FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



which is probably quite unsuited to it, or he must 

 resolutely set his face against the shows and breed 

 for utility and consequent improved sport. Now 

 all this could be very easily altered if the Peter- 

 borough standard was expanded in order to cover 

 several types. Three such types would be suffi- 

 cient to enable provincial packs to be properly 

 catered for, from a utility point of view, and the 

 present inflated prices for fashionable hounds 

 would give way to utility value, based on the 

 suitability of the hound to its particular country. 

 As matters stand now, upon the basis of a siagle 

 standard of type for the whole of the hunting 

 countries in Great Britain, we find that this type 

 — by actual experience — has been found wanting 

 in many districts. There are hounds, such as 

 the fell and Welsh t3rpes, capable of doing the 

 best work in any country, which certainly cannot 

 be said of the ultra fashionable sort one sees at 

 Peterborough. If therefore, a single standard 

 was deemed sufficient, such hounds are capable 

 of upholding it, because fell and Welsh hounds 

 can hunt in any country, and form a better 

 standard to breed to, from an all-round utility 

 point of view, than the heavy-boned sort one sees 

 at the shows. Although let us say the fell type 

 is suited to any hunting country in Great Britain, 

 there are those Masters who would like to keep 

 reasonably near to the standard type, so long as 

 their hounds could do the work required of them. 

 By having say three classes at Peterborough 

 instead of one, these Masters would be catered 

 for, as well as others like them. The monopoly 

 of the shows by the standard type has increased 

 the tendency to in-breeding, because as already 

 mentioned, a few practically untried stallion 

 hounds become champions, and are used almost 



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