318 EMPLOYMENT OF THE DOG IN HUNTING, ETC. 
watch the secretions, and if he finds that they are deficient he may 
give a dose of aloes or jalap; but if in good order it is better to 
avoid medicine, if the weight can be kept down by other means. 
The diet is of the greatest importance, and indeed it is in this 
point that more mistakes are made than in any other. Ifa hardy 
dog is fed as heavily as his inclination prompts him, no kind of 
work will reduce him without also destroying his elasticity and. 
fire, and hence it is found necessary to limit his food. For this 
reason reduction of food is indispensable in most cases, and in 
very few will the dog in training require the same quantity as 
before, though the quality can hardly be too good, provided it does 
not upset his stomach. These animals are extremely liable to 
become bilious, and suffer from disorder of the stomach and liver, 
just as man does. Hence it follows that any concentrated food 
like eggs or strong soup, although in theory it may be better 
than meat and bread, is inadmissible, because, being so prone to 
dyspepsia, just at the time when the greyhound is wanted to run 
he is off his feed, sick and sorry, The dog naturally réquires 
variety in his feeding, but the change should be always gradual 
in the proportions of the elements of which it is composed. The. . 
changes may be rung on beef, mutton, and horseflesh as often as 
may be convenient, but the proportion of flesh to meal must be 
very carefully kept at the same ratio. For the dog in high train- 
ing lean mutton is the best of all flesh, as it is milder than either 
of the others, and though quite as nourishing, yet it is less heat- 
ing; so that careful trainers prefer it to all others, especially 
when from home, as it can always be procured at the butcher's, 
while good horseflesh must be carried about, and is on that 
account troublesome to get. But if a good leg of well-hung 
horseflesh from a tolerably healthy horse can be procured, it is 
very nearly as good as mutton, and far better than beef, being 
more tender, and, I think, not so heating. No one, however, who 
wishes to take advantage of every chance in his fayour should 
use bad meat; and the difference between the one and the other 
cannot exceed 6d. per day per dog, which at a meeting lasting a 
week amounts to 3s. 6d. per head. About three-quarters of a 
pound of dressed meat and the same quantity of biscuit or bread 
soaked in jelly will be sufficient, on the average, for most dogs in 
