Teaching Young Hounds to Hunt 201 



feed for dogs much under a year old, yet I have no 

 patience with those who advocate a strict meal on 

 biscuit diet for a working dog. It may be and is 

 excellent for dogs intended solely for show pur- 

 poses and for dogs that are inclined to put on fat. 

 This brings me to the question, what is condition? 

 Working condition, show condition, to me all one, 

 the dog is in show condition under the conditions of 

 which he best does his work, and it is here that the 

 biped is learning a lesson in hunting, quite as much 

 as the quadruped, and until he knows every one 

 of his dogs individually he can rest assured that he 

 is not getting the best results from them. Some 

 hounds, like some men, useless for good, hard work 

 when carrying a lot of flesh, but in the case of 

 hounds it appears to me that a hound that has to be 

 starved to hunt is a very undesirable one. I do not 

 want one that hunts to live, but prefer the one that 

 lives to hunt. A meat dog, a nigger dog, or a 

 hound that you can see to read a newspaper tlii^ough 

 are opprobrious terms to apply to a well-bred dog, 

 yet there are times and specimens which such terms 

 fit to a T. 



"The owner of a dog should be the judge as to 

 what constitutes condition, and he should pride 

 himself when showing his dog or dogs, to do so in 

 that condition which experience teaches is the one 



