Should the mother die, the pups may possibly be brought up on condensed milk, made as for a baby, given every two hours out of a baby's bottle, keeping them constantly in a covered basket with a hot-water bottle; but a cat foster-mother is best of all. Puppies brought up by their mothers should begin to take condensed milk three times a day as soon as they are four weeks old, and gradually allowed to go less and less to their mothers till they are entirely weaned. They should then be fed on Neaves food three times a day (about half a saucerful at a time for each, according to the size) from the time they are five weeks old till the age of seven weeks, when they can begin to take crushed table biscuits added to the Neaves food when hot. At ten weeks old they can begin a little minced mutton and broth. Put the mutton through a very fine mincing machine, and put the boiling soup onto some white bread crumbs - mix all together. Lactol is another excellent food. In rearing puppies from birth on Lactol, it should be given for the first week diluted with four times its weight of water and afterwards three times its weight. Give warm every two hours, twenty drops at a time, increasing the dose as the puppy gets older.

You will know how much to give, as when a pup has had enough it falls asleep, whereas it will cry and be restless if it is still hungry.

1 Spratft terrier travelling boxes at 15s, are first rate if you care to buy instead of making but the top must be made to open.

2 The diminutive size of the animals prevents effectual assistance with instruments.

In weaning pups on Lactol, make it as follows: One good heaped-up teaspoonful to each puppy. Mix into a thick paste with cold water, and then add hot water, stirring the while till it is like thick milk. Give three times a day. As the puppies grow, increase the quantity and add scalded rusks. They can also have a little mutton broth as they get older.

To keep puppies from running about and getting into draughts, I recommend that a bit of linoleum be put down in a corner of the room next to the breeding box. Put round it one of Spratt's patent wire poultry-runs at 7/6. This will keep them clean and out of the way and save the carpets. It will be found an immense convenience to have two small tin pails, one empty and one containing dry sawdust. When there is any dirt, sprinkle the sawdust liberally over it and sweep it into a coal scoop or dust pan with a large fibre brush, both kept for the purpose. It can then be transferred to and carried away in the spare pail. If this method is adopted there is no unpleasantness in cleaning up.

I do not recommend raw meat, as it almost always produces worms, the germ of tape worm being found in flesh and maturing soon after being swallowed by the puppies. All puppies should be dosed with worm medicine when they are two months old or sooner, at five or six weeks if possible, with a suitable vermifuge, and the treatment should be repeated once a week till they are four or five months old. This is exceedingly important and should never be neglected.

I am often asked whether it is safe to wash a bitch in whelp. I think that if the washing is done on the lines I recommend there is no risk at all for the first five weeks. A bitch in whelp should be lifted as little as possible.

There is a way of telling for certain if a bitch is in whelp at a month, but it is rather difficult to describe. If you feel gently under her body you will find between your fingers something which feels like a pigeon's egg. This is a sure sign that the bitch is in whelp, but it is not at all easy to find as there is something else almost in the same place which can very well be mistaken for the right thing. An expert can often actually tell how many puppies will be born. This should only be attempted with the greatest care, or there is risk of bruising the puppies. They can only be felt just at this time and only for about a week or ten days.

The first signs of being in whelp are sometimes a loss of appetite, slight sickness and sleepiness, and perhaps an occasional forgetfulness of house manners.

When you decide to use a bitch for breeding, make quite sure that she has no worms, for if she has them the puppies are sure to have them, too, and they are often fatal to young puppies. Should you notice that a puppy gets pinched in its hind quarters or often has diarrhoea, you may be pretty sure it is suffering from worms, and it should immediately be treated, as the risk of waiting is greater than that of dosing it. If, however, you carry out my instructions as to dosing the tiny puppies at five or six weeks old, they will never get into this dangerous condition. I always treat my full-grown dogs with Naldires powders, as I consider there is nothing to equal them, in spite of the warnings of other breeders, who told me they were too strong. If the proper dose is given they are perfectly safe, and they are nothing short of miraculous in their action. They are also often permanently effectual, one dose being sufficient in almost every case. You must, of course, be careful not to overdose. One-third of a powder for a ten-pound adult dog is my rule. I have even dosed small puppies with as much as would lie on the point of a penknife. The puppies should only be dosed with this about a week before leaving the dam.

The dose requires no following up with castor oil, which on no account should be given.

Do not exhibit your puppies before they are six months old. It is extremely risky and, even if they escape distemper, the nervousness they contract from over excitement and noise will probably ruin their future show career.

Dock your puppies' tails as soon as their eyes are open. Disinfect a pair of sharp scissors. With your left hand pull up the skin of the tail toward the puppy's body and snip off as much as you wish with one decided snip. On releasing the tail, the skin you have held back will slip over the severed part and leave no scar visible when the wound heals. You must be careful to cut quickly, and the puppy seldom even squeaks if it is properly done. The mother will heal the tail by licking it. An adult dog should never be docked, as it is sheer cruelty, and very dangerous after the bone has formed.

When a bitch has whelped leave the bedding for the first fortnight undisturbed except for the addition of a little hay daily. If a puppy in the nest cries with a sharp, querulous, almost angry note, you may be easy about its health. If, however, it wails and whines, there is something wrong with it If it has colic give a little lime water.

Suckling fits are extremely common and most alarming. They attack a bitch when she is rearing puppies, and sometimes the same fits affect a bitch in season. The animal breathes very heavily and seems uneasy, and then appears paralyzed in the hind legs. The whole body is often seized with twitching and convulsions. Most people recommend the immediate removal of the puppies and not breeding from the bitch again. I have seen dozens of the fits, and have never lost a bitch or removed a puppy, though it always alarms me to see them. In my opinion they are mainly the result of constipation, and a dose of castor oil has, in my experience, invariably been successful, the mother rearing all her puppies quite easily. I do not think these fits occur if the bitch is given a small spoonful of olive oil every morning for a week before whelping and never allowed to be at all constipated or to eat too much.

Four is the proper number of puppies for a Toy Spaniel to rear, and, though I have heard of one rearing a litter of nine, this is not at all fair to the mother. Of course, if she is rearing too many puppies the extra ones should be taken away.

A Blenheim of mine who, before I bought her, had reared the aforesaid litter, had suckling fits at her next season. She bred six puppies, five of which were strong and well. A fortnight after whelping she had the most severe fits I ever remember, but a dose of castor oil put her right and she reared her puppies splendidly and got fat on it. I never saw a healthier litter. Whether a bitch has fits or not, it is extremely cruel to make her rear a succession of unduly large litters. Premature old age and paralysis will probably be the result, as well as unsatisfactory offspring.