THE GREYHOUND IN TRAINING 109 



Third week. — Fried sheep's heads, a very littie meal, brown 

 bread, Brand's Extract, a few potatoes and beetroots. 



Fourth week. — Toasted mutton, no meal, brown bread, 

 trotter jelly, and a few mashed turnips (every other day). 



Pity the poor trainer and owner whose brightest hopes are 

 centred on the female members of the kennel ! When bitches 

 are really brilliant there is no denying them, and it is almost im- 

 possible to refrain from hopes that may at any moment be dashed 

 by the exigencies of Nature. All may go well till the night of 

 the draw, and then the discovery is made which leads to despair. 



Sometimes a bitch in use will run with even greater fire 

 than usual ; but the effort generally dies away after a course 

 or two, and a collapse may be looked for at any moment ; 

 nor do we think it is fair for an owner to send a bitch to 

 the slips in such a state. Should she meet a dog, the latter 

 is sure to be upset, and his attention will be distracted ; 

 nevertheless, it is a remarkable fact that on the appearance 

 of the hare everything will give way to the ruling passion for 

 the chase. 



Where important issues are involved, owners and trainers 

 often make great efforts to bring a bitch to the slips in the face 

 of Nature's attack. Should she come in use, say, three weeks 

 or a month prior to the date on which the stake is to open, a 

 common practice is to put her to the dog, and it not infre- 

 quently happens that at the beginning of pregnancy she may 

 quite retain her form. 



If a bitch is allowed to miss (i.e. if she is withheld from 

 the dog), it will be useless to dream of running her for at least 

 three months from the first appearance of the symptoms. The 

 reason of this is that Nature keeps on accumulating internal fat 

 and tissue to fit the bitch for the duties that should have been 

 hers, while toward the time when, in the natural course of 

 things, her whelps would have been born, the lacteal glands 

 secrete a certain amount of milk. To be on the safe side, 

 fourteen weeks should elapse before the bitch is sent to the 

 slips, though training may start three weeks earlier. 



