284 BREAKING AND ENTERING. 
often neglected, but it should be known that a fat over-fed puppy 
without previous exercise may be seriously injured even by a short 
course, which, moreover, can never be assured under any circum- 
stances, as the hare will sometimes run in a diiferent direction to 
that which is expected. 
A sapling, as the young greyhound is called to the end of the 
first season after he is whelped, should never be trained like an 
old one, as the work is tco severe, and his frame is not calculated 
to bear it; but he may be reduced in flesh by light feeding, and 
allowed to gallop at liberty for two or three hours a day, giving 
him that amount of walking exercise and as much galloping as he 
likes to take. With these precautions, he will be fit to encounter 
any hare in a short course, which is all that should ever be allowed, 
as far as it is possible to foresee what will happen. 
Whether an old assistant or a young one shall be put down with 
a sapling is a subject which admits of some discussion. If the 
former, the young dog has small chance of getting to work at all, 
and if the latter, he may have so little assistance as to be greatly 
distressed. Few people like to put down an honest old dog with 
a sapling, and a cunning one soon teaches the tricks which he 
himself displays. Sometimes young dogs have great difficulty in 
killing, and want the encouragement afforded by blood; in such 
a case a good killer may be desirable, but with no other object 
could I ever put down an old dog with a sapling. Before they 
are going to run in a stake, an old dog of known speed should be 
put in slips with the puppy, in order to arrive at a knowledge of 
the powers of the latter ; but this is with a view to a ¢rial, and not 
as part of the entering of the greyhound. When a sapling has 
run enough hares to know his work, and has killed a hare, or been 
present at the death of one, he may be put by as properly entered ; 
and the number required will average about five or six—more or 
less according to the cleverness of the particular animal, which 
will generally depend upon his breed. 
The deerhound is entered at his game on the same principles 
as the greyhound ; but as red deer are more scarce than hares, it 
requires more time. It is always better to slip him with an older 
companion, but beyond this precaution everything must be left to 
his natural sagacity. As his nose is to be brought into play, and 
