The bitch, when she has finished pupping, requires little attention beyond a change of bed and a fair supply of nutritive food. She does best when least noticed; but it is well to see that she takes sufficient exercise. On the following day she should be taken out two or three times for a few minutes to relieve herself, and every day after that she ought to be about pretty much as before. Some bitches, however, are such devoted mothers as to sacrifice health, and occasionally life itself, to enjoy the pleasure of being with their young ones. This excess of affection must be controlled, for, if not checked, it will seriously injure both parent and offspring. All animals, however, are not thus distinguished. Some bitches cannot be induced to suckle the pups they have given birth to; and others, though less frequently, will eat their progeny. The disposition to desert or destroy their young seems to prevail among the parentage of this world. In the female of the dog the maternal instinct is most powerful, but under certain conditions of the animal’s body the natural impulse seems to be perverted, and she takes the life she would else have perished to preserve. Some persons entertain a notion that the bitch which has once devoured her litter will ever after retain the disposition. This is a false idea. On the next occasion, if properly treated—that is, if not persecuted, chastised, alarmed, and annoyed, but properly dieted—she may prove, and most likely will prove, an excellent mother, the very excitability which, when over-stimulated, induced her unnatural impulse, making her, when tranquil, the more alive to the instincts of her nature. For the first week the bitch is, as a rule, very attentive to her family, and as it gives her pain when one is taken up, it is better not to handle the pups more than is absolutely necessary. She should be well fed; not crammed, but nourished; and she will require more food than formerly, for there are many mouths to feed through hers. The quantity of support she needs may be conjectured from the rapid growth of the pups. A small bitch of my own had a litter of four. The mother weighed seven pounds six ounces, and between the second and fourth week the young ones daily added one ounce and a half each to their bulk. It would require some amount of milk to supply such a quantity of flesh; and we have also to remember that, during the rapid growth, the process of consolidation is simultaneously going forward. Good nourishing food, sufficient in bulk, is absolutely imperative; for if the pups be stinted, the dogs will assuredly be weak.