3 i 4 BREAKING AND ENTERING. 



school for this purpose, as the puppies have something to engage 

 their attention, and until they will bear their straps without pull- 

 ing against them their education in this respect is not complete. 

 A dog pulling in slips will do himself so much harm as often to 

 cause the loss of a course, and therefore every precaution should 

 be taken to avoid this fault. The leader should never pull against 

 the puppy steadily, but the moment he finds him beginning to 

 hang forward, give him a severe check with the strap, and repeat 

 it as often as necessary. It is a very common defect, but never 

 ought to occur with proper management ; though when once 

 established it ' is very difficult to get rid of. Two or three days' 

 leading on the coursing-field will serve to make any puppies 

 handy to lead if properly managed, and they may then be put in 

 slips with perfect safety. 



The condition of the puppy at the time of entering is too 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 

 circumstances, as the hare will sometimes run in a different direc- 

 tion 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 too 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 



