'BREAKING-IN. 113 



The cruelties that are perpetrated on puppies during the course of their 

 education or breaking-in, are sometimes infamous. Young dogs, like young 

 people, must be to a certain degree coerced ; but these animals receive 

 from nature so great an aptitude for learning, and practising that which we 

 require of them, and their own pleasure is so much connected with what 

 they learn, that there is no occasion for one-tenth part of the correction 

 that is occasionally inflicted ; and the frequent consequence of the cruelty 

 to which they are subjected, is cowardice or ferocity during life. 



Not many years ago, as the author was going over one of the commons 

 in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, now enclosed, he heard the 

 loud sounds of the lash and the screams of a dog. He hurried on, and 

 found two men, one holding a greyhound while another was unmercifully 

 flogging him. He had inflicted many lashes, and was continuing the cor- 

 rection. The author indignantly interfered, arid the dog was liberated, 

 but with a great deal of abuse from the men ; and a gentleman galloping 

 up, and who was the owner of the dog, and a Middlesex magistrate to boot, 

 seemed disposed to support his people in no very measured terms. On being 

 addressed, however, by name, and recognising the speaker, and his atten- 

 tion being directed to the whaled and even bloody state of the dog, he 

 offered the best excuse that he could. We met again some montns after- 

 wards. " That hiding," said he, " that offended you so much did Carlo 

 good, for he has not been touched since." " No," was the reply ; "you 

 were a little ashamed of your fellows, and have altered your system, and 

 find that your dogs do not want this unmerciful negro-whipping." 



Stories are told of the kennel-hare a hare kept on purpose, and which 

 is sometimes shown to the fox or stag hounds. The moment that any of 

 them open, they are tied up to the whipping-post, and flogged, while the 

 keepers at every stroke call out " Ware hare !" A sheep has also been 

 shown to them, or still is, after which another unmerciful flogging is ad- 

 ministered, amidst cries of " Ware sheep !" If this is not sufficient, some 

 of the wool is dipped in train oil, and put into the dog's mouth, which is 

 sewed up for many hours in order to cure him of sheep-biting. There was 

 an almost similar punishment for killing poultry ; and there was the puzzle 

 and the check-collar, cruelly employed, for killing other dogs. 



There is a great deal of truth, and there may occasionally be some ex- 

 aggeration, in these accounts ; but the sportsman who is indebted for the 

 pleasures of the field to the intelligence and exertions of his horses and his 

 dogs, is bound, by every principle that can influence an honourable mind, 

 to defend them from all wanton and useless cruelty. There is a dog, and 

 a faithful and valuable one, that powerfully demands the assistance of the 

 humane the yard or watch-dog. He is not only for the most part de- 

 prived of his liberty, but too often neglected and made unnecessarily to 

 suffer. How seldom do we see him in the enjoyment of a good bed of 

 straw, or, rather, how frequently is everything about his kennel in a 

 most filthy and disgusting state ! The following hint not only relates to 

 him, but to every dog that is tied up out of doors. " Their cribs or their 

 kennels, as they are called, should be constructed so as to turn, in order to 

 prevent their inmates from being exposed to the cutting blasts of winter. 

 Where they have no other refuge, all animals seek shelter from the weather 

 by turning their backs to the wind ; but, as the dog thus confined cannot 

 do so, his kennel should be capable of turning, or at least should be placed 

 so as not to face the weather more than is necessary. The premises would 



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