44 DOMESTICATED HUNTING-DOGS. 



The HIND QUARTER is entirely overlooked in the rhymes above- 

 mentioned, but it is of the greatest importance nevertheless, being 

 the chief element of progression. First of all, we should insist' 

 upon a good framework, which, presenting the levers acted on by 

 the muscles, must be in proper form, and of sufficient length and 

 strength. Thus it is usual in examining puppies for selection to 

 extend them to their full length, and then the one which stretches 

 over the greatest distance is supposed to be the best in this point, 

 and (other things being equal) very properly so. Thus, then, we 

 arrive at the conclusion that the hinder limbs should be made up 

 of long bones ; but they must be united by well-formed joints, and 

 in order that the dog shall not stand too high they should be well 

 bent, though if the fore part of the dog is lower than the hind, there 

 is no necessity for the presence of this form, as it comes to the same 

 thing in reality. Strong bony stifle-joints and hocks, with great 

 length between them and from the stifle to the hip, united with a 

 short leg, constitute the perfection of form in the hind quarter, if, 

 as is almost always the case, the muscles covering them are strong 

 enough to put them in action. 



Th3 FORE QUARTER is composed of the shoulder, the upper arm 

 {between it and the elbow), the fore-arm (below the elbow), the 

 knee, the leg, and the foot. The shoulder should be oblique, well 

 covered with muscles, and moving freely on the ribs, which it sel- 

 dom does if the two blades are kept wide apart at their upper 

 edges by the tub-like form of the chest, described under that head. 

 Hence we should examine, and anxiously look for, length of 

 shoulder-blade, which cannot exist without obliquity; freedom of 

 play, without which the fore quarter is not protruded in the gallop 

 as it ought to be ; and muscular development to bear the shocks to 

 which this part is subject. The arm also should be long, so as to 

 raise the point of the shoulder high enough to make the blade lie 

 at an angle of 45' with the horizon, and to throw the elbow well 

 back to take the weight of the body. With regard to the elbow 

 itself, the joint must be placed in the same plane as the body ; that 

 is to say, the point of the elbow should not project either inwards 

 or outwards. In the former case, the feet are turned out, and then 



