gns which denote the state of the system, and show the uses to
which the animal has been subjected. The primary teeth are cut sometimes
as early as the third week; but, in the same litter, one pup may not show
more than the point of an incisor when it is six weeks old; while another
may display all those teeth well up. As a general rule, the permanent
incisors begin to come up about the fourth month; but I have known a dog
to be ten months old, and, nevertheless, to have all the temporary teeth
in its head. The deviations, consequently, are so great that no rule can
be laid down; and every person who pretends to judge of the dog's age by
the teeth is either deceived himself, or practising upon the ignorance of
others.

Strong pups require no attention during dentition; but high-bred and
weakly animals should be constantly watched during this period. When a
tooth is loose, it should be drawn at once, and never suffered to remain a
useless source of irritation. If suffered to continue in the mouth, it
will ultimately become tightened; and the food or portions of hair getting
and lodging between it and the permanent teeth, will inflame the gum, and
cause the beast considerable suffering. The extraction at first is so
slight an operation, that when undertaken by a person having the proper
instruments, and knowing how to use them, the pup does not even vent a
single cry. The temporary tusks of small dogs are very commonly retained
after the permanent ones are fully up, and if not removed, will remain
perhaps during the life; they become firm and fixed, the necks being
united to the bone. This is more common in the upper than in the lower
jaw, but I have seen it in both. Diminutive high-bred animals rarely shed
the primary tusks naturally; therefore, when the incisors have been cut,
and the permanent fang teeth begin to make their appearance through the
gums, the temporary ones ought, as frequently as possible, to be moved
backward and forward with the finger, in order to loosen them. When that
is accomplished, they should be extracted, which if not done at this time
will afterwards be difficult. As the tooth becomes again fixed, filth of
various kinds accumulates between it and the permanent tusk; the animal
feeds in pain, the gum swells and ulcerates, and sometimes the permanent
tusk falls out, but the cause of the injury never naturally comes away.

To extract a temporary tusk after it has reset is somewhat difficult, and