74 COURSING 



CHAPTER III 



PRACTICAL GREYHOUND BREEDING 



THE greyhound-breeder having now made up his mind as to 

 which particular strains he will patronise, and having his theories 

 as to certain crosses and inbreedings that may be calculated 

 to produce desirable stock, must look to individual merit and 

 characteristics ; for a certain ' hit ' in breeding may be clearly 

 established both in theory and practice, and yet in some cases 

 may fail, not through any miscalculation of genealogy, but owing 

 to some defect, physical or mental, on the part of the immediate 

 parents, a defect that will surely be accentuated if inbreeding 

 is included in the programme. It therefore behoves him to be 

 very careful in the selection of his brood-bitches, and in mating 

 them he must always keep in view their individual peculiarities 

 as well as their inherited characteristics. 



To begin with, we think it a mistake to breed from a very 

 big bitch ; rather would we choose a medium or even a small 

 one, provided she came of a family that usually produced fair- 

 sized animals. Very often it occurs that in a large litter three 

 or four of its members greatly distinguish themselves, but one 

 little bitch may fail to follow their example, simply and solely 

 on account of size. Such a one can usually be bought for 

 a few sovereigns, and we would as soon breed from her as 

 from her larger sister, who had perchance won the Waterloo 

 Cup ; in fact, it is seldom that a hard-run bitch ever 

 distinguishes herself as a matron, though there are notable 

 exceptions to this rule, such as Bab-at-the-Bowster, Tollwife, 

 Bed of Stone, Ruby, Rebe, and Bit of Fashion. 



