14 THE AMERICAN FOXHOUND 



here we feed corn -bread and buttermilk, or mush and butter- 

 milk, all they will eat, three times a day when young, twice 

 when older. When running the pack we feed once a day, and 

 give the dog every mouthful he will eat. If we expect to run in 

 the morning we feed about four o'clock in the afternoon before. 

 If we hunt at night we feed in the early morning. Give a good 

 feed of horse-flesh or beef scraps occasionally. Do not confine 

 your puppies in a kennel unless absolutely necessary. Let them 

 run about and run rabbits. Hard hunting, when older, will 

 make fox dogs of them. Do not use a whip when training unless 

 absolutely necessary. Usually, after a race or two, a puppy will 

 go into a running pack* as far as he can hear them. Never, 

 under any circumstances, quit and go home, and leave your pack 

 running. Stick to them in running and trailing to the finish, no 

 matter how hot or cold it may be, or how tired you are. If you 

 always stick to your pack they will stick to their game. If you 

 quit them they may run out of the country and some get killed 

 or stolen. I have lost two or three good hounds just in this way. 

 Sometimes it is necessary to "lift" a running pack of hounds. 

 I do not advise this, as a rule, but some good hunters do it 

 frequently, especially in deer-hunting. One ought never yell to 

 a pack of dogs except to get them together, or "lift" them except 

 when the fox or deer has been seen and the hounds have made a 

 run-over. A scarcity of game and failure to hunt often will 

 make poor hounds out of any strain, no matter how well bred. 

 Plenty of foxes and hard hunting will make a good pack. There 

 are a dozen or more good strains of foxhounds, and there are 

 worthless dogs in all strains. Do not, I beg of you, breed from 

 an inferior hound because he may happen to be well bred. 

 Better hang him. When you have certain blood lines that you 

 know by past experience produce good red fox dogs, stick to 

 that. Promiscuous crossing is not satisfactory, neither is too 

 close inbreeding, which has a tendency to throw nervous, ex- 

 citable hounds, and babblers. I do not want a hound to open his 

 mouth unless he smell his game. I would rather have a dog that 

 was too "stingy" with his voice than one that is a babbler. The 

 dog that cuts in ahead of the pack and takes his stand to catch 

 the fox, is a nuisance. Get rid of him. Some hounds will do 

 this in a rough, mountainous country. Do not, I implore you, 

 inin "drag" races with your hounds if you expect to have a fox 

 pack. I do not know of anything that so quickly demoralizes 



