It is always difficult for the uninitiated to select what is likely
to be a good dog from the nest. In choosing a puppy care should be
taken to ensure it has plenty of bone in its limbs, and these should
be fairly short and wide; the nostrils should be large and the face
as short as possible. The chop should be thick and heavily wrinkled
and the mouth square. There should be a distinct indent in the upper
jaw, where the bone will eventually curve, whilst the lower jaw should
show signs of curvature and protrude slightly in front of the upper
jaw. The teeth from canine to canine, including the six front teeth,
should be in a straight line.
See that the ears are very small and thin, and the eyes set well
apart. The puppy having these properties, together with a domed,
peaked, or "cocoanut" shaped skull, is the one which, in nine cases
out of ten, will eventually make the best headed dog of the litter.
The breeding of Bulldogs requires unlimited patience, as success is
very difficult to attain. The breeder who can rear five out of every
ten puppies born may be considered fortunate. It is frequently found
in what appears to be a healthy lot of puppies that some of them begin
to whine and whimper towards the end of the first day, and in such
cases the writer's experience is that there will be a speedy burial.
It may be that the cause is due to some acidity of the milk, but in
such a case one would expect that similar difficulty would be
experienced with the remainder of the litter, but this is not the
usual result. Provided that the puppies can be kept alive until the
fourth day, it may be taken that the chances are well in favour of
ultimate success.
[Illustration: MR. AND MRS. ARTHUR MAYOR'S BULLDOG CH. SILENT DUCHESS]
Many breeders object to feeding the mother with meat at this time,
but the writer once had two litter sisters who whelped on the same
day, and he decided to try the effect of a meat _versus_ farinaceous
diet upon them. As a result the bitch who was freely fed with raw
beef reared a stronger lot of puppies, showing better developed bone,
than did the one who was fed on milk and cereals.
Similarly, in order that the puppy, after weaning, may develop plenty
of bone and muscle, it is advisable to feed once a day upon finely
minced raw meat. There are some successful breeders, indeed, who
invariably give to each puppy a teaspoonful of cod liver oil in the
morning and a similar dose of extract of malt in the evening, with
the result that there are never any rickety or weak dogs in the
kennels, whilst the development of the bones in the skull and limbs
is most pronounced.
Owing to their lethargic disposition, young Bulldogs are somewhat
liable to indigestion, and during the period of puppyhood it is of
advantage to give them a tablespoonful of lime water once a day in
their milk food.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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