FOR NEXT SEASON 325 



severely than any others of the canine race, dis- 

 temper. Lucky indeed will they have been if with 

 all their care they have not lost some of the best, 

 for, curiously enough, the best hounds generally 

 suffer most from the disease, and it may be added 

 that the sharp spell of cold weather which dis- 

 tinguishes the latter part of March makes the 

 disease all the more difficult to treat successfully. 



When the more severe symptoms have yielded 

 to treatment a great deal still remains to be done 

 in restoring health and vigour to hounds enfeebled 

 by a long period of sickness. If any one were to 

 visit a kennel and look at some of the puppies 

 just recovered from distemper, to notice their 

 hollow sunken eyes, their staring coats, their flat 

 sides, and their " wan and woebegone " appear- 

 ance, they would realise the difficulties which beset 

 the huntsman at, for him, one of the most critical 

 times of the year. The youngsters once restored 

 to their pristine health, and full of vigour and, as 

 a matter of course, mischief, then comes the period 

 of breaking. And in the breaking is the making 

 or marring of a pack of hounds. It is not a mere 

 matter of whipcord, as some seem to think, and in 

 these days the education of hounds is a scientific 

 business. No one who has hunted for many 

 seasons can fail to observe that in all well-regu- 

 lated kennels there is less rating and less whip- 

 cracking than was wont to be considered necessary 

 in the brave days of old. But this educational 

 process involves a considerable amount of labour 

 on huntsman and whipper-in, labour for which 

 they are not given the credit they deserve by 

 many of the unobservant and careless followers 

 of the sport of kings. 



