The Whippet. 45 



CHAPTER VI. THE WHIPPET. 



BY CORSINCON. 



THE whippet, or snap dog, as he is also called, is a great favourite with 

 workmen in Durham and other northern counties, and the Darlington 

 Show never fails to bring together a large collection of them. 



It is not, however, for the show bench, but the race ground that he is 

 bred, where they are matched against each other for speed and for their 

 superiority in rabbit coursing. I cannot describe them better than by 

 saying they are a greyhound on a small scale with a dash of terrier. 



An account of the dog racing for which these whippets or snap dogs 

 are used, and which is so popular with the working classes in many 

 parts of the north, will be interesting. 



The dogs are handicapped according to their known performances, &c., 

 and the distance run is two hundred yards. They are entered as 

 "Thomson's Eose, 19lb.," as the case may be, and the weight appears 

 on the handicap card. Dogs are weighed in an hour before the time 

 set for the first heat, and are allowed four ounces over the declared 

 weight. The winner of the heat is weighed again immediately the 

 heat is run. For the second heat eight ounces are allowed. For 

 the final race additional extra weight is allowed, that being run on 

 the following Saturday. The dog generally gets a light meal half a 

 pigeon, or a chop, or piece of steak after running his second trial heat on 

 the second Saturday ; so he weighs a bit heavier the second time of scaling. 

 The modus operwndi will be best illustrated by the following description 

 of a race meeting recently held at Farnvrorth Recreation Grounds, near 

 Bolton. There were sixty odd heats of three dogs. The course is a 

 perfectly level path of twelve yards in width. The dogs are stripped 

 and put on their marks, each being held by his owner, or a man 

 for him, and the starter goes behind them with the pistol. Mean- 

 while a man the dog knows starts off in front of him, carrying a 

 big piece of linen rag, or some conspicuous object, sometimes a big tuft 

 of grass or a pigeon's wing ; and every now and then, as he runs up the 

 course, he will turn round and "Hi" to the dog, at the same time 

 waving the cloth up and down. When these runners up have got pretty 



