During these operations the attendant will occasionally be able to render valuable assistance, but he should never interfere as long as the mother is doing her work speedily and well; and when he does so he should be gentle and easy in his movements yet act with firmness and without any hesitation. If her teeth are poor or she is " undershot" - as in the case of bull-dogs, and quite often with mastiffs - it will not be easy for her to rupture the bags, and even having sound and well-placed teeth it may be difficult because of the unusual thickness of the membranes. Obviously, therefore, this part of her duty should be promptly met and the puppies quickly freed, otherwise they must soon drown in the water in which they are floating, or die from the want of air.

Where the mother is at fault the remedy is easy, for the attendant has merely to tear open the bags by pinching a side with his thumbs and forefingers; or he can if he prefers use scissors or knife, which may be required when the membranes are very thick and resistant.

The severing of the umbilical cord should be left to the mother when she can possible attend to the operation, for it contains blood-vessels that require just the treatment she administers, and were it cut by a sharp instrument at once after birth hemorrhage would occur. But if she fails in this work it should be done by the attendint, who should amputate the cord, by the means of scissors, about three inches from the puppy's abdomen. This operation can be performed with perfect safety five minutes after the little one is in the world, for circulation in the cord will then have ceased and the bloodvessels collapsed.

With every birth the mother rises on her forelegs and twists herself to reach the new-comer, which she properly cares for and pushes around in front of her before she again lies down. It is in this act far oftener than in any other that she crushes her puppies, for although such contortion is never very easy even for bitches of light build, to those of short and ponderous bodies it evidently proves extremely tiresome, and although they invariably try to prevent it, not infrequently they fall back quite heavily as though exhausted.

Considering which, also the disposition to snuggle the puppies as soon as they are born, obviously the accident in question must often happen unless they are removed out of harm's way. And this is always best with large breeds, which are never disturbed if the precaution is taken properly. The attendant has merely to provide a shallow basket, containing a piece of well-warmed flannel or blanket, and in this place the puppies as soon as the cords have been detached. They will now be kept warm, dry quickly and gain more speedily in vitality and strength than they would on the bed with the mother; and if the basket is placed in front of her, where she can easily see into it while lying down, she will not be likely to show any concern over the interference.

The whelping over, the mother will lie quietly for a short time, during which she should not be disturbed, but when she gets up voluntarily, all being in readiness, her platform and straw - now wet and soiled - should be removed, the floor hastily mopped and covered with sawdust where damp, and a dry platform and fresh, clean and dry bedding be put in.

This done, and the soiled parts of the mother hastily sponged with warm water, as soon as she has lain down the puppies should be taken from the baskets and put to her breasts. They will generally require some assistance at first, and if so let it be rendered as follows : Take the puppy in the right hand, - its back to the palm, - the grasp being well forward so that the thumb and forefinger reach to the little one's mouth. Press them inward back of the jaws, and so open the mouth. Now with the thumb and forefinger of the other hand holding the nipple its insertion in the mouth will be easy.

Oftentimes this duty will greatly tax the patience of the attendant, but he must persist in it until success is reached, for unless a puppy nurses well within the first two or three hours the chances are much against its living. But once it tugs vigorously it may be left to itself.

All this having been faithfully done, the mother if of fairly small breed may be left for a time with her puppies cuddled up to her, provided her bed is well out from the walls of the room, for were it close to one of them, when she got up the little ones might move over and narrow the space between them and the wall, and choosing this always she would crowd herself into it and very likely crush some of them. If, however, she is of large breed, no matter how favorable her situation, she ought to be watched for the next twenty-four hours.

This is the period of greatest danger, and after it the liability to the accident declines rapidly, but it only ceases when the puppies have become so strong that they can cry out and make vigorous protest if the mother is on them.

Aside from this danger there is yet another that is occasionally threatened and makes watching advisable, especially with all that are mothers for the first time, namely, the puppy-eating tendency, which is very strong in some bitches, and beyond doubt can very generally be attributed to the deprivation of meat, although now and then it seems due to love, fear or other passion the true nature of which it is hard to determine.

The influence of the first as a cause has been clearly demonstrated in a large number of cases in which the deplorable tendency was entirely cured by feeding generously on meat during the period of gestation; while that it can be excited by the passions is evident from the following instance related by a well-known breeder.

A bitch that had never before shown any such tendency gave whelp to seven puppies - in color, six black and one red. Being a great pet the members of the family visited her often and made much of her little ones, until at last she ate all the black ones.