5^6 MODERN FARRIER. 



If any are particularly snappish and troublesome 

 you should leave the couples loose about their necks 

 in the kennel, till you find they are more reconciled 

 to them. If any are more stubborn than the rest, 

 you should couple them to old hounds, rather than 

 to young ones ; and you should not couple fico dogs 

 together when you can avoid it. ' Young hounds,' 

 says Mr. Beckford, ' are awkward at first ; I should 

 therefore advise you to send out a few only at a 

 time with your people on foot ; they will soon after- 

 wards become handy enough to follow a horse, and 

 care should be taken that the couples be not too 

 loose, least they should slip their necks out of the col- 

 lar, and give trouble in the catching of them again. 



* When they have been walked often in this man- 

 ner amongst the sheep, you may then uncouple a 

 few at a time, and begin to chastise such as offer to 

 run after them ; but you wdll soon find that the cry 

 of ware sheep, will stop them sufficiently without 

 the whip ; and the less this is used, the better. 

 With proper care and attention, you will soon make 

 them ashamed of it ; but if once suffered to taste 

 the blood, you may find it difficult to reclaim them 

 afterwards.' 



It may be prudent, when young hounds first be- 

 gin to hunt, to put light collars on them. Young 

 hounds may easily get out of their knowledge ; and 

 shy ones, after they have been much beaten, may 

 not choose to return home. Collars, in that case, 

 may prevent their being lost. 



Good sportsmen recommend entering dogs at 

 their own game. Much unnecessary cruelty is prac- 

 tised in this case. Mr. Beckford says, I know an 

 old sportsman, a clergyman, who enters his young 

 hounds first at a cat, which he drags along the ground 

 for a mile or two, at the end of which he turns out a 

 badger, first taking care to break his teeth ; he takes 

 out about two couple of old hounds along with the 

 young ones, to hold them on. He never enters his 



