GROOMING 



The above represents a very fair description of the 

 modern greyhound, the head of which should be long, 

 rather wide between the ears, and gently tapering towards 

 the muzzle, which is powerful, though a little chiselled out 

 under the eyes. The nose is large and fairly prominent ; 

 the eyes bright and rather small ; and the ears fine, small, 

 and carried with the tips turned backwards, so as to show 

 the inner burr, but when the dog is excited they become 

 semi-erect. The neck is long, light, and slightly arched ; 

 the shoulders very clean, long, and sloping; the chest 

 narrow, but very deep ; the body rather long, muscular, 

 and arched at the loins, which are deep and powerful ; the 

 fore-legs set on well under the dog, dead straight, and 

 heavy in bone ; whilst the feet are round and compact, 

 with the toes well arched. The quarters are very muscular, 

 the hind-legs being bent at the stifles, the hocks being well 

 let down. The tail is long, fine, slightly curved, and 

 carried low ; whilst the coat, though short and fine, is 

 thick and weather-resisting. Almost all colours are met 

 with in the greyhound, the most common being black, 

 fawn, blue, brindle, and red, either self-coloured or marked 

 with white. Weights vary immensely, as first-rate speci- 

 mens have been seen which only scaled a little over 40 lbs. 

 — Coomassie, who won the Waterloo Cup twice, only scaled 

 44 lbs. in training — up to 70 lbs., but about 60 lbs. for 

 a dog and 55 lbs. for a bitch is a good w^eight. (See 

 Training Greyhounds.) 



Grooming. — All dogs which are required for show pur- 

 poses should be groomed regularly at least once a day, and 

 even in the case of others the practice is most beneficial, 

 as it assists in keeping the skin in good order and there- 

 fore promotes health. In grooming, a liberal use of the 

 brush is recommended, and the less of the comb the better. 

 The faces may be sponged over, and subsequently care- 

 fully dried, whilst after the brush has been well applied 

 the coat may be well gone over with a hair glove, towel, 



lOI 



