244 BREAKING AND ENTERING. 



circumstances, as the hare will sometimes run in a different direc- 

 tion to that which is expected. 



A sapling, as the young greyhound is called to the end of 

 the first season after he is whelped, should never be trained 

 like an old one, as the work is too severe, and his frame is not 

 calculated to bear it, but he may be reduced in flesh by light 

 feeding, and allowed to gallop at liberty for two or three hours 

 a day, giving him that amount of walking exercise and as much 

 galloping as he likes to take. With these precautions, he will 

 be fit to encounter any hare in a short course, which is all that 

 should ever be allowed, as far as it is possible to foresee what 

 will happen. 



WJtetJier an old assistant or a young one shall be jjut down with 

 a sapling is a subject which admits of some discussion. If the 

 former, the young dog has small chance of getting to work at 

 all, and if the latter, he may have so little assistance as to be 

 greatly distressed. Few people like to put down an honest old 

 dog with a sapling, and a cunning one soon teaches the tricks 

 which he himself displays. Sometimes yovmg dogs have great 

 difiiculty in killing, and want the encouragement afforded by 

 blood ; in such a case, a good killer may be desirable, but with 

 no other object could I ever put down an old dog with a sapling. 

 Before they are going to run in a stake, an old dog of known 

 speed should be put in slips with the pxippy, in order to arrive 

 at a knowledge of the powers of the latter, but this is with a 

 view to a trial, and not as part of the entering of the grey- 

 hound. When a sapling has run enough hares to know his 



