36 FIRST DIVISION OF THE 



great care, however, being taken that they are not over-gorged. Regular 

 and proper feeding, with occasional exercise, will constitute the best pre- 

 paration for the actual training. If a foster-mother be required for the 

 puppies, it should, if possible, be a greyhound ; for it is not at all impos- 

 sible that the bad qualities of the nurse may to a greater or less degree be 

 communicated to the whelps. Bringing up by hand is far preferable to 

 the introduction of any foster-mother. A glass or Indian-rubber bottle 

 may be used for a little while, if not until the weaning. Milk at first, and 

 afterwards milk and sop alternately, may be used. 



There is a difference of opinion whether the whelp should be kept in the 

 kennel and subjected to its regular discipline, or placed at walk in some 

 farm-house. In consequence of the liberty he will enjoy at the latter, his 

 growth will probably be more rapid ; but, running with the farmers' dogs, 

 and probably coursing many hares, he will acquire, to a certain degree, a 

 habit of wildness. It is useless to deny this ; but, on the other hand, nothing 

 will contribute so much to the development of every power as a state of 

 almost unlimited freedom when the dogs are young. The wildness that 

 will be exhibited can soon be afterwards restrained so far as is necessary, 

 and the dog who has been permitted to exert his powers when young will 

 manifest his superiority in more advanced age, and in nothing more than 

 his dexterity at the turn. 



When the training actually commences, it should be preceded by a 

 couple of doses of physic, with an interval of five or six days, and, pro- 

 bably, a moderate bleeding between them ; for, if the dog begins to work 

 overloaded with flesh and fat, he will suffer so severely from it that pos- 

 sibly he will never afterwards prove a game dog. In the course of his 

 training he should be allowed every advantage and experience every en- 

 couragement. His courses should be twice or thrice a-week, according to 

 their severity, and as often as it can be effected he should be rewarded with 

 some mark of kindness. 



In the ' Sportsman' for April, 1840, is an interesting account of the 

 chace of the hare. It is said that, in general, a good greyhound will reach 

 a hare if she runs straight. He pursues her eagerly, and the moment he 

 is about to strike at her she turns short, and the dog, unable to stop him- 

 self, is thrown from ten to twenty yards from her. These jerking turns 

 soon begin to tell upon a dog, and an old well-practised hare will seldom 

 fail to make her escape. When, however, pursued by a couple of dogs, 

 the hare has a more difficult game to play, as it frequently happens that 

 when she is turned by the leading dog she has great difficulty in avoiding 

 the stroke of the second. 



It is highly interesting to witness the game of an old hare. She has 

 generally some brake or thicket in view, under the cover of which she 

 means to escape from her pursuers. On moving from her seat she makes 

 directly for the hiding-place, but, unable to reach it, has recourse to turn- 

 ing, and, wrenched by one or the other of her pursuers, she seems every 

 moment almost in the jaws of one of them, and yet in a most dexterous 

 manner she accomplishes her object. A greyhound, when he perceives a 

 hare about to enter a thicket, is sure to strike at her if within any reason- 

 able distance. The hare shortens her stride as she approaches the thicket, 

 and at the critical moment she makes so sudden, dexterous, and effectual 

 a spring, that the dogs are flung to a considerable distance, and she has 

 reached the cover and escaped. 



