THE MODERN FOXHOUND 



exclusively at the stud. This sort of thing ends 

 in loss of constitution, and necessitates keeping 

 an unnecessary number of hounds in kennel in 

 order that packs may be continually up to 

 strength. Individual hounds cannot do their 

 two or three days per week, so more hounds have 

 to be bred and sent out to walk, and when they 

 are entered they may only last three or four 

 seasons. Kennel and other expenses conse- 

 quently go up, while the standard of real sport 

 tends to deteriorate. Close in-breeding results 

 in loss of constitution, working ability, and brain 

 power, with consequent irregularity in type. 

 If you want brains, drive, music, and plenty of 

 " devil" in your hounds, never breed nearer 

 than the fifth generation. In " The Foxhound 

 of the Twentieth Century," Mr. C. Bradley says, 

 " The money value of a pack of hounds to-day 

 turns on the formation of the knee-joint to the 

 ground, and however good topped they may be, 

 if light of bone it will avail them little in the eyes 

 of the purchaser who wants the best." He also 

 says ' ' The usefulness of some animals may have 

 been impaired by breeding for points, but the 

 fox-hound has never become ' the sport of 

 fashion.' " Now these two statements can hardly 

 be said to agree. If the value of a pack turns on 

 the amount of bone below the knee, without 

 mention of working qualities, surely it is fashion's 

 dictate that commands the market. In our ex- 

 perience there are few animals to-day, with the 

 exception of show terriers and other breeds kept 

 solely for exhibition purposes, which are more 

 " the sport of fashion" than the type of fox- 

 hound now found winning honours at Peter- 

 borough. Fashion has been responsible for the 

 dub-like foot, and knuckled over knee, as well 



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