286 EMPLOYMENT OF THE DOG IN HUNTING, ETC. 



liigli speed. Hence the necessity for attending to bi'ced, and to its 

 jjurit}', which is the only guarantee (short of an actual trial) that 

 the perfect frame Avill give perfect action. The same remarks 

 appl}' to working power : a dog may look to be exceedingly cleverly 

 made, with good shoulders, and all the other parts essential to this 

 faculty, and yet there may be a want of cleverness and tact, as well 

 as a deficiency in courage, which will render him absolutely use- 

 less. But when the breed is known to be almost invariably good 

 in these respects, and the formation of the individual is good, 

 there is a reasonable ground for expecting that he will exhibit 

 them in more or less perfection. Nothing is more provoking than 

 to find a splendidly formed dog beaten in his trial by a wretched- 

 looking brute, the sole advantage attending the latter being that 

 he is descended from good blood, while the former perhaps owns 

 a sire and dam of well-known and ascertained imperfect nervous 

 organisation. 



When the young courser determines upon getting together a 

 kennel of greyhounds, he must therefore carefully attend to all 

 these points ; but with all his care he will be disappointed unless 

 he knows how to manage them, or can intrust them to some one 

 who does. Public greyhounds, as I have already explained, are 

 easily spoiled by using them too frequently ; and yet they must 

 have some amount of practice before they run in a stake, or they 

 will inevitably be beaten from awkwardness. Some breeds are 

 naturally more clever than others, and take less time in coming 

 to their best, so that, if they have as many courses as would barely 

 suffice in many cases, they would be past their prime. All this 



