RECREA TION. 



163 



GALLERY OF GOOD DOGS. 



A GOOD FOXHOUND. 



Wm. Wade. 



The American foxhound, Ned, illustrated on 

 the opposite page, was owned, two years since, by- 

 Mr. F. M. Whipple of Newtonville, Mass. Seeing 

 the dog at a Boston show and being struck with 

 the admirable way in which he exhibited the 

 best type of our native foxhound, I obtained Mr. 

 Whipple's consent to have him photographed. 

 That I was not wrong in my estimate of the 

 hound, was shown by his being placed first by that 

 rare judge of dogs, Mr. Chas. H. Mason, at 

 the Saratoga show in 1893. Ned has competed 

 with credit at some foxhound trials, but will 

 never be a distinguised feature at such, being of 

 an independent disposition, not at all " chummy," 

 and if his companions are not to his liking, he 

 will invariably leave them and go off to hunt on his 

 own account. This is not at all an uncommon trait 

 in our foxhounds, due, I suppose, to their not 

 being kept and hunted regularly in packs. 



The distorted appearance of the left hind leg is 

 due to the fact of its being too near the camera. 

 It is thus slightly magnified. 



What is particularly admirable in this hound is 

 his beautiful head, so thoroughly typical of the 

 real American hound. It has the high occiput ; 

 the long, folding ears ; the droop of muzzle; the 

 clean, bony character of head, and the clean cut 

 muzzle without the rounding, gimlet-like look 

 of many hounds. The general character of 

 head is strongly suggestive of the older type of 

 bloodhound, from which there would seem 

 to be little doubt that our foxhound is de- 

 scended. Just now there is a fad for a composite 

 hound ; one with short ears, almost terrier-like, 

 and naturally thick and heavy, and a heavier 

 bone with greater substance. This may be a 

 better hound for all I know; at least I won't argue 

 the question just now ; but I do maintain that it 

 is not the true American foxhound. It has 

 been developed in response to the craze for 

 something " English." If the English hound is 

 a better one than our's, by all means have him ; 

 hut don't get up a mongrel so much English, so 

 much American, and a share of " just dog," and 

 call it an "American foxhound." For my part 

 I have always contended that the great bone and 

 substance of the English foxhound was a delu- 

 sion and a snare ; that even be the English hound 

 faster than our's (admitted only for argument's 

 sake), he is faster by education, breeding, and 

 • habit, despite his " bone," and not by reason of 

 it. However, I recently met an English hunting 

 man whose ideas rise above the cant and super- 

 stition of the kennels and who doesn't believe any- 

 thing about hounds unless some good reason is 

 given him for it. I anticipate some practical 

 reform in this direction in the near future. 



I suspect this is the "Ned" who re- 

 cently refused to take any interest in the 



field trials of The National Foxhunters Asso- 

 ciation. At any rate a "Ned" was there, a 

 black and tan hound, who did'nt at all ap- 

 prove of the style of hunting, it being all new 

 to him ; and being as independent as American 

 hounds usually are, he declined to have anything 

 to do with innovations and quit in disgust. He 

 always counted himself the best hound in the 

 business. He was never in a hurry when a 

 chase was started, knowing that it would last 

 long enough for him to get a chance. By the 

 time the hounds had run an hour, Ned was lead- 

 ing and would stay there all day if the fox de- 

 sired it ; and Ned didn't care whether a dozen 

 hounds or none were with him. If some strange 

 hounds got up a chase, Ned didn't propose to 

 take any of their fun away from them, but would 

 go off by himself and get up a hunt, on his own 

 hook. 



I remember that old " Bulger," who never 

 found a chase, even " after a deer " too long or 

 tco hard for him, would quit in disgust if a 

 strange dog cut in ahead of him. Such a dis- 

 position does not make a hound a favorite where 

 pack-hunting is really practicable and where 

 the hounds can be managed by the huntsman; but 

 in our mountain country, where every huntsman 

 would have to ride a Maxim flying machine to 

 see or direct the hounds, if a dog has not a good 

 deal of this sort of independence, he will hardly 

 be of much account. 



Mention of "Bulger's" getting after deer 

 must not be understood as an approval of hound- 

 ing deer. On the contrary we detested a deer 

 chase of all things our hounds could indulge in. 

 Even tackling a cat, or an otter, was not quite so 

 distressing as a deer chase. The wildcat would 

 cut some hounds up frightfully. We had no 

 hounds equal to that 18 pound California fox 

 terrier that killed a 36 pound wild cat. An otter 

 would half-drown some of them, but we seldom, 

 if ever, had any fatalities. Yet starting a deer 

 meant the loss of more or less hounds. Some 

 might really become lost many miles from home, 

 but usually some scoundrel would shoot the 

 leading hound. Deer got to be such a pest in 

 Wharton Township, Fayette county, Pa., some 20 

 years ago, that we could not get a comfortable 

 fox chase on account of the deer so infesting the 

 country that whenever we took the hounds out 

 we were sure to have them run out of the country 

 after a deer; so we gathered up all the half- 

 hounds and running curs we could find and went 

 out at nights, in the neighborhood, until we ran 

 the deer away, when we could have some of our 

 choice sport for a while. 



Apart from losing hounds, deer chases are 

 hard on the hounds. A fox gives the hounds bits 

 of rest now and then, making out his trail; but a 

 deer leaves hot scent and the hounds can run it 

 breast high. I always thought that deer take 

 the worst bit of country they can find, when 

 started by dogs. So a deer chase of a day or 

 two, means a lot of hounds worn out for a week 

 after. 



