FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



are by no means easy to get hold of. People 

 who breed terriers solely for work are not very 

 keen on parting with them, while the majority 

 of the highly advertised show dogs are absolutely 

 worthless for underground work. The latter 

 are generally far too big to follow a fox into a 

 narrow passage or crevice in the rock and having 

 been bred for show like their parents before them, 

 they have lost the inherited instinct for work. 

 There are of course exceptions here and there, 

 but taking the show type as a whole, they make 

 no appeal to the man who wants something that 

 will bolt a fox or otter, or lie up to a badger. 



The prospective purchaser of a working terrier 

 will be well advised to beware of high flown 

 advertisements extolling the many supposed 

 virtues of other people's dogs. Before buying, 

 always see the terrier or terriers at work first, 

 then you can judge for yourself of their actual 

 capabilities under ground. People have very 

 different ideas as to the qualifications of a working 

 terrier. If a dog barely gets out of sight in an 

 earth and barks, some owners seem to think 

 he is a " worker," and no end of such useless 

 brutes get palmed off on the unsuspecting 

 public. 



The make and shape of a terrier have everything 

 to do with the dog being able to perform his work 

 properly. His conformation may vary a good 

 deal, particularly as regards length of leg and 

 width of chest, so that type varies with the nature 

 of the surroundings in which the work is done. 

 For instance, a small, short-legged terrier can 

 easily run a drain or an average earth, but put 

 him in a big rock earth, where there are high ledges 

 underground, and he will be severely handicapped 

 when attempting to go up to his fox, which in- 



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