2U 



their favour and themselves in good condition, they would start with 

 an " odds-on " chance of escaping. 



However, all being said, I go a long -way with my old friend Jorrocks 

 in what he says of coursing in his famous after-dinner speech on the 

 evening of Doleful's Ball, and I agree with him in thinking that "of 

 all the damned daft devils under the sun a greyhound is the daftest" ! 



Bar that 1 believe a good greyhound goes from the slips to his hare 

 at a greater pace than any other animal can travel at, I see nothing 

 in coursing to commend itself as sport, or anything but a cruel and 

 unfair pastime eminently calculated to produce and encourage gambling. 



Kacing is uncertain, but coursing is doubly so. A dog to win a 64 

 dog-stake must win 6 courses, a 32 dog-stake 5 courses, and a 16 dog- 

 stake 4 courses. Still, we see fools and partisans taking odds as short 

 as if the lot were slipped in a pack and one course was to decide the 

 winner. 



^ Holding the opinions I do on coursing I cannot enter upon any of the 

 details, but having begun a chapter on the subject I must fill it up 

 somehow. I shall begin by saying something about the breeding of 

 dogs in general. 



The principle of breeding in accordance with physiological doctrine 

 applies equally to all species of animal, as has already been stated in 

 the chapter on the breeding of horses. 



One should never breed from a bitch which has had her first litter 

 to a dog which is not of her own species, for females of every race are 

 liable to throw back in future conceptions to their first impregnation. 

 In the canine race this is particularly so. If a greyhound bitch has 

 her first litter to, say, a water dog, she wuU be liable to throw puppies 

 like water-dogs in every litter she has afterwards, no matter how purely 

 brtd her mates. It therefore behoves breeders of hounds and dogs of 

 all sorts to ascertain that the bitch they want to breed from has not 

 had her first litter to any dog other than her own species, and he should 

 be well bred. 



I never had any experience with greyhounds, therefore I don't know 

 how they should be treated when puppies or at any other time. I have 

 been told they require a deal more care and attention than other dogs 

 by reason of their want of sense and high spirits. This I readily accept 

 as a fact, for no other species of dog has so small a head in proportion 

 to its body, ergo, so little brains. Their eyes, expressive of frivolity 

 without a particle of sagacity, and set in a forehead as flat as a hawk's, 

 at once show what harum-scarum creatures they are. 



An article upon greyhound breeding appeared some time ago 

 in The County Gentleman, by Mr. W. H. Dewe. It is evident that 

 gentleman knows what he wrote about, and the article being published 

 by a sporting journal of such high standing must be a guarantee for 

 the soundness of the principles. I therefore reproduce i^, knowing as I 

 do that some of the treatment (but not all) is good for pointers, setters, 

 and foxhounds. 



