•-) 



98 WALKING FOXHOUND PUPPIES 



"points" should be taken into consideration ; for the 

 walker usually has to take any puppies that are 

 given to him, and as he does not breed them, he 

 cannot be held responsible for any defects which may 

 be in their make and shape. The hunt puppy-show 

 ought to be a function entirely apart from the walkers' 

 show, and until this is done, the unfortunate puppies 

 will continue to be dumped down on any stranger who 

 will consent to take them. 



I cannot help thinking that the great mortality 

 which takes place every season among young hounds, 

 might be considerably lessened if the various hunts 

 were to send out with the puppies, for the benefit of 

 inexperienced walkers, a pamphlet or card of printed 

 instructions concerning their feeding and general 

 management. They should also request the walker 

 to report any case of sickness, and should at once 

 despatch a competent veterinary surgeon to investigate 

 such cases and prescribe for the young patients. The 

 inexperienced puppy walker, in her anxiety to get her 

 charges strong, often gorges them to repletion with raw 

 meat even before they have got any permanent teeth, 

 which is as absurd as feeding an infant on raw steak. 

 We know not how young hounds contract distemper, 

 but they cannot be prevented in their daily walks from 

 eating offal, and if the germs of the disease are taken 

 into their bodies in this way, the hound whose 

 system has been weakened by " heating " and unsuitable 

 food will seldom recover. I do not wish to pose 

 as an authority on this subject and am simply giving, 



