78 THE GREYHOUND. 



Greyhound, any more than it would be to attempt to train 

 a racehorse in a gin. A man could not give on foot the 

 amount of work Greyhounds need, and therefore, if he 

 does not train on horseback, an assistant is needed to slip 

 them. The trainer goes on half a mile or so, and the 

 assistant holds the dogs in leash till he whistles, when, 

 being slipped together, they race to him, the one trying 

 to out-distance the other. It is well in thus slipping to 

 arrange that the dogs shall finish up hill, so as to give 

 them what is called "a good pipe opener." To slip from 

 one hill to finish on another rising ground is very suit- 

 able, and if over rough ground that is, uneven, not 

 stony so much the better. Some coursing countries 

 being intersected with ditches and fences the Greyhounds 

 should be practised at these, for if unaccustomed to them 

 they would lose by their awkwardness in the actual 

 course. 



Where a number have to be slipped, the attendant 

 secures them to his person by a belt round the waist. 



On the approach of a great meeting the courser is 

 often puzzled to know which of his dogs to run for 

 certain stakes, and it is customary to put them in slips 

 a week or two before the event with a known good per- 

 former; and, when there is none good enough in the home 

 kennel, it is seldom difficult to get this done with the 

 Greyhound of a brother courser, for there is not the secrecy 

 and mystery about these private Greyhound trials that there 

 is in the trial of racehorses, and the " tout " is an unknown 

 nuisance in connection with the sport. 



The value of friction of the skin with thorough clea,n- 

 liness of skin and coat are not often appreciated at 



