94 BRITISH DOGS 



won stakes and show-bench honours with dogs, and so have some 

 few others. 



Occasionally, when well-known coursing men have been 

 appointed to judge, classes have rilled well. This seems to indicate 

 that, if only such were selected to officiate, and a different classifica- 

 tion adopted, we might see large numbers competing at our more 

 important summer shows. Classes for winners at their legitimate 

 work would not merely be interesting, but would have a whole- 

 some effect in modifying the extravagancies of theoretical ideas of 

 fitness, which are too apt to prevail. 



The best classes of Greyhounds are to be met with at provincial 

 shows, in coursing counties, where the local celebrities are shown 

 by their owners ; but at many shows one or more good-looking dogs 

 that have been brought out generally in the North are first run 

 round a few of the summer shows, and then, getting into the hands 

 of regular exhibitors, snap up most of the prizes throughout the 

 country. Some of these prize dogs have been fair performers, and 

 are eminently handsome specimens, and invariably well bred. 



Popularly it is supposed that the Greyhound is a brainless dog, 

 savage and treacherous as to temperament, and of not the slightest 

 use as a companion. No greater fallacy ever existed. Properly 

 brought up and educated, the Greyhound makes an excellent 

 companion, and is almost invariably well disposed and intelligent, 

 added to which it is a dog that occupies very little room, even when 

 brought into the house, as it curls up into a small space ; while it 

 is one of the few that may be allowed to follow either a trap or a 

 cycle, providing the distance be not too great. The great thing when 

 exercising Greyhounds that are kept solely for companions is to 

 prevent them from chevying and running riot. Once the habit 

 of rioting becomes fixed, the dogs are an intolerable nuisance, and 

 no small domestic animal, from grimalkin to the cocks and hens 

 that fly excitedly before them, is safe. 



In selecting a puppy, care should be taken to secure one that 

 shows a long, lean head with slightly domed skull, straight fore legs, 

 good bone, muscular hindquarters, a nicely arched back, bent 

 stifles, long neck, shoulders set obliquely, not straight, and deep 

 chest. 



Before leaving the Greyhound it will not be out of place to refer to 

 a crossbred dog the Lurcher that, if not remarkable for elegance, 

 is noteworthy on account of the cunning it displays. It is the 

 poachers' dog, and is by no means the ugly brute he is sometimes 

 described. The Lurcher proper is a cross between the Scotch 

 Collie and the Greyhound. Some, however, have a Terrier cross, 

 while others may have a dash of Harrier, Pointer, or Setter. An 

 average Collie- Greyhound Lurcher will stand about three-fourths 

 the height of the Greyhound. He is more strongly built than the 



