 Section 8 of the American Book of the Dog, this is a Libervox recording. All Libervox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit libervox.org. Recording by Lawrence Trask, Mount Vernon, Ohio, interfaceaudio.com. The American Book of the Dog, G. O. Shields Editor. Section 8. The Dearhound by Q. Van Hummel, M.D. In this animal we have the aristocrat of all the canine race. He is the best guard, the best companion, and is capable of giving us more royal sport than any other breed of sporting dogs. I say this without fear of successful contradiction. A high-bred and properly trained Dearhound has more courage and can stand more punishment than any other dog. He has stronger attachment for his master or mistress. We'll fight for him or her quicker and more desperately. We'll never forget them. And when taken to the field, he can run fast enough to catch an antelope, a jackrabbit, coyote, wolf, deer, or elk, and can kill either of them alone and unaided. He will tree a mountain lion or a black bear and will even fight a grizzly bear long enough for you to climb a tree or get off a good distance so that you may kill him without danger to yourself. These dogs combine more rare good qualities as a gentleman's companion than any other breed in the known world. Eidston says of them, Pet dogs, of course, are a matter of taste and locality, and space must have much to do with the selection of a companionable dog. If, however, size is no objection, it would be impossible to name any dog superior to the true Dearhound, whether employed in his proper vocation or not. He is gentle in manners unless roused by the sight of his game and excited to pursue it. He is no sheep-biter, he is a good guard, he follows well, he can keep up with hack or carriage, he is not a self-hunter, that is, he does not skulk off poaching. He is faithful to his master, he is gentle with children, like the far-famed Gellert, his prototype, and he is majestic in appearance. Witness the pictures of him by Sir Edward Lanseer in every variety of attitude, and sharing in all the pleasures, I even the sorrows of his master. With the hawk or falcon he made up the equipment of the old baron and slumbered in front of his yule log, shared in his wasi and revelry, and formed a feature in his pageant and procession. He has been the companion of kings and emperors, and pulled down his game in the open by dexterity, force, and speed, without the aid of toils or crossbow. Immaterial to him in old days, whether it were bore, wolf, or heart, no day too long, no game too strong or dangerous, until his eye became dull, his limbs stiff, and his teeth worn down, not so much with years as the hard work, exposure, and wounds inseparable from his occupation. And he was retained at the hall or grange as a pensioner, or a companion for the rest of his life. He has the grand form, the elegant outline, the graceful attitudes, and amiable disposition of the greyhound, but far surpasses him in harmonious color, and in texture and quality of coat. The writer has had as many as forty deerhounds in his kennel at one time, and all have harmonized in color so perfectly as to please the eye of the art connoisseur. A number of them may not be all of exactly the same color, but they will breed true to a color. They may be steel grey, lemon, or tawny. One family that came from imported form was canary-colored, and everyone proved true to that color. Not so with any other known breed. There is always a strong family resemblance in a strain of deerhounds. A dog of good proportions should stand thirty-one inches at the shoulder, should measure thirty-five inches around the chest. His forearms should measure from eight and one-half to nine and one-half inches. His weight should be from ninety to one-hundred and five pounds. He should be compactly built, but not too long in the loin. This is one of the faults in many deerhounds of the present day. When we remember that this dog must have great speed, must often make immense leaps after his game, and when he catches it must have sufficient power to kill it, which is often a difficult task. We see the necessity of a powerful muscular confirmation. He must be quick at a turn to avoid the sharp hoof of the stag. This requires a short powerful loin and strong quarters. The coat should be harsh, not wiry, about three inches long, and there should be a good thick undercoat, bristly at the muzzle. On shoulders, neck, and back the outer coat should be coarser than elsewhere. The head should be of the greyhound type, only stronger, somewhat thicker, and more powerful. The eye should be full, intelligent, and of dark color. The ear should be small, coated with fine short silky hair of close texture. It should be carried close to the head, until the dog is excited, when it should stand semi-erect. The neck should be strong, and not too long. The greyhound neck cannot be too long, because he must reach to the ground to pick up his game. But the deerhound, if a good killer, jumps on his game's neck, and hence needs no extra length in his neck, but does need extra strength there, as elsewhere, in order to hold on. His shoulders should be oblique and well-muscled. His back strong and well-arched. His hindquarters strong and powerfully muscled. His stifles should be well bent, and his hawks well let down. The stamp should be large at the watt. This denotes a strong spinal column. It should taper down gradually to the tip, where the bones should be fine. It should be well covered with coach, and curved upward and sidewise. It should be of good length. In fact, his general build must be on speed lines. His feet must be close and high-knuckled, of the cat-like order. Here is where the deerhound will first weaken, if not properly knit and closely muscled. His work in following his game over the rocky cliffs, and overfallen timber, at full speed, is of the most trying kind. The writer has often seen the flat or hair-footed deerhound get foot sore in a few hours' work, while the strong-footed dog will work day after day for an entire week, and never show distress. Standard and Points of Judging In Skull, value ten, the deerhound resembles the large coarse greyhound, it being long and moderately wide, especially between the ears. There is a very slight rise at the eyebrows, so as to take off what would otherwise be a straight line from tip of nose to osso-put. The upper surface is level in both directions. Nose and jaws, value five. The jaws should be long in the teeth level and strong. Nostrils open, but not very wide, and the end pointed in black. Teaks well-clothed with muscle, but the bone under the eye neither prominent nor hollow. Ears and eyes, value five. The ears should be small and thin, and carried a trifle higher than those of the smooth greyhound, but should turn over at the tips. Fricked ears are sometimes met with as in the rough greyhound, but they are not correct. They should be thinly fringed with hair at the edges only, that on their surface should be soft and smooth. Eyes full and dark hazel, sometimes by preference blue. The neck, value ten, should be long enough to allow the dog to stoop to the scent at a fast pace, but not so long and tapering as the greyhounds. It is usually a little thinner than the corresponding part in that dog. Chest and shoulders, value ten. The chest is deep rather than wide, and in its general formation it resembles that of the greyhound, being shaped with great elegance, and at the same time so that the shoulders can play freely on its sides. The girth of a full-sized dog, deerhound, should be at least two inches greater than his height, often an inch or two more, but a round unwieldy chest is not to be desired, even if girthing well. Shoulders long, oblique, and muscular. Back and back ribs, value ten. Without a powerful loin, a large dog like this cannot sustain the sweeping stride which he possesses, and therefore a deep and wide development of muscle, filling up the space between wide back ribs and somewhat rugged hips, is a desideratum. A good loin should measure twenty-five or twenty-six inches in show condition. The back ribs are often rather shallow, but they must be wide, or what is called well sprung, and the loin should be arched, drooping to the root of the tail. Elbows and stifles, value ten. If well placed, give great liberty of action, and the contrary if they are confined by being too close together. These points, therefore, should be carefully examined. The elbows must be well let down to give length of the true arm, and should be quite straight, that is, neither turned in nor out. The stifles should be wide apart and set well forward to give length of the upper thigh. Many otherwise well-made deerhounds are very straight in their stifles. The high symmetry, value ten of this dog, is essential to his position as a companionable dog, and it is therefore estimated accordingly. Quality is also to be regarded as of great importance. Legs and quarters, value seven and a half. Great bone and muscle must go to the formation of these parts, and the bones must be well put together at the knees and hocks, which should be long and well developed. The quarters are deep, but seldom wide, and there is often a considerable slope to the tail. Some of the most successful dogs, lately exhibited, have been nearly straight-backed, but this shape is not approved of by deer stalkers. The feet, value seven and a half, should be well arched in the toes, and cat-like. A wide-spreading foot is often met with, but they should be specially condemned. Colour and coat, value ten. The colours most in request are dark blue, fawn, grizzle and brindle, the latter with more or less tint of blue. The fawn should have the tips of the ears dark, but some otherwise good fawns are pale throughout. The grizzle generally has a decided tint of blue in it. White is to be avoided either on breast or toes, but it should not disqualify a dog. The coat, value five, is coarser on the back than elsewhere, and by many good judges it is thought that even on the back it should be intermediate between silk and wool, and not the coarse hair often met with, and there is no doubt that both kinds of coat are found in some of the best strains. The whole body is clothed with a rough coat, sometimes amounting to shagginess. That of the muzzle is longer in proportion than elsewhere, but the moustache should not be wiry, and should stand out in regular tufts. There should be no approach to feather on the legs as in the setter, but there inside should be hairy. The tail, value five, should be long and gently curved without any twist. It should be thinly clothed with hair only. Summary of judging points Skull, value ten, nose and jaws five, ears and eyes five, neck ten, chest and shoulders ten, back and back ribs ten, elbows and stifles ten, symmetry and quality ten, legs and quarters seven and a half, feet seven and a half, color and coat ten, tail five, total one hundred. The origin of the deerhound seems to be shrouded in mystery. The rider has owned and bred deerhounds for over thirty years and has during that time read everything relating to them that he could obtain. He has closely questioned every Scotchman whom he has met concerning this breed of dogs. The history given in books has always proved contradictory and of no avail. Well every well-informed Scotchman has argued that the deerhound was the native dog of the Scottish Highlands and that all other Scotch dogs were merely the result of crosses of the deerhound on some alien. They always point to the rough coats of the collie, the terrier and the Scotch greyhound and say don't it show for itself that the remote cross is there. Yet the question as to the real origin of the breed is still a mystery and probably will always remain so. Up to 1860 deerhounds were not plentiful in England and but few were exhibited at English shows for some years after that date. America at that time had but few. Scotchman informed me however that in the Highlands of Scotland they were always plentiful but owners of kennels cherished them, sold none and gave away but few. It was some years after the above date that inquiries for them began to be frequent and since then they have become immensely popular with lovers of the chase and are rapidly advancing to a high place as companions for both gentlemen and ladies. Of late years certain sportsmen in the Great West have secured many fine specimens. Breeding It is presumed that the breeder owns his stud dog and brewed bitches and hence my directions will be applied to both. All dogs of the high nervous organization of the hound require a large amount of exercise to keep them in proper muscular development. Therefore I would advise only persons who live in the open country to try the breeding of the Scotch deerhound. This breed cannot bear confinement in close quarters. It is safe to say that the two prominent breeders in America do not raise one out of ten puppies welped in their kennels. This is largely owing to lack of proper conditioning of sire and dam. In selecting a brewed bitch take one with strong loin and roomy chest not under two years old. For two months before she is due in season give her from ten to fifteen miles of regular slow exercise behind a horse. To properly muscle a deerhound it is not necessary to give her much fast work. Let her follow a carriage through the country or if you live on a farm let her follow the farm team around every day. Do well at night so that she will have all the night in which to digest her food. If your work is slow she will take it every day and gradually develop muscle and vigorous health. The eye will become clear and large, the muscle hard and firm, the constitution vigorous, the stamp elastic and the courage great. If you can now give her a race or two to fully open her bronchial tubes and thus develop full chest power it will be well. If she is now coming in season exercise her until she is ready for service and then let her have complete rest for two or three days before the dog is allowed to serve her. The stud dog of course should have had the same treatment and hence be in perfect condition. If so one service will be better than more and if either are out of condition you had better not breed them. After service the dog can take his rest but the brood-bitch should be left alone for a week and then be put back at the same work and worked slowly but daily until the seventh week. Then stop her work and let her rest feeding well. This brings us up to her well-being time. If on a farm let her hunt her own place to wellp in she will generally find a good location and bring forth a large litter of strong healthful puppies. Allow no stranger to disturb her during the first week. Some brood-bitches are exceedingly nervous and if disturbed will become restless get up and turn over frequently trying to cover up their welps. Thus they are liable to lie on them and kill them. If you have such a bitch it is best to prepare a kennel for her to wellp in. This should be made roomy and along the sides a strip should be nailed four inches wide and four inches from the floor. For bedding tack carpet on the floor so she cannot cover up her puppies and then lie on them. This board along the side of the kennel will give the puppies a chance to crawl under, also behind the dam, while she cannot get on them. If the weather be warm it will be well to have nothing but the board floor for them to lie on. If it be cold it will be well to remove the carpet in four or five days and give a bed of clean straw which should be changed twice a week. The writer prefers to have a bitch wellp on nice clean dry earth. It acts as a disinfectant and puppies always have done better and have been less liable to disease when wellped and raised on an earthen bed. I have during my experience of over 30 years in breeding and rearing deer hounds made it a rule never to feed the dam until she comes out of her kennel after food and then to give her some nice soup and scraps of cooked meat, beef or mutton being preferable. She is now required to supply milk freely and her diet must be strong and of good quality and quantity. Give her different kinds of food, oatmeal, cooked meats, bread, vegetables of different kinds, Sprats cod liver oil biscuit, raw meat and plenty of bones to gnaw at. Many writers and breeders say never to let a dam raise more than six or seven welps. My experience is that if you help a good mother she will raise eight or ten just as well as five or six and much better than if she has no help with the smaller number. Puppies at three weeks old will begin to eat soup and should have it four or five times daily. At four weeks old they will eat cod liver oil cake, softened in strong beef or mutton soup and should have it three times daily, all they will eat. Always keep your feeding pans sweet and clean. When you feed the puppies remain with them until they are done eating. Then take away what they leave, give it to the dam and wash your feeding pan so it will be clean when next wanted. Under such treatment you will notice that the dam has very little trouble with her litter and she will not begin to grow fat. At six or seven weeks of age her puppies will be weaned. She will have raised ten just as easily as she would have raised five and if they are bred for sale it makes a vast difference in the income. Many people say that deer-hound puppies are exceedingly hard to raise. I have never found it so. Give them plenty of exercise and good food and they will raise themselves anywhere and in any climate. It is well to give puppies once a month a dose of santanine to clear out any worms they may have. I have never lost a puppy with distemper and have always made it a rule to have them in good condition at all times. Then when distemper has taken hold of them they have usually had but a slight attack and have gone through it in good shape. I have never yet seen a deer-hound that was afflicted with correa, training, I do not believe in early training and hence have never worked or prepared a deer-hound under twelve to fifteen months old. My experience is that the breed develops slowly and for this reason a puppy at nine months old is not strong enough to follow a deer and any of our American forests. A carefully reared puppy can, at nine or ten months old, be given slow work behind the saddle horse or carriage. This should continue for at least two months and if three months can be given to this conditioning work it will prove all the better. While a puppy is growing rapidly and filling out he takes on muscle slowly and for this reason his exercise should be continued for a longer period than is necessary for old dogs. The deer-hound is used for hunting the deer in the western country in two entirely different ways and for each the training must be distinct and precise according to the way he is to hunt his game. One is still hunting, the other is coursing the deer. For still hunting the deer-hound is the dog-bar excellence. In training a puppy to still hunt take him on a leash and with a snap so arranged that he can be loosened instantly. It is well to show him the game before firing and at the first move of the puppy let him go. If the deer be only wounded he will follow it and if from the right kind of sire and dam he will catch and kill the deer. If his family connections have been of the timid kind he will be the wounded deer and you can follow and kill it. But if his ancestors have been used on game and your puppy is strong and of good age he will kill the first deer he sees just as a well-bred setter will point the first quail he sends. After a few lessons your puppy will stay to heal until you shoot without a leash and as he grows older he will frequently lead you to the game by his keen scent merely sniffing the air as he cautiously proceeds by your side or just in front of you. Of course it is necessary to teach him obedience and not to allow him to break away. Should this occur he will soon be coursing the deer and leave you many miles behind then his lessons must begin again at the leash. If carefully done his teaching will be easy and he will soon stand with the game in full view and not move a muscle but will quiver with excitement every muscle and nerve on extreme tension waiting for his master to fire when he is away with the speed of a falcon. For coursing the deer, antelope, wolf and coyote the deerhound is much used throughout the far west for this purpose they are generally used in packs of from three to ten. A good coarser will begin the preparation of his dogs by the first of August so that when the weather gets cool enough for them to bear hard and fast running say in October they will be in prime condition hard and muscle in strong good health and eager for the sport. It is not necessary to train a deerhound for coursing all that is needed here is to show him the game and turn him loose. It is always best to take a puppy out with one or more older dogs who will take hold of any kind of game and thus educate the puppy to seize and kill the game he is running. The only proper way to course deer, antelope, wolves or coyotes is to have a cage on a light vehicle for the purpose of confining the dogs and keeping them at rest until you sight your game. Then drive as close to it as possible so that your dogs will be fresh when the game starts. If this is not done you will soon find that a jaded tired dog cannot catch a fresh deer, antelope, wolf or coyote. We have frequently coursed deer and antelopes on the western plains by taking out six good dogs in a cage on a light wagon and several friends following on good running horses. The cage was so arranged that the driver could pull a spring, open the door and let out the three loose dogs for a run. Well the three to be retained in the cage were chained to the floor or sides. By driving in such a direction that it would appear to the game as though the wagon would pass by about two hundred yards away and then angling toward the game. I could often approach within one hundred and fifty yards before they would start and the moment the game would throw up their heads the driver would pull the spring door and out would come the loose dogs. In a way would go game, dogs and horsemen, the wagon coming along to pick up the game and tired dogs. The letter would then be given water put back in the cage and chained and the three fresh dogs would next be slipped. One day of such work where the game is plentiful will educate any well bred young deer hound. Preparing for the bench requires an entirely different course of treatment after your dog is in good condition. Up to that point the work may be of a similar nature. He should be brushed and combed daily and well hand rubbed so that his muscular development will be prominent to the touch. Teach him to romp and play with you while you have a collar and leash on him. This will ensure gay carriage in the judge's ring and when you have a deer hound with his eye bright head up and tail properly carried if otherwise equal. He will always win over a sulky drooping cheerless dog. I have always had better success in the ring and in the field with dogs of my own rearing than with those reared by others. They are always more tractable and more ready to obey my wishes and much more cheerful than those purchased after they are grown. The latter always act for me as though they were looking for a lost friend. My advice is to rear your own dogs that they may know no other master than yourself. The memory of the deer hound seems to surpass that of any other breed except the greyhound. I have sold old dogs and have not seen them for two years and without seeing me they would at once recognize my whistle when they heard it and would come bounding to me in perfect ecstasy of delight. How much longer they would have remembered me I cannot say, but doubtless for many years. Coursing the Deer Hound Thirty-four years ago in the Blue Mountain Range of Pennsylvania I began this sport. In the spring of 1856 a Scotchman, a watchmaker by trade, located in the little village of Lehigh Gap. He brought with him two deer hounds, a dog and a bitch. After a short residence at the Gap he had to go back to Scotland and left his horse and two dogs with me until he should return the next spring. He never returned and I became the owner of a fine horse and two excellent deer hounds. I hunted those dogs after foxes, lynx, wildcats and deer until worn out by old age and hard work. They would run with a pack of foxhounds that were kept in the vicinity as though trained with them from birth. They would trail with them and whenever the fox appeared in a field they would at once leave the pack, run by sight and catch the fox. There was no sport that they enjoyed more. The ease with which a deer hound may be educated to do a certain part of any sport is remarkable. In a portion of the Pocrevo Mountains north of the Blue Range deer were at that time plentiful. Much of the country is very rough and it was impossible for the deer hounds to catch a deer that was not wounded. So we used to take a pair of slow trail hounds to drive the deer into and across the valleys and would then take the deer hounds into the valleys to sight the deer as they came out. The second time we went there with our dogs was in November 1856. We arrived about daylight and our trail dogs struck a track and gave tongue before we had our team unhitched from the wagon. While we were putting out the team the deer hounds got away from us and we suppose they had followed the yelping trail hounds. We ran to the valley below some half mile away as fast as we could knowing that the game would cross there. When we got within sight of the runway to our great astonishment we found Beavis and Lita at their posts eager for a sight of the game. When I say that on our previous hunt one month earlier we had always kept collar and leash on these dogs and that they caught on that hunt but two deer at this point. The remarkable sagacity of the deer hound may be realized. Had the fox hound started on a trail in the Blue Mountains the deer hounds would have gone with them to catch the fox but not so here. They had been here once on entirely different business and so well do they remember it that they immediately sped to their posts of duty and well did they perform their work. The deer came out close to them and they caught and killed it before it ran two hundred yards. The dog Beavis was the only deer hound I ever saw that was trained to do tricks of various kinds. He would fetch, carry, go to the post office or butcher shop, carry notes to neighbors and take back anything that was given him in return for the letter. I remember distinctly that he once did a trick never before required of him. I was driving a fractious horse in a sulky and dropped my whip. I was afraid to get out to regain it and called to Beavis to pick it up which he did immediately. Then I called him to bring it which he also did and placed it in my hand. I was then a school boy and took great pains to teach this dog something I never had the time nor patience in afterlife to repeat with any of my other dogs. I now remember many fine specimens that have often displayed intelligence of a superior order which needed nothing but training and teaching to make them trick dogs. I fully believe that a properly shaped deer hound could be educated for high leaping so as to surpass all dogs in that work. A strong short backed powerfully muscled deer hound leaps easier and higher than any other dog that I have ever seen in the field. No doubt it is only the high price that keeps them from getting into the hands of training showmen who would otherwise bring them forward in this amusing novelty. To illustrate their jumping power I will relate an amusing incident which happened several years ago in a western village. My dog imported champion Mack delighted in killing all the cats he could find. Well on a wolf hunt we were just starting out in the early morning and the dogs feeling extra fresh. Mack came up a cross street after a cat. The cat went under our horses and Mack in a tremendous leap went over both horses. This dog never had any special training in leaping but when after game he was never known to stop at any obstruction that could be scaled. The courage and game qualities of the high bred deer hound cannot be better illustrated than by describing a wolf hunt that took place in Montana. Some years since I sold a trained pack of six deer hounds to the Sun River Hound Club of Montana. This club was composed of wealthy cattlemen who were losing thousands of dollars worth of cattle annually through the ravages of the large gray timber wolf. They hired Mr. I. N. Porter an experienced wolf hunter to handle this pack of deer hounds on their cattle range for one year. I had guaranteed the dogs to kill any wolf in the territory. Mr. Porter took the dogs with him to deliver them to the club. He and the writer had killed many prairie wolves in the Colorado with these dogs but had never tackled the large gray timber wolves of the Rocky Mountains. It seems that one of the members of this club had a large flock of sheep and one certain wolf had been preying on them for four years past. It was to this ranch that Mr. Porter and the dogs were first taken and this tremendous wolf was to be the first one that the pack was to tackle. If they could catch and kill him my guarantee was to be considered fulfilled. I had carefully instructed Mr. Porter how to work the dogs and above all to have them in prime condition when they saw the first wolf. This ranch was located some 75 miles from railroad communication and the dogs had to travel this distance on foot so that when they arrived at their future home their feet were worn to the quick and they had to be rested. The second night after their arrival this wolf with two smaller ones came and killed four sheep and naturally Mr. Porter's curiosity was aroused to see what kind of animal these dogs were to kill. So after daylight he mounted his horse and followed the wolves merely to get sight of them and learn their habits. The following is quoted from a letter which was written on his return to the house after seeing this large wolf. Dear doctor, the dogs and I arrived safe only very sore from long travel. These men are very anxious to see what kind of work these high priced dogs will do. Last night that big wolf they wrote you about killed four sheep near the house and I followed him five or six miles merely to see what he looked like. I saw him and I want to tell you now that I think my job and your dog money will be gone whenever I allow the dogs to go near that wolf. But I can't hold these men much longer so I promise to go after him day after tomorrow. Two days later I received the following letter. Dear doctor, last night or rather just before daylight we heard the wolf in the sheep corral and went out to scare him away. He had already killed one sheep and eaten of it freely. At daylight myself and three club members took four of the dogs, Oscar and Metta still too sore to work, and started after the big fellow. We followed him for at least ten miles before we could show him to the dogs. They went to him very quickly, he depending more on his fighting than running qualities. Colonel and Dan reached him first and struck him with such force that he went down never to get up again. They killed him in a short time and neither of the dogs got a scratch. The Colonel took his old hold at the throat and never let go until I choked him off. Colonel you know is just thirty inches high at the shoulder. We stood this wolf up beside Colonel and he was one inch taller than the dog. We brought the wolf home to see what he would weigh and he tipped the beam at one hundred and seven pounds. To say that the club members were delighted with the dogs is putting it too mild. They were simply crazed. Dan was still sore in his feet and they carried him home on horseback. I will now rest the dogs up and get them in perfect form before I work them again. This country is alive with wolves and other game. During the season of 1886 Mr. Porter killed with these dogs one hundred and forty-eight grey wolves and over three hundred coyotes. Among many letters from him extolling the wonderful courage of these grand dogs the following shows what six dogs well trained to their work can do. Dear Doctor, today I suddenly came upon a pack of fifteen full-grown wolves. I had all six dogs with me and they were in good form. I was satisfied that unless we did good work and that quickly the wolves would kill the dogs. So I jumped among them and as fast as the dogs got one down I stuck my knife into his heart. In this way we killed twelve out of the fifteen but I am sorry to say that poor old faithful courageous dick was killed. If there is a breed of dogs on earth that combines so many sterling qualities as the Scotch deerhound I am not acquainted with that breed. End of Section 8 Section 9 of the American Book of the Dog. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by William Jones. The American Book of the Dog, G. O. Shields Editor. Section 9, The Foxhound by Dr. M. G. Lazy. The article here proposed to be written on the Foxhound will have special reference to the American hound with which the writer has had a lifelong familiarity. Never having been in England he has no personal familiarity with English packs nor with English methods of training and hunting. He has seen many hounds imported from English packs run in this country and has had the pleasure of hunting with gentlemen who have owned and hunted packs in England. His judgment of English hounds of modern packs is based on specimens he has seen run here. As to the ancient hounds of England he knows the current statements of authors which need scarcely be copiously extracted in this space. It may as well now be stated that the writer is not an Anglo-Maniac on the one hand nor inspired by extravagant or irrational prejudice against that which is English on the other. There is much in the history of the English people so great and grand as to be beyond the reach of entry. There is much also which no one should be so great a fool as to be smatter with silly panichiric. There are many things admirable in England which are totally absurd and ridiculous in America. Out of England undoubtedly originally came all that is greatest and best in America, both men and things less than men. The old English hound seems to have been a large boned, coarse, heavy animal and the packs of those days must have caught very few foxes on fair terms. The earlier importations into America, far back in colonial days, were probably similar to the early English hounds. But in this country their character was soon changed as it was also in England. In that country changes were attempted in a way of better adaptation to the modern chase by crossing with the grey hound and to a small extent with the pointer. In this country the change adaptive to the environment came about rather by unconscious selection and breeding from the best red fox hounds only. It soon came to be realized that in running down and killing an American red fox, main strength and awkwardness had no place. It was a matter of speed and bottom. The English mode of selecting the hound was based upon his suitability to a particular pack in size, color, tongue and speed. A hound too fast for them was much out of place in the pack and was a spoiler of their somewhat cut and dried notions of sport. The American method was based on the ability of the hound as an individual to kill a red fox on such ground as must be run over in this country. And the American pack was made up from such as could keep company with the leader. To breed a red fox pack it was necessary to make the best dog with the best bitch and this method led to the creation of a type peculiar to America, not model on size and tongue and color and questions of packing well, but a type model on speed, courage and endurance. And the architect of the model was the American red fox. For in the language of a famous turfman he it was who cut out the running and set the pace and to beat him, the race had to be run from end to end. For a pack bred and put together on any other plan the red fox chase resulted always in one and the same finale. That is to say, reinerd first, the rest nowhere. Precisely the principle of selection, breeding and training which produced our great four milers on the turf produced our red fox hounds. The formula is simple. That is to say, breed to the winners. Upon this principle the American fox hound shaped itself to the model most fit to do the work of killing the red fox, becoming lighter and more rangy in form and shriller in tongue than its English ancestor. The bones, like those of the race horse, became notably smaller and lighter and at the same time more solid and stronger. The lungs also became more capacious and less encumbered with coarse, inelastic tissue and fat. The musketer fiber finer and more effectively endowed with contractile power. The heart, the great central motor power of circulation and the contractile musketer, coats of the vessels themselves participating in the organic evolution along the same lines of development. Thus, in process of time, there came to be American packs capable of dealing with American red foxes on fair terms. The main architect and master builder of those packs was the American red fox, like that ill-fated eagle which furnished the feather that winged the arrow which pierced its own heart. The American red fox trained those packs which were eventually able to kill American red foxes. Without the fox, the packs would not have been produced. In England, doubtless, their hard and fast notions of the right makeup of a pack and the stiff and rigid technicalities of the meat and hunt have prevented in some degree that complete adaptation of means to ends which has been perfected with us. We have never been in love with pomp and vanities and stilted tomfooleries. Nevertheless, in England it began after a time to be seen that faster hounds must be had if any foxes were to be caught, and hence crosses were made to the greyhound. He having already been crossed to the bulldog, and the result has been more rangy, speedier, smaller and fiercer hounds. To keep within the sound of such packs moreover, the hunting horse of our great-grandfathers had to be replaced by one of more blood, more speed, more courage, more endurance at the highest rate of speed, all of which points were covered at a stroke by more blood. Following this development, a new style of horsemanship was demanded, and the English country gentleman is no dude on horseback. The style of the pert new market jockey imported, aped and loved by American fashionable doodism rampant is by no means the style of the English gentleman on horseback. The man capable of making a creditable exhibition on an English hunting field today must be a great horseman riding a great horse. Now the central force which gave to this evolution its initial impulse and has carried it forward to its acme of development is the speed and bottom of the English fox. It is not to be disputed that the thing hunted determines all the details of the hunt. If a man attacks a grizzly away back in some lonely canyon he will soon perceive that a Winchester Express is one of the modern details of the combat nicely adjusted to the fighting weight of horses to your ribbalus. In this view of the case the red fox can claim a dignity which has not been according to him hitherto the dignity of statesmanship as a producer of important national and international results. British horsemanship has played an important part on more than one great modern battlefield mainly contributory to the highest type of British horsemanship has been the school of the hunting field. The best cavalry horses have been bred for and fallen somewhat short of the requirements of the hunting field. In America we have never had horses especially bred for hunting and mainly for the reason that in those parts of the country where hunting was practicable the saddle horses in common use by the country gentlemen were sufficiently well bred for hunters and were in fact commonly used in the chase. There was indeed that degree of attachment for his riding horse on the part of our country gentlemen which disqualified every other horse in his eye. No person other than himself was ever permitted to mount his favorite and he would not himself mount any other horse except under the stress of necessity. Thus it came to be that a more splendid horsemanship never characterized any people than that of the southern country gentry of the United States. The place of the foxhound in that civilization was not a low nor unimportant one. In the school which developed the manly prowess and the saving common sense of such men as George Washington and his great lieutenant the dashing light horse Harry the red fox and red foxhound were not insignificant educational factors. The hero sage of Mount Vernon maintained to the last of his life an unaccelled pack and he loved no diversion as he did fox hunting in which he never lost a chance to participate with his friends and neighbors the Fairfaxes the Lees the chichesters the McCarthy's the Masons and others. No sport so well merits the position of a recognized national sport and none can ever be so greatly tributary to manly prowess and hardy hood. Superior horsemanship is the most elegant and useful accomplishment ever possessed by a lady or gentleman. One of the considerations favorable to fox hunting as a national sport is that it can be kept out of the hands of professionals and with in reach of people of moderate means. If the view be correct that the English and American red foxes respectively have developed the modes of the hunt and the characters of the packs in the two countries we must look for any material differences between the English and American hunt to the differences between the foxes of the two countries. That in speed endurance and stratagem in front of the dangerous pack the American fox is greatest there is little doubt. It follows that in speed bottom and trailing the American hound is superior to the English. Of this I have personally not the smallest doubt. I have seen many imported hounds run in this country and they have been of undoubted excellence but never equal over our country to our best American strains. This is in accordance with plain and simple common sense. No doubt the English packs would excel ours on their own ground on all except speed. I do not believe and I cannot be made to believe until it is done that the best pack in England can do anything at all whatever with an old Virginia red fox. It is not believed by many of the fox centers of the northern states that any pack of hounds can catch their foxes. I am too strongly impressed by what I know of the difference in the habits of the same species of wild animals in different localities to be willing to adopt an opinion adverse to the prevailing opinions of competent observers and localities with which I am not familiar. Nevertheless I suggest to our northern friends that they are not familiar with the speed of the packs in our best hunting country and that their mode of hunting by standing after the manner of deer driving and shooting the fox in front of the dog would soon utterly ruin our best packs. I do not take part in the harsh criticisms of the northern method of hunting. I have no doubt northern sportsmen enjoy their sport and enjoyment is the object of all sport. I have no doubt that it is the only way to kill their foxes as they protest. I do not think I could enjoy it myself. I take it to be inferior to deer driving and I think that inferior to any field sport I have ever participated in. The Gustavus known every man to his liking until the matter is tested and the contrary established. I shall believe that such a pack as a wild goose pack is reputed to be can kill red foxes anywhere on any ground fit to be run over by hounds. The speed of the foxhound appears to be rather greater than the speed of the best race horse. There is however very little authentic information on this point. I can state as a matter of experience in briding to hounds that I have never seen a horse that could keep pace with a good pack of hounds for a single mile across country. I have seen only a few hounds which seemed nearly equal to a red fox in speed if the fox was at his best. I have never seen a pack kill a red fox unless they could keep him hard pressed from start to finish. And in general when I have seen kills I have thought the hounds had the advantage in bottom rather than in speed. The fox is a gluttonous feeder and if full fed he is taken at great disadvantage. I doubt if any pack can kill a good specimen of the red fox if in the pink of condition running on favorable ground. As a general principle I think the fox has greater speed, the hound rather greater endurance and they are so nearly matched in both respects that the issue of the chase is in a great degree a question of condition. Rough uneven ground is favorable to the fox and seldom indeed is one in good condition killed by a pack when the chase is over rough uneven country for a greater part of the distance. If the premises here stated are accurate the conclusion follows that only a skilled huntsman who knows how to make the conditions favorable to the pack and to put the hounds in the very best condition for the race has any chance to make kills. Unless the fox has the misfortune to be gorged with carrion when the start is made or is in some other way sick or out of condition. It appears to me therefore that some northern fox hunters have fallen into air as to the superiority of northern to southern foxes. They have purchased dogs of well-known southern strains and upon their failure to kill the foxes of the north is handled by those who hunt on foot and very probably shoot the fox before the hounds conclude that these hounds are not able to catch their foxes. The conclusion does not necessarily follow. If a fox from Maine were taken to Virginia and put down before a red fox pack handled by skillful huntsman would that be considered fair to the fox? No more than it is fair to the southern hound to take him to Maine and to be run by huntsmen who never saw a kill who deny that any hound can kill their foxes and that therefore the legitimate and only way to kill Maine foxes is by standing on the runways and shooting them before slow hounds. A great deal of acrimonious dispute has risen over this question between the fox hunters of the two sections which it has seemed to me that a little good temper and a little good sense might have prevented. That some packs can and do make frequent kills in Virginia and Maryland of what seem perfect specimens of the red fox in seemingly good condition is a matter that is known to be true by all fox hunters of those states. I am of opinion that south of Virginia more kills are made because the ground is likely to be more favorable to the pack and less favorable to the fox and for no other reason. It seems likely that in Maine the ground may be so favorable to the fox and unfavorable to the hound that even if the chase were made to kill with hounds instead of shooting kills would be rare. In the matter of breeding for a pack of red fox sounds the principles which govern the science of successfully breeding for any other purpose apply. The inheritance must be through ancestors of known ability to kill red foxes and they must have gone through the training and practice which enable them to show by actual kills that they can kill. No turfman would expect to breed a winner from a stallion and mare neither of which had ever been trained or raised. No sportsman would expect to breed a setter or a pointer from untrained parents which would win a place at field trial. No cocker would expect to win a Maine with cocks bred from birds which never fought. Why then should a husband expect to breed a killing pack of red fox sounds from stock that had never run or had never killed a fox? The thing cannot be done. Therefore it goes without saying that a hound should not be bred from until fully matured trained and experienced in killing foxes. Something else is wanted besides a pedigree. True enough a knowledge of not merely the names but the performances of the ancestors is essentially necessary and this is doubly and trebly true of the immediate progenitors. If a bitch which has killed red foxes be bred to a hound that has killed red foxes the progeny will be born most likely capable of being developed into hounds capable of killing red foxes. But it must be remembered that though orators and poets may be born not made a red fox killing pack has to be made. They are not born able to do it. They must be made able by judicious and skilled practice and training after being bred right. Nor can they be trained by a man who never rode to a killing pack. If a man does not know how the thing is done how shall he teach the hounds? By sheer force of hereditary instinct it would be more likely the hounds would kill in spite of the houndsman and show him the way to do it. In this place we may profitably review the question of the best form and size of hound to be selected from which to breed a pack capable of dealing with a red fox. The question to kill or not to kill a red fox is not as already hinted a question of main strength and awkwardness but of speed and endurance. Remember that the fox leaves the chase and in a great number of cases outruns and outlasts hounds, horses and men and simply runs away and leaves them. This animal is but little more than a foot high and weighs not above 12 pounds in good running order. The largest bone in his skeleton does not exceed the diameter of a goose quill. The whole osseous frame weighs scarcely a pound. It is quality not substance which lands reinerd a winner. It is the firm opinion of the writer that the best red fox dogs are not above medium size in height and weight. The dogs should not exceed 23 inches in height nor 55 pounds in weight, the bitch less by about 10%. Hounds of this size will be fleeter and more enduring as a rule, then larger and heavier animals and their shoulders and feet will suffer less from the tremendous concussion which they must bear in a protracted chase at such a pitch of speed as will be necessary. For to kill a fox he must be put to his best from start to finish. The head of the hound is rather small in proportion to his weight and the muzzle rather finer in the modern hound than in the older type. The nose is large and the nostrils thin, the eyes large, bright and expressive, placed rather close together and directed forward. The stop is not as sharply defined as in some breeds. A very important point and one much overlooked is that the jaws should be well spread at the angle so as to give ample room for the thrapel and to secure that easy amplitude of motion between the head and the neck so essential to carrying the scent at the tremendous speed of the chase. The ears are longish but shorter and narrower than in old time packs. They are placed on the skull low down and are decidedly pendulous. The leather is neither fine and papery to the feel nor by any means coarse, harsh and any elastic. The neck must be long and wholly free from any coarse loose flaps of thick skin or useless cellular tissue and fat. The shoulders ought to be not only sloping but possessed a very free motion and yet powerfully muscled and strong. The elbows ought to be well developed and well away from the body but placed perfectly true neither out nor in. A hound with weak or badly formed shoulders is a deformed and crippled beast and can never be expected to amount to anything. The forearm should be not too long but powerfully muscled and have insufficient clean, fine bone to bear the weight thrown upon it by 55 pounds bounding at terrific speed. The foot must be of firm texture and well padded. The shape is a matter of less moment. Benches show in to the contrary notwithstanding. I have seen hounds that were great performers, hounds that I have seen lead a great pack and pull down and kill numerous red foxes that would have been pronounced by these authorities defective in the feet. Perhaps ridiculed as splay-footed. I have seen hounds with feet the form of which would have been pronounced perfect but which nevertheless were tender-footed and could by no means stand a desperate chase over rough ground. I am not sure that the despised hair-foot is not the best form for the hound, giving him a better hold and purchase upon the ground and being in no way correlated with lack of hardness of the foot. The hound should be deep in the heart-place and the breast-bone keel-shaped but the breast must not be weak and contracted. The back ribs should spring off well from the backbone and barrel out well so as to give ample room for the heart, lungs, and great vascular trunks. For here is the ultimate source of power, speed, and endurance. The loin should be high, well arched, broad, and powerfully muscled, for here is the origin of a group of muscles of tremendous power which are, with those of the hip and thigh, the main propellers which carry the body forward at so great a rate of speed. The tail should be placed nearly on a level with this sway of the back though the arching of the loin and slope of the quarters somewhat deceives the eye so as to make it appear to be set lower than is actually the case. The tail of the hound curves well upward, recent importations I think too much so. It is stout of moderate length, well-haired, and even with something like a brush in many superior specimens. I think it might be bred finer with advantage. The stifle is well bent and the hawk placed near the ground, but the leg, as compared with some breeze, rather straight I think, in some cases a little too straight. It is upon the outlines suggested by these remarks that I would advise selections for the breeding stud. In the matter of color we are fancy free. The best hounds I ever knew were black and tan and that is a beautiful color. The best hound I know of at present is a lemon and white. The so-called blue mottled hounds were beautiful. On a clear blue, not a black and white mixture, ground color were fancifully arranged spots of black, yellow, and white. If the spot around either eye was blue or white, that eye was blue. The other eye, being in a dark spot, was dark, or in a yellow spot, yellow. I have seen good hounds of solid yellow, or yellow with white feed and a white streak in the face. Color may be to suit taste. The standard by which foxhounds are judged at our bench shows as follows. Head, 15. Elbows, 5. Neck, 5. Legs and feet, 20. Shoulders, 10. Color and coat, 5. Chest and back ribs, 10. Stern, 5. Back and loin, 10. Symmetry, 5. High and quarters, 10. Totaling 100. The head, value 15, should be a full size but by no means heavy. Brow pronounced but not high or sharp. There must be good length and breadth sufficient to give in the dog hound a girth in front of the ears of fully 16 inches. The nose should be long, 4.5 inches and wide with open nostrils, ears set low and lying close to the cheeks. The neck, value 5, must be long and clean without the slightest throatiness. It should taper nicely from the shoulders to the head and the upper outline should be slightly convex. The shoulders, value 10, should be long and well clothed with muzzle without being heavy especially at the points. They must be well sloped and the true arm between the front and the elbow must be long and muscular but free from fat or lumber. Chest and back ribs, value 10. The chest should girth over 30 inches in a 24 inch hound and the back ribs must be very deep. The back and loin, value 10, must both be very muscular running into each other without any contraction or nipping between them. The couples must be wide even to ruggedness and there should be the very slightest arch in the loin so as to be scarcely perceptible. The hind quarters, value 10, or propellers are required to be very strong and as endurance is even more consequent than speed, straight stifles are preferred to those much bent as in the greyhound. Elbows, value 5, set quite straight and neither turned in nor out are sine qua non. They must be well let down by means of the long true arm above mentioned. Legs and feet, value 20. Every master of foxhounds insist on legs as straight as a post and as strong size of bone at the ankle being specially regarded as all important. The desire for straightness is, I think, carried to excess as the very straight leg soon knuckles over and this defect may almost always be seen more or less in old stallion hounds. The bone cannot, in my opinion, be too large, but I prefer a slight ankle at the knee to a perfectly straight line. The feet, in all cases, should be round and cat-like, with well-developed knuckles and strong horn, which last is of the utmost importance. The color and coat, value 5, are not regarded as very important so long as the former is a hound color and the latter is short, dense, hard and glossy. Hound colors are black, tan and white, black and white, and the various pies compounded of white and the color of the hair and the badger or yellow or tan. The stern, value 5, is gently arched, carried gaily over the back and slightly fringed with hair below. The end should taper to a point. The symmetry, value 5 of the foxhound, is considerable in what is called quality, is highly regarded by all good judges. The music of the pack is one of the greatest charms of the chase. Even the fox himself undoubtedly enjoys this glorious melody when running in front of a pack which is not dangerous, in which with marvelous intuition he almost immediately realizes. It always appeared to me that my father, the keenest and most ardent foxhunter of his time in Virginia, enjoyed the music more than anything else about it. He would put a good hound out of his kennel and give it away because, as he said, it did not chime with his pack. He had a splendid ear, a magnificent voice and a natural talent for music. A discord was an agony to him and his pack was, I believe, the most melodious intangue ever heard in Virginia. The qualities of the voice in the hound are strongly hereditary and may easily be bred for with success. It is of the greatest importance that the dog should not be bred from until fully matured. No animal is so easily injured by excessive or premature taxation of the procreative powers. A dog of great value should be strictly limited to the best and most promising females for nothing is more certain than that the character of his progeny will begin to be disappointing as soon as he begins to be overtaxed. The foxhound bitch is a very prolific animal. On several occasions I have known them litter as many as 20 whelps. 13 whelps to a litter are nothing unusual. I do not believe any bitch can properly care for more than 6 whelps. If a foster mother cannot be had, all above that number should be drowned not later than the day after they are born. Saving, of course, the most vigorous and prettily marked. In all cases, any appearing decidedly defective should be immediately drowned. As has been already suggested, the best dog should be mated with the best bitch without much regard to the question of kinship. For hounds bear close in breeding well if they are rationally managed in other respects as they are naturally, preeminently hardy and free from constitutional diseases of a hereditary nature. A strong prejudice against what is called incestuous mating is deeply implanted in the human mind, but it is due rather to social considerations than to physiological data notwithstanding that persons most ignorant of physiology clinched their arguments by the pet phrase Physiology teaches so and so. It is safe to say that physiology teaches nothing of the kind, nor do such writers know anything whatever about what physiology teaches. The natural laws of heredity transmission act upon the offspring in one and the same way, whether the parents be near of kin or strangers in blood. The kinship or non-kinship of parents near or remote does not in any respect or in any degree modify the laws of heredity affecting their progeny. It is curious how hard people find it to get over preconceived notions. My father repeatedly bred daughter to Sire and produced in that way some of the finest hounds he ever had in his kennel. I remember very well when, on one occasion, a friend of his who had repeatedly bred from full brother and sister said to him that he could not help thinking that to breed from daughter and Sire was a little too close. My father said, Why, man, you breed closer than that. Oh, no, said he. I never bred closer than brother and sister, and that don't hurt a bit. Well, said my father, the blood of brother and sister is, as I understand the matter, identical, whereas the daughter has only half the blood of the Sire and half the damn. I think that you breed twice as close as I do. This little analysis seemed to strike the man down. It certainly does seem that way, said he, when you come to look at it. But it always seemed to me that it was a heap closer to breed daughter to her own father. Than a brother to his own sister, said my father with a laugh. Breed the best to the best is the best rule I know by which to breed red fox hounds. A hound not capable of catching the red fox is of no value to the fox hunter. 99 out of 100 of the hounds of the country cannot do it. If the American hound is to be made what he should be, it is time to begin at once to find out where any such hounds are, as have been demonstrated by actual kills, their fitness to be bred from. It is of no use. To bring English hounds here expecting them to be able to do anything with our foxes, nor to expect to produce a killing pack by breeding from imported hounds. I know at present one hound only bred even on one side, the dams, from an imported hound that is able to kill a red fox. I have never seen an imported hound able to do it. If killing packs are located by those ambitious to become owners of such hounds, they must not expect to get them for a low price. $100 would be only a moderate figure for a good hound. I know many deer at $1 per 100. No animal that lives is more worthless than a worthless hound. A few thoughts and suggestions as to kennel management are now in order. Let everything in this line be simple, natural as possible, and inexpensive. Expensiveness means artificiality, and that means a worthless pack. A pack of hounds should associate together as much as is allowable with a minimum of restraint. One good sized building in the center of a yard enclosed by a picket fence is the best arrangement. There should be no floor except the ground and there should be an ordinary door to admit a man of full height without stooping. Also a good and well hung and latched gate to the yard and a lock on door and gate. Ordinarily the door should stand open and should be hooked to the side of the building to keep it open. The floor must be kept littered with clean straw or shavings, or in summer with green pine tags, no trees nearby. When the hounds are kenneled at night or for any other purpose in the daytime, take the couples off, put the hounds in the yard, lock the gate and allow them to go in and out of the house at pleasure. After feeding in the morning, put the couples on and let the hounds go out as they please. Do not couple puppies at all, nor kennel them, except at night. At all seasons of the year, let the pack out to follow the owner about as often as possible, always uncoupled. Give puppies and young hounds the utmost liberty possible, but never let them be out of the kennel at night. Whenever the hounds are wanted, blow them up with a horn. Never punish them, except it be necessary, and then wail them soundly with a good whip. Thus a dog becomes more attached to his owner, nor is more easily controlled by one who understands it. Some men do, some men don't. Some men can, some men can't. The last three hounds I owned of the old blue mottled breed, two dogs and a spade bitch, were so attached to me that it was actually dangerous for anyone to suddenly approach me if they were nearby. They were never coupled and only kenneled at night to prevent them from being suspected of mischief. When the young hounds are about a year old, they should be taken one or two at a time with one or two old hounds and taught to run. If you take young ducks to the water, they will swim, and if you take young hounds well bred to the field, they will run. Experience is all they want, and this a man who knows how to hunt knows how to give them. At first the old hounds will show the way and the inexperienced will follow other eels, but in no long time a youngster grown ambitious will push for the lead. It is worthwhile to suggest that a very necessary adjunct to a breeding kennel is a dog proof apartment with room enough for two, for bitches and season. This apartment must be such that no dog can, by any possibility, get in or out except through the door. It must have a light floor or some dog is sure to dig under and get in. In a matter of feeding variety is necessary. No animal thrives, well confined to one sort of food. The hound is a large and most energetic animal and must be liberally fed. It is the potential energy of the food which develops into the dynamic energy of speed and endurance. It is the protoplasmic substance of food which is converted into muscle and nerve, and the minerals of the ash of the food which are converted into bone by the marvelous workings of the animal economy. The hound itself in its perfection, the music of its tongue and the airy swiftness of its pace are neither less no more than the varied products of the vital metamorphoses of its food. Give it plenty. It is greedy not without a cause. Give it variety, for it has the same disgust for eternal sameness that you and I have. Give scraps from the table, bread, meat, bones, vegetables, from the kitchen, hot liquor, and the varied offal which accumulates there. Meal, ground of equal parts of rye, oats and corn, and baked in thick pones is a good working diet. The dairy will furnish skim milk, curds, whey, buttermilk, bonnie clover. When you butcher a beef or kill hogs, unkindle the pack and let them gorge. It delights and does them good. Bear in mind that we are trying to follow nature rather than a cut and dried artificial system. This article is written from the standpoint of the country gentlemen helping to make helpful suggestions to those who desire to adopt the fox hunt as the manliest and most invigorating, the most delightful of sports of the field. And to help to make it the national sport of America. Therefore, those to whom the hunt is a mere fashionable fad will probably not find much to amuse and less to instruct them, seeing that they know everything which is really so English, don't you know? It is hoped that the gentlemen of moderate means, lovers of horse and hound, will be encouraged to take up the sport and to maintain a pack which can be done at a very moderate expense. If a gentleman be so situated that he can breed and train his own hunting horse, I am sure he will take more pleasure in him than he could otherwise do. All that is here recommended is the result of the writer's personal experience which has been a delight. Shooting and fishing have been so overdone that it is evident that what remains of them worth attention will be rapidly taken up and preserved by the exclusive and the wealthy. The noble sport of fox hunting remains and will ever remain within reach of the people. It can never be preserved. It can neither be monopolized by professionalism nor ruined by records. It is a sport in which ladies may and should freely participate and hence it can scarcely be vulgarized. From an experience of 30 years in the medical profession, the writer is of the opinion that there are 50 delicate women who would be physically regenerated by horseback exercise to one who would be in the least degree injured by it. Unless we become a nation of fox hunters, we shall very surely become a nation of dog carters. A multitude of arguments in favor of hunting suggest themselves. It is difficult to find one valid argument of a contrary effect. It remains to glance at the subject of the diseases of fox hounds. If the rational system of kennel management be adopted and the hygiene of the kennel be attended to, there will seldom be a sick hound. They are of a race of animals naturally, preeminently hardy. The hygiene of the kennel consists in a few simple things. Let the kennel be clean, dry, light and warm. Let the hounds be out as much as possible, but always kennel them at night. If a neighbor has sheep killed by cures, he cannot lay it to the hounds if they were locked up in the kennel. When the hounds are let out, they may be coupled, and they should always be broken to the couple, but should not be kept coupled merely from habit. If they are not likely to get into mischief, let them run loose. The couple should be a stiff iron rod not over six inches long with an inch ring for the collar at each end. If longer they are always liable to get hung up by all sorts of obstructions and are bent and twisted out of shape. In the makeup of the pack, I have found spayed bitches to be desirable. They are in no respect inferior to dogs, and they are in every way more pleasant to handle being far less disposed to wander out of bounds or get into any kind of mischief. The greatest couple of foxhounds I ever have known were litter sisters, spayed when about two months old, which is the best time to spay. The operation is simple and safe, and if performed prior to sexual development, is not productive of the least tendency to obesity, even in old age. I have always believed that the instincts of spayed bitches, if the operation precedes sexual development, were like those of worker bees superior to the sexually developed individuals. The most remarkable exhibition of nose I have ever seen, both in the hound and in the setter or pointer, as well as the field spaniel, were by spayed bitches. And the thing much in their favor is that they are much more patient than dogs or open bitches of kennel discipline, and in my opinion at least less subject to disease. This article must now be brought to a close. If it shall aid in inducing lovers of the hound to act in concert to push the sport to the front as they recognize natural sport of the American country gentlemen, the object of the writer will have been accomplished. If wealthy clubs of city gentlemen are disposed to join in the movement to Americanize and nationalize this great sport, they will find the country gentlemen ready to cooperate in every way. That it is a matter of national importance in connection with the development of the American saddle horse and the American horsemanship of the future, the writer does not doubt. He pleads guilty to a rank enthusiasm for a horse in hound and horn, but he believes that he is not mistaken in supposing that unless fox hunting becomes our national sport, our national horsemanship will dwindle until it amounts to nothing. And all our people will take to dog carts. Whether this will be a national calamity, there ought not to be two opinions. End of Section 9, Recording by William Jones Section 10 of The American Book of the Dog. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org The American Book of the Dog. G. O. Shields Editor Section 10. The Basset Hound by Lawrence Timpson The Basset Français or the Basset Hound, as he is known to us, is undoubtedly one of the oldest breeds of dogs and has existed in France in exactly the same type that he does today for many centuries. The French, however, have kept no systematic records of sports and sporting dogs, and it is only within the last few years since the English have taken up the breed that the history of the Basset Hound has been collected and written. They were down to the 17th century known in France as chien d'outrois, but since then this name has been transferred to and used only to designate the large picker-de-hounds, and the breed under discussion has been given the name of Basset. The Basset Français and the Basset Allemande, or, as he is better known, the Dachshund, had undoubtedly a common origin, but the Basset Hound of today has maintained all the characteristics of a true hound, whereas the Dachshund has some of the attributes of a terrier. The Basset Français is divided into two strains, the smooth-coated and the rough-coated, the former coming originally from the province of Artois and the latter from Flanders. Both these strains are divided again into three classes. One, the crooked-legged, Basset-Agent-Tortue, two, the half-crooked-legged, Basset-Agent-Demi-Tortue, and three, the straight-legged, Basset-Agent-Douatt. In France all crooked-legged dogs are spoken of by the people generally as Bassets, the same as in Germany such a dog would be called a Dachshund. So the term sometimes conveys as little or still less significance as the word terrier does with us. The sixth classes of the Basset Français that I have named all have their respective admirers, but for the purposes of this article I shall only take and describe as the Basset Hound the smooth-coated Artois strain with crooked legs, as it is the type generally preferred and recognized. All the sixth classes have a general similarity to one another. The rough-coated strain or Basset-Griffon, as they are called, correspond more closely to the English Otterhound in coat and coloring, have more courage and worse tempers and are much less desirable as pets than the smooth-coated strain. The half-crooked-legged variety are lighter in build than the crooked-legged, and the straight-legged ones are much lighter and faster still, approaching in the smooth-coated strain more nearly to the English Beagle. All friends of the Basset Hound owe a great debt of gratitude to the Count Le Conteur de Cantillon. He has for some years gone to great trouble and expense collecting all the information possible about the history of this ancient breed in which he justly takes such a patriotic pride and in obtaining the best specimens in existence in France, breeding them and establishing the breed again in public favor. It is directly from him or through him that most of his English breeders have obtained their dogs. He is one of the few French noblemen of today who love and devote themselves to sport for sports' sake, living the life of a grand senior on his magnificent estate. The history of the Basset Hound in England begins in 1874, when Mr. Everett Mellet first saw one in the collection at the Jardin de Clamations at Paris. He was so taken with the looks of the breed that he purchased and imported model, whom he showed that year at Wolverhampton. Lord Anslow was, I believe, the next one across the channel to take this breed up, commencing in 1875 to form his little pack, which had so many merry little runs in the neighborhood of Guilford. Mr. Mellet was forced, a few years later, to give up breeding and go abroad, on account of ill health, and Lord Anslow, for some reason, broke up his pack at the same time. About this time Mr. Crale joined the ranks of the Basset Hound men, and the subsequent popularity and success of the breed in England is owing in a great part to his energy. In February 1883, at a meeting of the principal English breeders at 25 Downing Street, London, the Basset Hound Club was formed for the purpose of encouraging the breeding of Basset Hounds for exhibition and for hunting purposes. The following members were enrolled. Monsieur's Blaine, Monroe, D. C. Drake, G. R. Crale, W. P. Elaine, H. B. Watson, H. Wyndham Carter, G. Barton, H. Blackett, C. Collet, A. Masson, E. Durant, C. Blackburn, and A. Crale. Count Le Conteur de Cantelure was elected president, and Lord Anslow and Mr. G. R. Crale vice president, Mr. G. R. Crale honorary treasurer, Mr. H. Wyndham Carter honorary secretary, and Monsieur's W. P. Elaine, E. Durant, H. B. Watson, G. R. Crale, and H. Wyndham Carter, a committee. It was proposed to form a pack for hunting with its headquarters at Maidenhead. Mr. Elaine, who was elected huntsman, kindly consenting to allow the club the use of his kennels there. About this time, too, Bassethounds came into royal favor, as Mr. Crale presented abrasive puppies by Jupiter to H. R. H. the Prince of Wales for his use in Scotland for rabbit shooting, which gift his royal highness was graciously pleased to accept, sending Mr. Crale, as a mark of his appreciation, a scarf pin in the design of the Prince's plumes, and the initials A. E. set in brilliance. In 1883 Mr. Chamberlain purchased Nemor from Mr. Crale, and brought him out to America for the Maiseland kennels. To Nemor belongs the honor of being the first Bassethound brought to America, except, perhaps, the brace by Jupiter that the late Lord Aylesford brought out about the same time to use for rabbit shooting on his ranch near Big Springs, Texas. In the following spring, 1884, the Westminster Kennel Club kindly made a class for Bassethounds at the New York Show, and Nemor made his bow to the American public. The first to follow Lord Aylesford's and Mr. Chamberlain's lead and import Bassethounds to America was Mr. C. B. Gilbert of New Haven, who, in 1885, brought out Bertrand by Bourbon and Canis by Jupiter. He has since bred a brace of good puppies out of them, Jose and Juan. The only others that have been imported and exhibited here as yet are Babette by Merlin, who made her debut at New York in 1889, being shown by Mr. Charles Porter of Philadelphia, and Mr. Cornelia Stevenson's Chasseur by Farmer, who appeared at New York this year. I trust that soon these beautiful little hounds will receive the attention they deserve from American fanciers and sportsmen. Bassethounds are by all odds superior to beagles for rabbit shooting, beating them in nose, tongue, and staying powers. Their powers of scent are marvelous, and so well do they indicate their excitement by their waving sterns that, as the scent becomes warmer and warmer, one can tell almost exactly the moment when they are about to open on it. Their clear, deep, bell-like notes are far sweeter than those of any other hound, and when they are hidden in cover, tell exactly what they are doing. When once heard, the clear ring of their notes is never forgotten. Their short, crooked legs seem almost incapable of being tired, and their natural pace is about seven miles an hour. For hunting on foot they are as superior to beagles as for being shot over on rabbits, but their value renders a pack of any size out of the question. The scratch pack that the members of the Bassethound Club kept showed very good sport. Bassethounds have the best of tempers. I have never known of one to attempt a bite, except in the case of puppies when being punished for some misdemeanor or other, but then they did it from fright more than from ill nature. In fact, their disposition is a trifle too mild and inoffensive for a sporting dog, although they run game with the utmost keenness, and when their quarry is standing at bay they will give tongue with the utmost fierceness, usually showing no desire to go in for blood, even in the case of a rabbit. In the latter case they would usually play with it as though it were a puppy, if left to themselves. Against other dogs too they seldom try to defend themselves. Puppies are rather hard to rear, especially in a cold climate, but the old dogs are very hardy. Even among the best bred specimens the teeth are sometimes very small, unusually many in number, and the lower jaw shorter than the upper. Bassethound puppies are most whimsically looking little beggars, and their big bright eyes have the softest, dreamiest expression imaginable. There is something of an old world air about a Bassethound. His appearance has something quaint and medieval in it. It makes one think insensibly of old tapestries representing a grand chasse at the forest court of one of the old Valois kings at Fontainebleau, where the Bassethound undoubtedly posed not only in his sporting capacity, but as the pet of the great ladies who probably held him in as high a favor as the ladies of Elizabeth's court did basket-beagles. Below is given the standard and scale of points of the Bassethound. Head 25, neck and chest 10, four legs and feet 15, ribs and loin 10, hind quarters and stern 10, coat 10, color 10, size and symmetry 10, total 100. Head, resembling that of the bloodhound in shape and dignity of expression, long rather narrow and well peaked, with littler no stop. Jaws long, strong and level, teeth rather small, nose usually black, but some good ones have had considerable white about theirs. Mouth well-fluid, ears long, large and soft, hanging like the softest velvet drapery. Eyes are a deep brown, very expressive, rather deeply set and showing a good deal of ha. Expression affectionate, intelligent and good-humored, though occasionally reflective and melancholy. Neck and chest. The neck is long but very powerful, with flues extending nearly to the chest. The chest is well-developed, overhanging and extending to within nearly two inches of the ground. Four legs and feet. The shoulders are of great power, legs very short and turning inward at the knees, and the feet which appear to be a mass of joints considerably bent out. Ribs and loin. The back and ribs are strongly put together and the formers of great length. Hindquarters and stern. The hindquarters are very strong and muscular, the muscle standing out and clearly defined down to the hocks. Coat. The skin is soft and the coat smooth and close, though moderately hard and very weather-resisting in quality, and when the dog is in condition showing a beautiful natural gloss. Color. The tricolor which is a tan head and a black and white body is much preferred, but they come in all the varieties of white and black and tan. Size and symmetry. Bassets come in all sizes, from 9 to 12 inches at shoulder and at from 26 to 48 pounds in weight and over. The best size is say about 11 or 12 inches at the shoulder and about 40 to 45 pounds in weight. The basset has more bone in proportion to his size than any other breed and his symmetry is an important point in his makeup. No special care is necessary in preparing basset hounds for the show bench, further than ordinary attention to health, condition and coat. These dogs usually show up well on the bench and rather appear to enjoy their outings at shows. The subject of our illustration, Champion Nemour, E.K.C.S.B.14068, owned by the Maiseland Kennels, was got by Champion Jupiter, 12152, out of Vivienne, 13340. He was welped March 21, 1883 and was bred by Mr. George R. Creil, Hanover Square, London. His winnings are First New York, First Philadelphia, First National Breeder's Show, 1884, First and Two Specials, New Haven, First Boston, First New York, 1885, Second New York, Champion Boston, 1886, First New York, 1888. End of section 10, Recording by Roger Maline.