THE TRAIL HOUND 



natural body covering by clipping exposes him 

 to wet and cold, and necessitates his wearing a 

 rug when standing about during inclement 

 weather at a meeting. Stimulant in various 

 forms is sometimes administered to trail hounds 

 just prior to the start of a race, but it is a practice 

 that should be severely condemned, as if per- 

 sisted in it utterly ruins a hound's constitution. 

 If a man cannot get a hound fit by means of 

 common sense training, he had better turn his 

 attention to some other job. 



A trail is laid in a wide circle of from eight to 

 ten miles, two men going out to the farthest point, 

 where one turns right and the other left. Each 

 drags behind him a bunch of material soaked in 

 the ingredients constituting the drag. The state 

 and direction of the course depends on these 

 trailers. They can for instance cross scree-beds 

 or very rough ground, or make the going easier 

 by avoiding such places. By choosing rough 

 ground the trailer makes is own job harder, 

 and lays the hounds open to injury in the race. 

 Again, it is useless to lay the trail at a turn, in a 

 circle of small radms, for hounds will shoot 

 straight across, the scent of the drag being strong. 

 A hound that cuts corners is liable to gain a lot 

 of ground in this way during the run. 



Just prior to the arrival of the trailer at the 

 starting point, the canine competitors are lined 

 up, and on the signal being given they are slipped. 

 The start is generally in the bottom of a dale, 

 from whence the hounds can be viewed over a 

 greater portion of the mountain course. For the 

 last few miles they may be out of sight, and ex- 

 citement waxes high amongst the spectators as 

 to which hound will be the first to appear. The 

 finish is generally at a wall or a fence, the first 



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