“In the matter of bringing up the puppies after birth:  if there are many in the litter you should choose those you wish to keep and destroy the others:  the fewer you keep the better they will be nourished, for then their portion of the mother’s milk will be larger.

“Chaff or some thing else of that sort should be spread under them, because the better they are bedded the more easily they are brought up.  Puppies open their eyes twenty days after birth.[147] During the first two months they are not separated from their mother, but wean themselves gradually.  A number of puppies should be kenneled together, where they may be encouraged to fight, which will make them fiercer, but they should never be suffered to tire themselves since weariness develops cowardice.  They should also be accustomed to be tied, at first with a light leash, and if they attempt to gnaw it they should be punished by whipping, so that they may not get the habit.  On rainy days their kennels should be bedded with leaves or grass, for two reasons:  that they may not soil themselves or suffer from cold.  Some castrate their puppies thinking them less likely to leave the flock, but others do not, thinking that the operation makes them less fierce.  Some rub their ears and between their toes with a suffusion of bitter almonds steeped in water because flies, ticks and fleas usually develop sores in those parts, unless it is your practice to so anoint them.  To protect them from wounds from wild beasts we place collars on them, of the kind which we call melium, which is a girth around the neck made from strong leather studded with nails and lined with soft leather to protect the neck from being chafed by the hard iron heads of the nails:  for if a wolf or other wild beast is once wounded by these nails all the other dogs are safe from his attack, even if they have no collars.

“The number of dogs to be kept is determined by the size of the flock, usually one dog for every shepherd is considered enough, but the practice varies.  Thus there should be more in localities where wild beasts are plentiful, and those increase the number also who are wont to drive their flocks over the long forest drift ways to their summer or their winter feeding grounds.

“But two dogs are enough for a flock kept on a farm:  in which case they should be male and female, for they are more attached and, by emulation, fiercer, and if one is sick for a protracted time the flock will not be without a dog.”

Here Atticus looked around as if to enquire whether he had omitted any thing.

“This is the silence,” said I, “which summons another player on the boards.”

Of shepherds

X.  “The rest of this act,” I added, “relates to how many and what kind of shepherds are necessary.”

Cossinius took the cue.  “For large cattle,” he said, “men of full age are required; for small cattle boys will do:  but in either case those who drive their flocks and herds on the drift ways must be stouter than those who remain on the farm and return to the steading every day.