Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-27
BEST FOOD FOR
THE YOUNG DOGS
Some Results of Many Years of
Observations of Puppies
and Their Dams.
BY JAMES WATSON.

| BY JAMES WATSON
Judging from the frequency of the Ques-
| ton in my kennel correspondence the most
| puzzling thing for the dog Buyer Is to know
what to feed the Jew arrival upon. This
query seems more prominent than usual
| this year and may be traced to the in
creased interest taken in house dogs and
| the many new votaries at the shrine Of
man 8 best friend. In my many years OF
| knowledge OF WHIT was going In the dog
world have never known a time when the
| public de,-iand for weli-bred and above the
| average dogs was so great and not con-
| fined to any particular breed or line of
| dogs. The majority of these buyers start
| with a PUPPY. They think that there will
| be more attachment on the part OF the dog
when it Is grown up. and there may be
other reasons. All sorts of advice Is ten
dered and past information raked over till
| the likelihood is that there Is time akin
| to that in the fable of the man, the boy
and the donkey.
| The ailments that attend puppyhood are
| not many, and there are but two which
| are attended with any danger. One is al
most invariably to be found calling for
! reatment and the other may never be.
The first Is the common ailment of worms,
| and the second is distemper, which being
1
| Gated to the dog. and there is
reason why dog should have it than that
| its owner should have bad smallpox when
| he or she was young Internal PARISHES
| are, however. like flies, given the oppor-
| tunity for their development and there they
| are, and as the opportunity is nowhere
| more easily secured than in puppies 1t Is
almost impossible to rear a litter without
| their development. The signs of the pests
| are a bloated stomach and emaciation in
| the body. The puppies are not thriving. 1t
| Is very plain to see. even with apparently
| a hearty eater and always having a full
| stomach Almost any of the commercial
| vermifuges may be used with good results,
! for they are mostly made upon a very sim
| liar formula. but this may not be altogether
| effectual unless there is feeding of a sem
! sfble nature
| few days ago l was asked for advice
regarding setter puppy that was four
| months old and was thin and not growing,
| and on inquiry found that its food consist
| ed of a few drinks of milk per day and not
particle of meat. 1t is a wonder the dog
was in life at all. A puppy from its very
| birth has about the most concentrated food
| OF any animal. Its stomach being very
small in capacity. We therefore find
| that the milk of the dam is 80 per cent
stronger and more nourishing than that of
the COW, and when the latter is used for a
puppy 1t should be materially strengthened
or reinforced as one may say either by
the addition of condensed milk which also
adds the necessary sweetness, or by
beaten up egg to a glass of milk and sugar
added. This will be seen to be quite a
different formula to the usual one of put
ting water In the already thin milk under
the impression that the natural cows milk
will be too strong for such little thing.
For long time it was stoutly maintained
hrp h0f E,a
duced worms-in other words, that they
were in the milk. We know better now
that the eggs are licked up by the puppy
in various ways and terminate speedily In
the favorable conditions to which they are
then transferred. | have long held to the
opinion that the sooner one gets the puppy
off the sloppy food which 1t first Is fed with
the better for 1t in the way of a vermifuge
When you go to the country and conclude
to try a days rustic fishing the place to
dig for bait Is right at the kitchen door of
the cottage where the Stops are thrown.
A spadeful or two will fill the tin can
whereas out In the garden 1t Will be quite
q time before you get enough to warrant
a start. and If you go up on the hillside
| you will have all your trouble of digging
| for nothing. That is the theory upon which
l have sought to get the puppies from
| slops as soon as possible. Then take the
dam of the puppies and see what she will
do when she can no longer attend to their
wants herself. She forages, fills herself
with meat and the best food she can pick
up, and when 1t is partly digested she does
the pelican does-her puppies eating
what she disgorges. After a while she will
bring home bones and what she would pick
out to eat herself, and her puppies will
grow and thrive so long as she can get
enough to feed them with. Being under
the impression that the dam knows more
about what the puppies should have than
we guess at on the outside my plan
is to get away from sloppy food and put
the Youngsters the bfp ief
which is the ideal food for the dog. Bread
mashed vegetables and the meat chopped
fine and mixed altogether with gravy Is
what should be fed at least once day, and
at other times some cereal and milk or
gravy and all the time the little something's
that will go toward giving the digestive
organs something to do without at any
time overtaxing them 1t Is this oppor-
tunity to get all the occasional bites about
the kitchen that causes the owners of large
kennels OF prize dogs to board out the
promising future greats so that one or
two at a home by themselves will get all
the pickings, which cannot be the case at
A large kennel. When bones are given to
puppies let them be large 80 that they will
not attempt to swallow them, and there Is
nothing better than large ribs with some
of the meat on. raw or cooked. upon which
the thriving little fellow can worry off and
on for a whole day. 1t must be kept in
mind. however. that the dogs that are
wanted to be kept small should be looked
after as to the quantity they have. while
those upon which there Is no restriction
to size can be given full liberty and others
wanted to grow as large as possible should
have extra allowances of meat and
bones.
The news from the Wissahickon show en-
tries for which close on May Is. is to the
effect that they are not worrying at Phila-
deiphia as to the outcome for another
record for the year. There Ia no more
| popular one-day outing than the Saturday
| at Wissahickon at the beginning of June
| this time the 9th. The early trains bring
| visitors to the show in good time for judg-
| Ing, which begins at close to 1890 as
possible, and a start can be made for New
York In time to get home by o'clock. The
visitors from New York will have to note
that this year they take tickets to St
Martins, that being the name OF Wis
sahickon Heights station.