280 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



ble to breed to a dam smaller than the sire and smaller than 

 the size it is desired to obtain in the progeny. 



Beagles, generally speaking, require but little training 

 to make them good workers. They take to their work nat- 

 urally, and if given plenty of practice on game while 

 young, they will, with experience, become self-trained. If 

 kept in the country, where they may run loose and roam 

 about by themselves, as they grow up they are liable to 

 wander off from their kennel and hunt on their own account. 

 They soon become accustomed to the ways and tricks of 

 bunny, and learn to follow and circumvent him. 



If you do not so let your puppies run loose, but wish to 

 train them yourself, you may take them out with one or 

 two steady, well-trained old Hounds, and the youngsters 

 will soon learn to follow and imitate them. Go out, if 

 possible, about daylight or dusk, when the dew is falling; 

 then you are more apt to find the hares moving, and, as a 

 result, warmer trails will then be found than at other 

 times. 



I lead my puppies to a spot where I think I will be most 

 likely to find the hares, and then quietly take as- comfort- 

 able a seat as I can find, on a stump or fence-rail, or else- 

 where, and leave the puppies to their own resources. 

 Being thus assured that you have no intention of moving 

 away, and not having their thoughts drawn from what is 

 instinctively bred in them, namely, the desire to hunt, they 

 will devote their whole attention to the finding of game. 

 When thus giving the puppies their first experience, allow 

 the older Hounds to catch and kill the hare, as an incentive 

 to the youngsters to hunt more ambitiously for the next 

 one. 



After taking your puppies out thus with a good-working 

 old dog a few times, they will take readily to the work, and 

 will soon develop into efficient workers. 



It is believed by some breeders of Beagles that they are 

 more subject to worms than most breeds. My experience 

 has been that they almost invariably have them. Last year 

 I bred and raised what wa,s probably, without exception, 



