HUNTING THE FOX 37 



man because, with regard to all kinds of stock 

 both human and animal, the main avenue to health 

 is diet. The next thing is exercise. The actual 

 breaking of the young Hounds should be carried 

 out with as little whip as possible. Any more 

 whip than is necessary to ensure obedience is 

 nothing more or less than gratuitous cruelty, 

 which will one daj^ recoil on the head of the person 

 who uses it. If you see a pack of Hounds scatter 

 in different directions with their sterns down 

 whenever a whipper-in gets off his horse, you may 

 be sure that the discipline of that pack has been 

 obtained by sheer severity instead of by firmness, 

 patience, and confidence. All good Foxhounds 

 are highly bred, affectionate, sensitive creatures, 

 and will not give you of their best if they are 

 actuated by fear. Our forefathers apparently 

 relied on the terror of the whip more than we do. 

 Perhaps the years that have gone by have bred 

 into the modern Foxhound a hereditary sense of 

 discipline ; but there is no doubt that to-day we 

 have a better way. It is true that certain puppies, 

 like certain boys and girls, are all the better for 

 a stroke or two in season. But the instrument 

 should be hght and the application rare. Flogging 

 can never be an effective substitute for voice, 

 manner, personality, and the capacity for authority, 

 without which requisites it is better not to enter 

 the service of the Foxhound. 



