288 EMPLOYMENT OF THE DOG IN HUNTING, ETC. 



have run better untrained than trained, but this only shows that 

 the training in their particular case was mismanaged ; for, if they 

 had been treated properly, they would not have been worked to the 

 extent which produced the change for the worse. Scarcely any 

 two dogs require the same treatment, and the chief art in training 

 is to discover the exact amount which each will bear and require in 

 order to bring him out to the best advantage. It must therefore 

 be understood, that by training is here meant the act of preparing 

 a dog for certain public performances in the way best fitted for 

 each individual ; and that it does not by any means consist in 

 putting him through a specified course of physic, diet, and work, 

 which, in his case, may be altogether unsuited to him. 



Before commencing to train a greyhound, it is necessary to 

 consider what condition he is in at the time, and what amount 

 of work he is likely to bear, judging from his breed, and also 

 from his bodily formation. The first thing to be done is to 

 see that his health is good, and that his liver and kidneys are 

 doing their work properly, without which it is useless to attempt 

 to train him. If he is known to be descended from a stock which 

 has been accustomed to severe j)reparatory work, and if he also 

 has a stout frame and good feet, it may reasonably be expected 

 that he will bear as much training as his progenitors, and he may 

 be treated accordingly. If on the other hand he comes of a soft 

 strain, that has never been used to road-work, and of which 

 the dogs composing it have always trained themselves in their 

 play to the highest pitch of which their frames are cajDable, 

 then it will be safer to follow suit, and to take the descendant 



