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Dogs and All about Them
·
Robert Leighton
402
It
is
the
experience
of
many
observers
that
the
first
whelps
born
in
a
litter
are
the
strongest,
largest,
and
healthiest.
If
the
litter
is
a
large
one,
the
last
born
may
be
noticeably
puny,
and
this
disparity
in
size
may
continue
to
maturity.
The
wise
breeder
will
decide
for
himself
how
many
whelps
should
be
left
to
the
care
of
their
dam.
The
number
should
be
relative
to
her
health
and
constitution,
and
in
any
case
it
is
well
not
to
give
her
so
many
that
they
will
be
a
drain
upon
her.
Those
breeds
of
dogs
that
have
been
most
highly
developed
by
man
and
that
appear
to
have
the
greatest
amount
of
brain
and
intelligence
are
generally
the
most
prolific
as
to
the
number
of
puppies
they
produce.
St.
Bernards,
Pointers,
Setters
are
notable
for
the
usual
strength
of
their
families.
St.
Bernards
have
been
known
to
produce
as
many
as
eighteen
whelps
at
a
birth,
and
it
is
no
uncommon
thing
for
them
to
produce
from
nine
to
twelve.
A
Pointer
of
Mr.
Barclay
Field's
produced
fifteen,
and
it
is
well
known
that
Mr.
Statter's
Setter
Phoebe
produced
twenty-one
at
a
birth.
Phoebe
reared
ten
of
these
herself,
and
almost
every
one
of
the
family
became
celebrated.
It
would
be
straining
the
natural
possibilities
of
any
bitch
to
expect
her
to
bring
up
eighteen
puppies
healthily.
Half
that
number
would
tax
her
natural
resources
to
the
extreme.
But
Nature
is
extraordinarily
adaptive
in
tempering
the
wind
to
the
shorn
lamb,
and
a
dam
who
gives
birth
to
a
numerous
litter
ought
not
to
have
her
family
unduly
reduced.
It
was
good
policy
to
allow
Phoebe
to
have
the
rearing
of
as
many
as
ten
out
of
her
twenty-one.
A
bitch
having
twelve
will
bring
up
nine
very
well,
one
having
nine
will
rear
seven
without
help,
and
a
bitch
having
seven
will
bring
up
five
better
than
four.
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