TRAINING. 79 



their true value, which is very great. In the Grey- 

 hound, whilst assisting to keep up a healthy state, 

 judicious rubbing along the principal muscles helps to 

 develop them and to give them increased strength and 

 elasticity. 



Night and morning each dog should be taken in hand 

 and well rubbed from neck to end of tail, following the 

 lines of muscle, and rubbing with the hair. Hair gloves are 

 too coarse and irritating for fine-skinned dogs, and a pad 

 of rough towel answers better. Following the neck muscles, 

 those of the shoulder and fore-arms, and down to the feet, 

 must have attention; next along the back, not on the 

 top, but along each side of the spine. The loin muscles, 

 and those of the thigh, down to the hock, are of great im- 

 portance, and demand to be specially well rubbed, the 

 operator bearing pretty heavily and equally over the whole 

 surface. The best time for this is when the dogs return 

 from exercise. 



Where dogs have to travel far by rail or other con- 

 veyance, they must be provided with ample room, any 

 cramping being injurious. Such travelling is apt to upset 

 them, and therefore it is well when they are to run in 

 important stakes, to take them to the neighbourhood of 

 the meet a few days in advance; and if the country is 

 of a nature strange to them, it is well to exercise them 

 over land in the neighbourhood similar to it. 



The dog should be well exercised the day before the 

 coursing commences, but must not be slipped, or have 

 any fast work, and should not be fed later than two or 

 three o'clock. If the water obtainable is hard, or sus- 

 pected of being impure, the precaution of boiling as much 



