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on in his life will fight determinedly against the un- 

 wonted restraint. The best plan at first is to chain 

 fthem to fixed posts, and allow them their preliminary 

 struggles against something they cannot shift. The 

 practice of coupling up two young hounds together 

 that have never before felt a collar is unkind, and, 

 should one be of a nervous disposition, may do great 

 harm. 



The sooner the young hounds are taught to go in 

 couples and taken out to exercise, the better. In 

 many kennels that hunt four days or more a week, 

 the huntsman has little time to attend to the entry, 

 and, unless the master provides extra help, all the 

 exercise they get is a few minutes' run in a grass yard. 

 The cost of the extra help would be well repaid in 

 general health and spirits. It is very trying for a 

 young hound that has been allowed to roam where he 

 pleased, and very likely petted, to be suddenly con- 

 fined in a kennel with a lot of strange companions. 

 The better the walk has been and the greater the 

 kindness of his temporary master, the more likely is 

 the puppy to pine for his former freedom. In this 

 way many of the most promising specimens have their 

 vitality sapped in vain longings for the life at walk, 

 and when distemper comes the spirit to fight against 

 it is weakened. If the master found three extra men, 

 and they walked the young hounds out for four hours 

 daily until the season was over and the regular staff 

 could look after them, there v/ould be a much smaller 

 death rate. Taking all the packs of foxhounds in 

 England together, I imagine on an average only about 

 half the young hounds survive the first three months 

 in kennel. Distemper and the numerous comphca- 

 tions that follow in its wake is, of course, chiefly 



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