16 THE AMERICAN FOXHOUND 



RAISING AND TRAINING FOXHOUNDS. 

 By W. I. Spears, Byhalia, Miss. 



There is much to be learned along this line. I once had a 

 favorite bitch to whelp twelve fine lemon and white puppies, 

 and I was so anxious that they should all be raised that I gave 

 the mother all the rich food that she would eat, and not a single 

 pup lived to be three weeks old. I think the rich food caused 

 milk fever. Buttermilk and good bread is an excellent feed for 

 a suckling dam, and after the puppies are weaned it is still a fine 

 feed for them. They should also have several baits a week of 

 fresh beef scraps. 



Sense and ambition are two of the most important requisites 

 for a red fox hound, and if you have bred tliem right they will 

 have it. When my puppies are six months old I take them out 

 of the kennel and learn them to follow the horn, and later take 

 them out after rabbits and learn them to hark and pack after 

 rabbits just like I do after foxes. Don't let them scratch out of 

 the kennel and run off and hunt and run by themselves, for this 

 ruins a high class puppy quicker than any other one thing. 

 Never go home and leave a foxhound in the woods, for if you do 

 he soon learns to give you the dodge and stay there and run just 

 what he pleases and as long as he pleases. Never allow them to 

 run anything from puppyhood except a rabbit and a fox, and as 

 soon as they have had a few fox-chases they will scorn a rabbit. 

 Never let them run a dog or a house -cat. Never turn them loose 

 in a path or public road. Never let them bark except when they 

 are on a trail, for a babbler is the most worthless of all dogs ex- 

 cept possibly the flunker or quitter, and both ought to be killed 

 at once. By all means learn the selfish puppy to hark to the 

 pack. Study the nature of your puppies and learn them to love 

 you. Most of the liigh-class dogs are timid and will not stand 

 severe treatment. When a man has a pack of well trained, 

 sensible, close, hard running dogs, he is well equipped for the 

 grandest sport on earth. 



Success, health and prosperity to biggest hearted people on 

 earth, the fox-hunters, is my wish. 



