PUPPY WALKING 19 



Milk. — Yes, milk is a sine qua non when the 

 whelps are first sent out, though some of them, I 

 fancy, don't get much of it, and yet thrive fairly 

 well. But what milk they get must be good ; no 

 skim milk, or whey, or buttermilk should be given 

 under any circumstances. But, as a rule, there is 

 plenty of good pickings about a farmhouse for one 

 hound, or even for two, if a little offal is got from 

 the butcher and boiled. Broth is a grand thing 

 for young hounds, and I don't believe in giving 

 them much raw food. 



Food is, of course, an important item, but still 

 more important is liberty. A foxhound puppy 

 should never be shut up save at night, and then 

 he should go into the stable. It is a capital 

 plan to shut a young hound up with your 

 hunters. They get to see and know hounds, and 

 it keeps them from kicking hounds when they are 

 out. 



Liberty, I have said, is an essential thing. It 

 is absolutely cruel to keep a young hound shut up 

 in a loose-box even. He will be crooked as a 

 yoke stick, spiritless, and good for nothing, and all 

 the care that has been bestowed upon him will have 

 been bestowed upon him in vain, for he is sure to 

 go in an early draft. 



And, sir or madam — you who want to enrol 

 yourselves amongst the noble army of puppy 

 walkers, and it is a noble army, one to which fox- 

 hunters are for ever beholden — do not expect 

 that the innocent-looking and clumsy and some- 

 what helpless - looking being whom the first 

 whipper-in leaves at your door with a grin, is going 

 to turn out a lapdog at 5 st. 7 lb. He will wax 

 in strength, he will become full of wild animal 



