VARIETIES OF THE DOG. 81 



torpor through the whole of the intestinal canal. It is only in some pecu- 

 liar districts that this occurs ; it pervades certain kennels only ; and but 

 until lately there has been little or almost no explanation of the cause of 

 the evil." a 



Nimrod took a most important view of the matter, and to him the 

 sporting- world is much indebted. " How is it," he asks, " that, in our 

 younger days, we never heard of kennel lameness, or, indeed, of hounds 

 being lame at all, unless from accident, or becoming shaken and infirm 

 from not having been composed of that iron-bound material which the 

 labours of a greyhound or a hound require ? How is it, that, in our 

 younger days, masters of hounds began the season with 50 or 60 couples, 

 and, bating the casualties, left off at the end of it equally strong in their 

 kennels, and able, perhaps, to make a valuable draft ; whereas we now hear 

 of one-half of the dogs in certain localities being disabled by disease, and 

 some masters of hounds compelled to be stopped in their work until their 

 kennels are replenished." 



Washing hounds when they come home after work must be injurious to 

 them," although it has almost become the fashion of modern times. If 

 they are not washed at all, and we believe it to be unnecessary, yet the 

 kennels in which lameness has appeared should be strictly avoided. It 

 should be on the day following, and not in the evening of a hunting-day 

 that washing should take place. 



Mr. Hodgson told Nimrod, that the Quorn Pack never had a case of 

 kennel lameness until his late huntsman took to washing his hounds after 

 hunting, and then he often had four or five couples ill from this cause. He 

 deprecated even their access to water in the evening after hunting, and we 

 believe that he was quite right in so doing. 



The tongue of the dog, with the aid of clean straw, is his best and safest 

 instrument in cleansing his person ; and, if he can be brought to his kennel 

 with tolerably clean feet, as Mr. Foljambe enables him to be brought, he will 

 never be long before he is comfortable in his bed, after his belly is filled. 



There is another mode, as a preventive of kennel lameness, which we have 

 the best authority for saying deserves particular attention, and that is, the 

 frequently turning hounds off their benches during the day, even if it were 

 to the extent of every two hours throughout the entire day. "We do not mean 

 to deny the existence of a disease, which, being produced in the kennel, is 

 properly termed kennel lameness. Some kennels are, no doubt, more un- 

 healthy and prone to engender rheumatic affections than others ; but, by 

 proper management, and avoiding as much as possible all exciting causes, 

 their effects may, at least, be very much lessened, if not entirely obviated. 



Lord Fitzhardinge's opinion of the situation of the kennel and the 

 management of the hounds, as given in the New Sporting Magazine, is 

 somewhat different from that which has been just given. The following 

 is the substance of it : b 



He states that the kennel should be built on a dry and warm situa- 



a Elaine on the Diseases of the Dog, b See Hints to Young Masters of Fox- 

 p. 140. hounds New Sport. Mag., vol. viii. p. 



174-290. 



G 



