i6o Horse and Hound. 



upon other breeds on account of their handsomer 

 and showier appearance. 



Therefore, the first thing is to gain a hound's 

 confidence and never abuse it. I do not mean 

 make a pet of him; far from it, for pets are al- 

 ways upon a famihar footing, and ''famiharity 

 breeds contempt." 



It is taken for granted that your hounds are 

 pure-blooded and naturally inherit the instinct of 

 hunting. The chances are that this instinct has 

 already led them to hunt rabbits upon the farm 

 where raised ; if so, they should be broken of this 

 at once. One or two good floggings adminis- 

 tered while caught in the act will suffice. 



In breaking puppies it is absolutely necessar)' 

 to have an old, tried, and true, steady-to-work 

 hound, one that can not be persuaded to run a 

 rabbit ; in fact, one that both you and the puppies 

 can rely upon to cry nothing but a fox track. Bad 

 habits, such as rabbi tting, babbling, back track- 

 ing, and similar habits acquired at this stage are 

 hard to eradicate and may affect the whole after- 

 life of a hound. 



If gray foxes, or cubs, can be found, it is 

 better to commence work upon them, as an old 

 red is discouraging to a young hound, and be- 

 sides he will take the old hound away from the 

 pups and they can not see how a loss is taken off 

 or assist in recovering the line. It is a most 

 serious mistake to allow pups or young hounds to 



