In warm weather, when open windows and doors are matters of course, there is but little difficulty in obtaining an abundant supply of fresh air, but the necessity is none the less in cold weather, - a fact much too little appreciated, - and to meet it in the case of puppies, as with the sick, one of the most important essentials in a generous use of fuel.

Duly mindful that draughts are a deadly menace to puppies, the careful breeder will resort to some of the numerous devices for opening the windows and at the same time protecting the inmates. The simplest of these devices is a board, about one foot in width, on the window-sill, and nailed or otherwise fastened to the inner casing, about an inch from the sash. With this in place the window can be raised six or eight inches if necessary, and the air admitted at the lower aperture and between the two sashes will be directed upward. Or if the windows are small and intended especially for ventilation, such owner will see to it that they are hinged at the lower edge on the inside and provided with a deep frame, to prevent side draughts, and adjustable chains, that they may be opened and fixed at any desired angle.

The importance of cleanliness deserves as strong emphasis, and in fact no amount of ventilation will keep the air good in quarters that are not clean.

Where a mother is correct in her habits and allowed to go in and out at will, cleanliness is easily maintained during the first three weeks, and there is but little to do aside from renewing the bedding daily and changing the platforms every two or three days. But when she no longer cleans up after her little ones it will be necessary to look to the floors every day.

He who has two rooms or pens, to be occupied by the mother and puppies on alternate days after the first week, is especially fortunate, for one can be used while the floor of the other is being disinfected and well dried. In the absence of such favorable conditions all filth should be removed daily and the floor beneath mopped with a cloth wet with the permanganate of potassium solution, the formula of which is given in chapter on "Kennelling." Disinfectants in powdered form would greatly favor convenience, but obviously it would be inexpedient to use them where the puppies were very young; nor is it expedient to use sawdust, dry sand or the like on the floors before the fifth or sixth week, for the reason that many of the particles would get into the little ones' mouths, and, swallowed, cause indigestion.

While on the subject of cleanliness it will be as well to go further and consider the importance of practising this virtue when caring for the feeding-vessels which are used with puppies at the time of weaning and while cow's milk is being given.

All may not know that under certain conditions there is generated in milk a virulent poison, bearing the name tyrotoxicon, which was first discovered in cheese, and eventually proved to be the active agent in ice-cream poisoning, epidemics of which have been frequent in this country.

The special influences which develop this poison are heat, foul air and moisture. The first alone is scarcely sufficient, for it does but little more than cause the acid changes or souring, - and, as all know, sour milk is innocent of harm, - but when combined with emanations from filth its evil effects are greatly intensified, and these are still further favored by moisture.

The symptoms of milk poisoning in adults are essentially the same as appear in severe cholera morbus, while in children they are identical with those of cholera infantum; in fact there is ample reason for the belief that these so-called summer complaints in most instances are, pure and simple, attacks of milk poisoning. Now, while dogs, old and young, are far better able to resist food poisons than members of the human race, such is the nature of tyrotoxicon it is scarcely possible for them to be wholly insensible to it. And since diarrhoea of a rapidly depressing and fatal character is by no means infrequent among young puppies in hot weather, it is not at all unreasonable to suppose that they, also, suffer from this poison.

Assuredly if they are susceptible to milk poisoning the loose methods of many caretakers must do much to make puppies frequent victims of it; and more than likely the poison is usually generated in the feeding-vessels, which are often filled and left in the pens between feedings, and before fresh milk is put into them what remains of the previous meal is simply poured out, or at best they are but indifferently rinsed in cold water from the drinking-pail.

Until it has been proved that dogs are, by some peculiarity of constitution, protected from the danger of milk poisoning, clearly it is the duty of breeders to close every door through which this accident might possibly enter. Nor will prevention be difficult provided the milk is properly kept before it is served out, for all that is then required is to maintain cleanliness of the feeding-vessels. And to this end, after they have been used they should be well rinsed with cold soda- or lye-water, then filled with boiling water and allowed to stand upon the top, or in the oven, of a hot stove for ten minutes; by which means, and by none other, can they be made perfectly clean and sweet, notwithstanding the notion that the scalding process - merely pouring boiling water into them and at once out again - is quite sufficient.

While this method should be invariably applied in hot weather, breeders will do well to persist in it during other seasons, for one can never be too careful in his management of young puppies, especially in the matter of foods and all pertaining thereto, for even slight defects in them are likely to be felt, and oftentimes with fatal consequences.

Attention to the skin and jacket is another matter for consideration while on the subject of cleanliness, but it need not long engage attention, for aside from keeping them free from fleas and lice, and grooming them with a brush every day after they are old enough to play about, puppies demand but little in this direction. Grooming, by the way, is advisable not alone because it stimulates them, favors cleanliness and nutrition of the skin and health of the hair, but because it leads to the early detection of eczema, mange, or other troubles of this sort if any present themselves. As for washing, it is scarcely safe before the fourth month has been passed, because of the inevitable fright, more or less severe shock to the systems, and danger of cold. Nor is it likely to be necessary earlier than this if the general management has been good and cleanliness maintained in the quarters. A safe rule to cover this point is to delay washing puppies until it is absolutely necessary, and then to resort to it no matter what the period of life, using always every precaution against chilling.