If a bitch has not been accustomed to free exercise, for at least two months before she is due in season she should be given a goodly amount of slow work every day; and this treatment should be persisted in until she is nearly ready. From then on to the time when the wonted condition of things is restored she should be much at rest. And being deprived of her regular exercise, the usual proportion of meat allowed her should be considerably reduced and that of vegetable foods and bread, rice or other starches increased in corresponding degree.

The service successful and the season past, thereafter and until the day of whelping the bitch should have constant liberty to exercise herself in her own way, and if the same is allowed, but not otherwise, she will likely not only acquire and retain high health and vigor but give birth to strong and healthy puppies.

To emphasize this point too strongly would be simply impossible, for a denial of ample exercise during gestation is one of the most frequent and potent causes of mortality among puppies, which sends them into the world so poor in strength and vitality that their days are numbered even from the first. But beyond the imperative necessity of exercise, which alone is all-sufficient reason for allowing bitches perfect freedom, there is another reason of very great moment, and this appears in the fact that when permitted to do so they will get at manure heaps and dig up and eat all sorts of stuff that they do not touch when not in whelp, thereby plainly showing that there is much that they need of which man as yet knows nothing.

Of course there is some danger of infection by worms where such tendencies are gratified, but that goes out of sight in the presence of the many infinite advantages of entire liberty; and it is again urged that this be allowed in every case in which it is possible, and when absolutely impossible, the bitch in pup must be taken out for scampers or strolls on all favorable opportunities.

To bring on labor prematurely simply by exercise is never easy in strong, healthy bitches as long as they go their own gait, as it were, and instances are numerous in which such have worked in the field to the day and almost the very hour of whelping without experiencing any unpleasant results. Notwithstanding these, however, severe exercise, as in hunting, during the last two or three weeks of pregnancy, must be somewhat hazardous.

As for working a bitch in whelp behind a horse, it is never wise, for the chances are many that she would overexert herself.

In these weeks special precautions are imperative against jumping fences and like violent exercise; and external injuries must be carefully guarded against, for even a slight blow may prove destructive.

If the bitch is kept in a yard, to preclude all possibility of her digging her way out is another essential precaution, for were she to do so during the last two weeks of gestation, premature whelping might occur in consequence of the twisting and squeezing. And of all experiences likely to cause this accident there are but few more potent than fights - not so much because of such injuries as bruises and lacerations, but because of the great shocks inflicted upon the nervous and circulatory systems.

While these precautions are imperative in every instance where signs indicative of pregnancy are present, they may properly be instituted in all cases, and persisted in until it is plainly evident that they are unnecessary, - the mating having been unsuccessful. And the reader who has yet to acquire an experience in breeding will do well to bear in mind the fact that doubtful cases are not infrequent; also, that in occasional instances it will be impossible for him to determine with positive certainty before the end of the ninth week whether or not pregnancy exists.

The assertion has been made that in most bitches there occur changes in demeanor which are suggestive of pregnancy, yet the writer has never been able to detect any of the slightest diagnostic importance, and in his experience the first sign of value is a modification in the size of the uterus. This is scarcely ever appreciable to the touch of a skilful examiner before the third week, and frequently difficulties are encountered which deny it to him until a much later period, while in the most favorable cases he who is inexperienced can scarcely ever make out an enlarged uterus before the fourth week; and very generally he finds it impossible to do so before the fifth or sixth week.

To those unfamiliar with this means of diagnosis the earliest sign of value is an enlargement of the abdomen; and this is generally manifested near the fifth week, although it may be delayed for a week or more, and it may even be unappreciable to the ordinary eye up to the date of whelping. Cases, however, in which it does not appear are not very common, and many of the exceptional are bitches that have unusually large or very round abdomens or are carrying very small litters. In some, also, the enlargement is less marked and may even be unapparent because of the peculiar rib formation; and of this class the greyhound family are the best illustration, for a diagnosis of pregnancy in its members is, as a rule, the most difficult, and in many instances where there are only one or two puppies their presence can scarcely be detected until near the whelping, while in some it cannot be made out with certainty before the pains of labor have set in.

Where abdominal enlargement occurs early it becomes steadily more pronounced until near the ninth week, and then for several days the increase in size appears to be much more rapid than before, owing to a settling down of the greatly distended uterus and a backward movement on its part. This settling having occurred, if all goes well whelping may be confidently expected within ten days. And he who watches the apparently backward progress of the uterus and the rapid enlargement at its neck - the most posterior part - can generally detect without the aid of any other signs when the last stage of gestation has been reached and whelping is imminent.