GREYHOUNDS. 683 



The time for trying and training greyhounds is at the 

 age of twelve months, although fifteen months is soon 

 enough. Some sportsmen enter and try them at ten months ; 

 but this is by no means to be recommended, as they are apt 

 to get strained, if the course should happen to be long and 

 severe, and, in many cases, they never get the better of an 

 exertion of this kind at so early an age. They require but 

 little training, as they are endowed with an instinctive pro- 

 pensity to course ; and in some greyhounds their ardour is 

 so great, that it is almost impossible to restrain them. 

 They ought always to be entered at first with a trained dog 

 of known abilities ; and they should never be allowed to 

 suppose, after having tasted blood, that a hare can escape 

 them ; and, on this account, ought never to be slipped at 

 a hare when jaded and exhausted, or when too far a-head 

 to be orertaken. 



When they have been taught properly to know their 

 game, the next thing to be attended to is to accustom them 

 to the slips, and when a hare is found, a distinct stand 

 should be made by their keepers, and the words so-ho ! se- 

 veral times repeated in a firm manner ; and the young dogs 

 should never be slipped until the hare is at some distance, 

 lest, being over anxious to possess it, they strain their limbs 

 too much. 



The training of a greyhound requires from three to six 

 weeks, the time, however, depending much upon the condi- 

 tion and constitution at the commencement. If too fat, it is 

 necessary to begin by administering laxatives. The exercise 

 ought to be on turf, and occasionally on the road, with a 

 horse, and by hard galloping, to strengthen their wind, as well 

 as to keep their claws short ; also in the morning and after- 

 noon, before feeding, at first gently, and for an hour and a half 

 at each time. As the training advances, and the condition 



