9781422274996

they are capable of is eating and sleeping, and it is the mother’s job to meet those needs and to clean, protect, and educate them. One lesson is to teach the pups to keep their sleeping space free from excrement. For the first several weeks, they will leave their wastes wherever they happen to be, including the bed, and the mother removes the mess. After a time, when they make a mistake, she will give them a shake or a shove to show her disapproval. The practical reason for this— called the “denning instinct”—is not simply to avoid messiness but to keep the odor of dog feces and urine away from the immedi- ate area, so predators will not be led directly to the den.

body temperature, so they must be kept in a place where the temperature is approxi- mately 27° Celsius (85° Fahrenheit). If this is not done for them, they will snuggle up with their mother and littermates. The mother may have to leave the den area at times, so the siblings will use each other for com- fort. They are not advanced enough at this point to actually have social contact with one another, but they are aware that they have each other’s company. Dogs are born with a variety of other instincts—involving territory, pack behavior, and hunting, all of which will be discussed later—but most of these do not come into play in these early weeks. At this stage of life all

Few creatures convey the image of complete helplessness and innocence as does a young puppy. What mischief could these adorable King Charles spaniel puppies ever get into?

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