A toy puppy grows more quickly than

A toy puppy grows more quickly than

A toy puppy grows more quickly than

A toy puppy grows more quickly than, for instance, a terrier, and, of course, is adult far sooner than a big dog; the short-haired varieties, again, coming to maturity sooner than the long-coated ones. A Yorkshire terrier is adult at a year, but does not get his full beauty of coat until he is two years old, or thereabouts. A toy Schipperke is, so to speak, grown-up at ten or eleven months, but goes on thickening and improving in shape, and probably increasing and hardening in coat for another year at least. A Pom's jacket gets grander at each moult until he is three years old. As a general rule it may be laid down that the dog is a puppy no longer at ten months, when his teething is almost always entirely completed. This same teething is a tiresome process, comprising the change of the first set of wee ivories for the permanent forty-two which are to carry the owner through life. Nearly every puppy suffers more or less in the process, some from fits, some from skin irritation, some from colds in the head and eyes, some from general feverishness; but the troubles are ephemeral, and generally subside between whiles, returning as each big tooth is cut. What makes the worst trouble is when the first teeth are severally not shed, but remain in situ, a second tooth forcing itself up at one side of the lingering intruder. This condition is pretty sure to mean teething fits, of which more anon. Dentition begins about the fourth month, and once safely over, the dog may be considered well reared.

POMERANIAN PUPPY. At the ugly age.