THE WHIPPET 99 



7. The runners-up to be 10 yards over the trigg mark before the pistol is 

 fired, the Judge to signal to pistol firer when the runners-up are in their place. 

 Any runner-up moving in front of trigg mark after once having taken his place, 

 shall cause the Whippet for which he is runner-up to be disqualified. No person 

 shall be allowed to run with live bait. 



8. Any Whippet wilfully slipped before the pistol is fired shall forfeit all claim 

 to the handicap. 



9. Each Whippet must run with the right coloured ribbon round its neck or 

 it will be disqualified. 



10. The Judge must announce his decision immediately, which decision shall 

 be final unless an objection to the winner or the placed Whippets be made and 

 sustained. This rule shall not prevent the Judge from correcting a mistake. 



11. If a winning dog be disqualified after running, the second dog in the heat 

 shall be placed first, and if impossible to tell the second dog, all in the heat shall 

 run again with the exception of the disqualified dog. 



12. If an objection be made to a dog, the winner in the final, such objection 

 shall be in writing and signed by the owner of some Whippet engaged in the race 

 or by his deputed agent, and must be made to one of the Stewards, the Judge, or 

 the Clerk of the Scales. The objector shall, at the time of lodging same, deposit 

 ;i, which, in the event of the objection being declared to be frivolous or 

 vexatious, shall be forfeited to the funds of the meeting ; or if otherwise, returned 

 to the objector. 



13. All disputes to be settled by the Stewards, of which there must be not 

 less than three, whose decision shall be final, subject only to an appeal to the 

 Committee of the Whippet Club. 



The following information was contributed to the First Edition 

 of this work by the late Mr. Angus Sutherland, of Accrington, well 

 known as a writer on dogs, coursing, and other sports, and who 

 had exceptional experience of this breed of dog and every phase 

 of the sports in which it is used : 



" These dogs, which are kept in large numbers by the working 

 classes in the northern counties of England, may be called the 

 Poor Man's Greyhounds, being similar in form, and having to 

 undergo the same preparation for work, by severe training and a 

 prescribed diet, as Greyhounds, and, like them, require to be 

 protected from the effects of severe weather by the use of thick 

 woollen covers, both breeds being very susceptible to chills in the 

 sudden changes of our fickle climate. 



These remarks specially refer to the smooth-coated sort, which 

 form an immense majority of those kept in Lancashire, Yorkshire, 

 and the Midlands ; but amongst the pitmen of Durham and North- 

 umberland are found a great many rough-haired ones, many of 

 which are the result of crossing with the Bedlington Terrier, and 

 these are naturally hardier. 



The breed is kept for the sport termed straight-running, and 

 also for rabbit-coursing. The fastest dogs have been produced by 

 a first cross from the Greyhound ; but those used for rabbit-coursing 

 have generally an infusion of Bull-terrier, or some other game 

 blood, calculated to give them staying powers ; for to run thirty- 

 one courses in one day is not only a trying test of condition, but 

 also a severe trial of gameness. 



