FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



triever has been used, the latter however proving 

 a rather expensive failure, as the hounds so crossed 

 exhibited a decided penchant for mutton on the 

 hoof. This fault is of course fatal in a district 

 where Herdwicks swarm all over the open feUs. 

 As a trail hound does not do his three days per 

 week like the fox-hounds, his owner has therefore 

 to keep him in condition for race running. His 

 condition depends on the amount of time his 

 trainer can devote to the business. Proper 

 feeding, plus practice trails and road- work keep him 

 right inside, open his pipes, and harden his feet. 

 Owners and trainers have their own pet methods 

 of getting hounds fit, some of which are rather 

 carried to extremes. It is seldom one sees a 

 trail hound with a really good coat, many of them 

 having the appearance of being hide-bound. This 

 is to some extent the result of clipping hounds, 

 under the fond impression that by so doing they 

 will run faster. As a hound sweats chiefly 

 through his tongue, and the hair cut off weighs 

 practically nothmg, clippmg simply has the result 

 of ruining the hound's appearance, for a coat once 

 clipped, and often very badly clipped at that, 

 never grows to its original perfection again. 

 Condition does not mean a tight skin and a 

 skeleton appearance, as some folk seem to imagine. 

 More than one Waterloo Cup winner — to turn for 

 a moment to coursing — has been fed on ' ' 'taters 

 and buttermilk," and a well known trainer who 

 adopted this diet said that when a dog was fit, 

 he should feel as if he could turn himself inside 

 out when you picked up a handful of loose skin. 

 Common sense applied to the feeding and training 

 win get any hound fit to run for his life, and the 

 harder and less pampered his surroundings, the 

 better he wiU be. Depriving a hound of his 



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