables, meat and bread, rice or other starchy food, should generally be given instead, although the milk and bread, rice or oatmeal may still be allowed for a change.

But if the puppies are of medium-size breeds and strong and healthy, after the eighth month, when generous feeding is not likely to lessen activity and discourage exercise, and there is no longer any danger of injury to the legs and feet by heavy weight above, milk can be returned to as the mainstay for breakfast; and it may be new or skimmed milk or buttermilk, and allowed in quite generous quantities, with bread or dog cakes for thickening.

With large dogs, however, these generous feedings of milk or like foods can scarcely be safely allowed before the twelfth month, because even then there is danger of their "going over on their legs." And certainly such feedings, or generous drinks of any fluids, must never be permitted if there is weakness of the limbs, splay feet or other deformities below.