The Airedale

by Williams Haynes

When she begins to show signs of heavy whelp take her away from the others, and while her exercise wants to be kept up by long walks she should not be allowed to run or romp, or she may miscarry. Her box should be fixed a few days before the pups are to be born. Let it be large enough for her to stretch out in, but not big enough to give her room in which to move about, or she may kill or injure the pups by treading on them.

Once in a while one has a bitch who neglects her pups disgracefully, but the usual thing, in terriers at least, is over attention to the sacrifice of her own condition. A few bitches eat their newborn pups. Fear is the motive, but once done they seem to get the habit. Feeding quantities of raw meat just before they are to whelp is the best, but not a sure cure. Bad mothers, ones who walk on their babies, neglect them, or turn cannibal, are very rare among the terriers.

To return to the box: it should, as I have said, be just large enough to be comfortable. The best bedding for the whelping time is a bit of old carpet, to be substituted for straw when the family has safely arrived. A little shelf, about three inches from the bottom and two inches wide, tacked round the box will prove to be good puppy life insurance, for it keeps them from being pressed to death against the sides of the nest.

Terriers whelp better if left to themselves. It is the rarest thing for them to have any trouble, and if one will just keep a weather eye open to see that things are really going well, they will continue to go well without interference. The pups should be born inside two hour intervals, and if this limit be passed the mother needs attention. The drugs used, however, are so strong and so poisonous and an operation is so delicate that it is invariably better to call in the veterinarian's skilled aid.

After the puppies are all born the mother should be given a bowl of thin oatmeal gruel and left to herself. She will ordinarily clean up the nest herself, eating the after-births and licking the puppies clean. I have found that after she has cleaned a pup, which she does as soon as it is born, it is advisable to take it from her, wrap it in flannel to keep it warm and dry, and to wash off the navel cord with some mild disinfectant such as listerine, or a very dilute solution of bichloride of mercury or carbolic acid. Cold is fatal to very young puppies, and the navel cord is the source of a germ infection that kills many in the nest.

The dam, while nursing her family, must have an abundance of food—plenty of soups, gruels, meats, and milk, but not many vegetables, for they are full of water and waste. She needs more concentrated nourishment. When you think that you can fairly "see puppies grow," you can appreciate how great a drain there is on the mother. Because of this, it is never advisable to let a terrier attempt to raise more than five at the outside, and four is really better than five. If a foster cannot be obtained—very often the local pound will have a healthy mongrel which they will let you have for the license fee—it is kindness and economy to kill off the puppies in excess of four or five.

What ones to destroy is a delicate question. It is usually safe to discard the last one born, who is so often the runt of the family that he is known to kennel men and veterinarians as the "wreckling." It takes a very experienced eye to tell much about the points of a new born puppy, but two salient features to be remembered are that not once in a hundred times will a light eye get darker and any tendency to big ears is comparatively easy to spot and invariably gets worse. A good safe rule in terrier puppies is to save the ones with the longest, flattest heads, the heaviest, straightest fore legs, dark eyes, small ears, short bodies, taking these points in the order named, but discarding any pup who is glaringly off in any of these details.

The mother will wean the pups herself when they begin to grow their teeth, and it is best to leave this to nature. When their eyes are opened they should be taught to drink for themselves by sticking their noses in a saucer of sweetened milk. About the time they are fully weaned they should be treated for worms. After this first worming, they should have similar treatment every six weeks till they are six months old, and twice more after that before they are out of the puppy class. All dogs should be treated for worms twice a year as long as they live.

It is the style, or custom, or what you will, to cut the tails of Airedales, Irish, Welsh, and fox terrier puppies. This ought to be done when they are three or four days old. Three vertebrae are left, that is, the tail is cut at the third "knuckle," not counting the first one at the root of the tail. Rumor says that the operation is done with the kennelman's or groom's teeth, but in reality a dull pair of scissors is the usual and best instrument. The skin should be pulled back toward the body, so that there will be a little extra to cover the end, and not leave it bare of hair.

Growing pups need three things—food, room, and sunlight. When first weaned, they should be fed milk, gruels, and soups five times a day and the number of meals gradually lessened and the amount of solid food gradually increased till at a year old they are fed the same as their older kennel companions. The more room puppies have, the better they are. This is probably the reason that puppies farmed out always do so much better than those kennel raised. They may get all sorts of food and they certainly do not get the attention given the ones in the kennels, but a farm raised youngster is always healthier, bigger, and stronger.