The Dog

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Mr. Blaine illustrates this by reference to his own experience.

"There is no disease, with the exception of distemper and mange, to
which dogs are so liable as to a rheumatic affection of some part of
the body. It presents almost as many varieties in the dog as it does
in man; and it has some peculiarities observable in the dog only.
Rheumatism never exists in a dog without affecting the bowels. There
will be inflammation or painful torpor through the whole of the
intestinal canal. It is only in some peculiar districts that this
occurs; it pervades certain kennels only; and but until lately there
has been little or almost no explanation of the cause of the evil."
[20]

Nimrod took a most important view of the matter, and to him the sporting
world is much indebted.

"How is it," he asks, "that, in our younger days, we never heard of
kennel lameness, or, indeed, of hounds being lame at all, unless from
accident, or becoming shaken and infirm from not having been composed
of that iron-bound material which the labours of a greyhound or a
hound require? How is it, that, in our younger days, masters of hounds
began the season with 50 or 60 couples, and, bating the casualties,
left off at the end of it equally strong in their kennels, and able,
perhaps, to make a valuable draft; whereas we now hear of one-half of
the dogs in certain localities being disabled by disease, and some
masters of hounds compelled to be stopped in their work until their
kennels are replenished."

Washing hounds when they come home after work must be injurious to them,
although it has almost become the fashion of modern times. If they are
not washed at all, and we believe it to be unnecessary, yet the kennels
in which lameness has appeared should be strictly avoided. It should be
on the day following and not in the evening of a hunting-day that
washing should take place.

Mr. Hodgson told Nimrod, that the Quorn Pack never had a case of kennel
lameness until his late huntsman took to washing his hounds after
hunting, and then he often had four or five couples ill from this cause.
He deprecated even their access to water in the evening after hunting,
and we believe that he was quite right in so doing.

The tongue of the dog, with the aid of clean straw, is his best and
safest instrument in cleansing his person; and, if he can be brought to
his kennel with tolerably clean feet, as Mr. Foljambe enables him to be
brought, he will never be long before he is comfortable in his bed,
after his belly is filled.

There is another mode, as a preventive of kennel lameness, which we have
the best authority for saying deserves particular attention, and that
is, the frequently turning hounds off their benches during the day, even
if it were to the extent of every two hours throughout the entire day.
We do not mean to deny the existence of a disease, which, being produced
in the kennel, is properly termed kennel lameness. Some kennels are, no
doubt, more unhealthy and prone to engender rheumatic affections than
others; but, by proper management, and avoiding as much as possible all
exciting causes, their effects may, at least, be very much lessened, if
not entirely obviated.

LORD FITZHARDINGE'S MANAGEMENT.

Lord Fitzhardinge's opinion of the situation of the kennel and the
management of the hounds, as given in the 'New Sporting Magazine', is
somewhat different from that which has been just given. The following is
the substance of it: [21]

He states that the kennel should be built on a dry and warm situation.
Of this there can be no doubt: the comfort and almost the existence of
the dog depend upon it. To this he adds that it must not be placed on a
gravelly or porous soil, over which vapours more or less dense are
frequently or continually travelling, and thus causing a destructive
exhalation over the whole of the building. There must be no fluid oozing
through the walls or the floor of the kennel, and producing damp and
unhealthy vapours. When we have not a deep supersoil of clay, one or two
layers of bricks or of stone may line the floor, and then, not even the
most subtile vapour can penetrate through the floor. A clean bed of
straw should be allowed every second day, or oftener when the weather is
wet. The lodging-houses should be ceiled, and there should be shutters
to the windows. A thatched roof is preferable to tiles, being warmer in
winter and cooler in summer.

Stoves in the kennels are not necessary: probably they are best avoided;
for, if dogs are accustomed to any considerable degree of artificial
heat, they are more easily chilled by a long exposure to cold. Their
teeth and the setting-up of their backs will confirm this.

Hounds, when they feel cold, naturally seek each other for warmth, and
they may be seen lying upon the straw and licking each other; and that
is by far the most wholesome way of procuring comfort and warmth.

On returning from hunting, their feet should be washed with some warm
fluid, and especially the eyes should be examined, and their food got
ready for them as soon as possible. The feeding in the morning should be
an hour, or an hour and a half, before they start for the field.

It is truly observed by the noble writer to whom we have referred, that
there is no part of an establishment of this kind that merits more
attention than the boiling and feeding house. The hounds cannot perform
their work well unless judiciously fed. Each hound requires particular
and constitutional care. No more than five of them should be let in to
feed together, and often not more than one or two. The feeder should
have each hound under his immediate observation, or they may get too
much or too little of the food.

Some hounds cannot run if they carry much flesh; others are all the
better for having plenty about them. The boilers should be of iron, two
in number,--one for meal and the smaller one for flesh. The large boiler
should render it necessary to be used not more than once in four days or
a week. The food should be stirred for two hours, then transferred to
flat coolers, until sufficiently gelatinous to be cut with a kind of
spade. By the admixture of some portion of soups it may be brought to
any thickness requisite. The flesh to be mixed with it should be cut
very small, that the greedy hounds may not be able to obtain more than
their share. Four bushels and a half of genuine old oatmeal should be
boiled with a hundred gallons of water. The flesh should he boiled every
second or third day. Too great a proportion of soup would render the
mixture of a heating nature.

Mr. Delme Radcliffe very truly observes that the feeding of hounds, as
regards their condition, is one of the most essential proofs of a
huntsman's skill in the management of the kennel. To preserve that even
state of condition throughout the pack which is so desirable, he must be
well acquainted with the appetite of every hound; for some will feed
with a voracity scarcely credible, and others will require every kind of
enticement to induce them to feed.

Mr. Meynell found that the use of dry unboiled oatmeal succeeded better
than any other thing he had tried with delicate hounds. When once
induced to take it, they would eat it greedily, and it seemed to be far
more heartening than most kinds of aliment. Other hounds of delicate
constitution might be tempted with a little additional flesh, and with
the thickest and best of the trough, but they required to be watched,
and often to be coaxed to eat.

The dog possesses the power of struggling against want of food for an
almost incredible period. One of these animals, six years old, was
missing three-and-twenty days; at length some children wandering in a
distant wood thought that they frequently heard the baying of a dog. The
master was told of it, and at the bottom of an old quarry, sixty feet
deep, and the mouth of which he had almost closed by his vain attempts
to escape, the voice of the poor fellow was recognised. With much
difficulty he was extricated, and found in a state of emaciation; his
body cold as ice and his thirst inextinguishable, and he scarcely able
to move. They gave him at intervals small portions of bread soaked in
milk and water. Two days afterwards he was able to follow his master a
short distance.

This occurrence is mentioned by M. Pinguin as a proof that neither
hunger nor thirst could produce rabies. Messrs. Majendie and F. Cousins
have carried their observations to the extent of forty days--a
disgraceful period. [22]

MANAGEMENT OF THE PACK.

Sixty-five couple of hounds in full work will consume the carcases of
three horses in one week, or five in a fortnight. The annual consumption
of meal will be somewhat more than two tons per month.

In feeding, the light eaters should be let in first, and a little extra
flesh distributed on the surface of the food, in order to coax those
that are most shy. Some hounds cannot be kept to their work unless fed
two or three times a day; while others must not be allowed more than six
or seven laps, or they would get too much.

In summer an extra cow or two will be of advantage in the dairy; for the
milk, after it has been skimmed, may be used instead of flesh. There
must always be a little flesh in hand for the sick, for bitches with
their whelps, and for the entry of young hounds.[23] About Christmas is
the time to arrange the breeding establishment. The number of puppies
produced is usually from five to eight or nine; but, in one strange
case, eighteen of them made their appearance. The constitution and other
appearances in the dam, will decide the number to be preserved. When the
whelps are sufficiently grown to run about, they should be placed in a
warm situation, with plenty of fresh grass, and a sufficient quantity of
clean, but not too stimulating, food. They should then be marked
according to their respective letters, that they may be always
recognised. When the time comes, the ears of the dog should be rounded;
the size of the ear and of the head guiding the rounding-iron.

This being passed, the master of the pack takes care that his treatment
shall be joyous and playful; encouragement is always with him the word.
The dog should be taught the nature of the fault before he is corrected:
no animal is more grateful for kindness than a hound; the peculiarities
of his temper will soon be learned, and when he begins to love his
master, he will mind, from his natural and acquired affection, a word or
a frown from him more than the blows of all the whips that were ever put
into the hands of the keepers.

The distemper having passed, and the young hounds being in good health,
they should be walked out every day, and taught to follow the horse,
with a keeper who is selected as a kind and quiet person, and will bear
their occasionally entangling themselves in their couples. They are then
taken to the public roads, and there exercised, and checked from riot,
but with as little severity as possible; a frequent and free use of the
whip never being allowed. No animals take their character from their
master so much as the hounds do from theirs. If he is wild, or noisy, or
nervous, so will his hounds be; if he is steady and quick, the pack will
be the same. The whip should never be applied but for some immediate and
decided fault. A rate given at an improper time does more harm than
good: it disgusts the honest hound, it shies and prevents from hunting
the timid one, and it is treated with contempt by those of another
character who may at some future time deserve it. It formerly was the
custom, and still is too much so, when a hound 'has hung on a hare', to
catch him when he comes up, and flog him. The consequence of this is,
that he takes good care the next time he indulges in a fault not to come
out of cover at all.

We will conclude this part of our subject by a short account of the
splendid kennel at Goodwood, for which we are indebted to Lord W.
Lennox, with the kind permission of the Duke of Richmond. It is
described as one of the most complete establishments of the kind in
England. The original establishment of this building, although a little
faulty, possesses considerable interest from its errors being corrected
by the third Duke of Richmond, a man who is acknowledged to have been
one of the most popular public characters of the day, and who in more
private life extended his patronage to all that was truly honourable. It
was to the Duke's support of native talent that we may trace the origin
of the present Royal Academy. In 1758, the Duke of Richmond displayed,
at his residence in Whitehall, a large collection of original plaster
casts, taken from the finest statues and busts of the ancient sculptors.
Every artist was freely admitted to this exhibition and, for the further
encouragement of talent, he bestowed two medals annually on such as had
exhibited the best models.

We have thus digressed in order to give a slight sketch of the nobleman
by whom this kennel was built, and we do not think that we can do better
than lay before our readers the original account of it.

Early in life the Duke built what was not then common, a tennis-court,
and what was more uncommon, a dog-kennel, which cost him above L6000.
The Duke was his own architect, assisted by, and under the guidance of,
Mr. Wyatt; he dug his own flints, burnt his own lime, and conducted the
wood-work in his own shops. The result of his labours was the noble
building of which a plan is here given.

The dog-kennel is a grand object when viewed from Goodwood. The front is
handsome, the ground well raised about it, and the general effect good;
the open court in the centre adds materially to the noble appearance of
the building.

The entrance to the kennel is delineated in the centre with a flight of
stairs leading above. The huntsman's rooms, four in number first present
themselves, and are marked in the plan before us by the letter C; each
of them is fifteen feet four inches, by fourteen feet six inches.

At each end of the side towards the court is one of the feeding-rooms,
twenty-nine feet by fourteen feet four inches, and nobly constructed
rooms they are; they are designated by the letters B. At the back of the
feeding-rooms, are one set of the lodging-rooms, from thirty-five feet
six inches, to fourteen feet four inches, and marked by the letters A,
and at either extremity is another lodging-room, thirty-two feet six
inches in length, and fourteen feet six inches in width: this is also
marked by the letter A.

Coming into the court we find the store-room twenty-four feet by
fourteen and a half, marked by the letter D, and the stable, of the same
dimensions, by the letter E.

At the top of the buildings are openings for the admission of cold air,
and stoves to warm the air when too cold. There are plentiful supplies
of water from tanks holding 10,000 gallons; so that there is no
inconvenience from the smell, and the whole can at any time be drained,
and not be rendered altogether useless.

Round the whole building is a pavement five feet wide; airy yards and
places for breeding, &c., making part of each wing. For the huntsman and
whipper-in there are sleeping-rooms, and a neat parlour or kitchen.

Soon after the kennel was erected, it would contain two packs
of hounds.

THE STAG-HOUND.

The largest of the English hounds that has been lately used, is devoted,
as his name implies, to the chase of the deer. He is taller than the
fox-hound, and with far more delicate scent, but he is not so speedy. He
answers better than any other to the description given of the old
English hound, so much valued when the country, less enclosed, and the
forests, numerous and extensive, were the harbours of the wild deer. The
deer-hound and the harrier were for many centuries the only
hunting-dogs. The fox-hound has been much more recently bred.

The most tyrannic and cruel laws were enforced for the preservation of
this species of game, and the life of the deer, except when sacrificed
in the chase, and by those who were privileged to join in it, was
guarded with even more strictness than the life of the human being.
When, however, the country became more generally cultivated, and the
stag was confined to enclosed parks, and was seldom sought in his lair,
but brought into the field, and turned out before the dogs, so much
interest was taken from the affair, that this species of hunting grew
out of fashion, and was confined to the neighbourhood of the scattered
forests that remained, and enjoyed only by royalty and a few noblemen,
of whose establishment a kennel of deer-hounds had, from time
immemorial, formed a part.

Since the death of George III, who was much attached to this sport,
stag-hunting has rapidly declined, and the principal pleasure seems now
to consist in the concourse of people brought together to an appointed
place and hour, to witness the turning out of the deer. There is still
maintained a royal establishment for the continuance of this noble
sport, but, unless better supported than it has of late years been, it
will gradually decline.

The stag-hounds are now a part of the regular Crown establishment. The
royal kennel is situated upon Ascot Heath, about six miles from Windsor.
At the distance of a mile from the kennel is Swinley Lodge, the official
residence of the Master of the Stag-hounds.

The stag-hound is a beautiful animal. He is distinguished from the
fox-hound by the apparent broadness and shortness of his head, his
longer cheek, his straighter hock, his wider thigh and deeper chest, and
better feathered and more beautifully arched tail. His appearance
indicates strength and stoutness, in which indeed he is unequalled, and
he has sufficient speed to render it difficult for the best horses long
to keep pace with him; while, as is necessary, when the distance between
the footmarks of the deer is considered, his scent is most exquisite. He
is far seldomer at fault than any other hound except the blood-hound,
and rarely fails of running down his game.

Of the stoutness of this dog, the following anecdotes will be a
sufficient illustration. A deer, in the spring of 1822, was turned out
before the Earl of Derby's hounds in Hayes Common. The chase was
continued nearly four hours without a check, when, being almost run
down, the animal took refuge in some outhouses near Speldhurst in Kent,
more than forty miles across the country, and having actually run more
than fifty miles. Nearly twenty horses died in the field, or in
consequence of the severity of the chase.

A stag was turned out at Wingfield Park, in Northumberland. The whole
pack, with the exception of two hounds, was, after a long run, thrown
out. The stag returned to his accustomed haunt, and, as his last effort,
leaped the wall of the park, and lay down and died. One of the hounds,
unable to clear the wall, fell and expired, and the other was found dead
at a little distance. They had run about forty miles.

"When the stag first hears the cry of the hounds, he runs with the
swiftness of the wind, and continues to run as long as any sound of
his pursuers can be distinguished. That having ceased, he pauses and
looks carefully around him; but before he can determine what course to
pursue, the cry of the pack again forces itself upon his attention.
Once more he darts away, and after a while again pauses. His strength
perhaps begins to fail, and he has recourse to stratagem in order to
escape. He practises the doubling and the crossing of the fox or the
hare. This being useless, he attempts to escape by plunging into some
lake or river that happens to lie in his way, and when, at last, every
attempt to escape proves abortive, he boldly faces his pursuers, and
attacks the first dog or man who approaches him." [24]

SOUTHERN HOUND.

There used to be in the south of Devon a pack or cry of the genuine old
English or southern hounds. There is some reason to believe that this
was the original stock of the island, or of this part of the island, and
that this hound was used by the ancient Britons in the chase of the
larger kinds of game with which the country formerly abounded. Its
distinguishing characters are its size and general heavy appearance; its
great length of body, deep chest, and ears remarkably large and
pendulous. The tones of its voice were peculiarly deep. It answered the
description of Shakspeare:

"So flewed, so sanded; and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd, like Thessalian bulls;
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each."

It was the slowness of the breed which occasioned its disuse. Several of
them, however, remained not long ago at a village called Aveton Gifford,
in Devonshire, in the neighbourhood of which some of the most opulent of
the farmers used to keep two or three dogs each. When fox-hunting had
assumed somewhat of its modern form, the chase was followed by a slow
heavy hound, whose excellent olfactory organs enabled him to carry on
the scent a considerable time after the fox-hound passed, and also over
grassy fallows, and hard roads, and other places, where the modern
high-bred fox-hound would not be able to recognise it. Hence the chase
continued for double the duration which it does at present, and hence
may be seen the reason why the old English hunter, so celebrated in
former days and so great a favourite among sportsmen of the old school,
was enabled to perform those feats which were exultingly bruited in his
praise. The fact is, that the hounds and the horse were well matched. If
the latter possessed not the speed of the Meltonian hunter, the hounds
were equally slow and stanch.

THE BLOOD-HOUND.

This dog does not materially differ in appearance from the old
deer-hound of a larger size, trained to hunt the human being instead of
the quadruped. If once put on the track of a supposed robber, he would
unerringly follow him to his retreat, although at the distance of many a
mile. Such a breed was necessary when neither the private individual nor
the government had other means to detect the offender. Generally
speaking, however, the blood-hound of former days would not injure the
culprit that did not attempt to escape, but would lie down quietly and
give notice by a loud and peculiar howl what kind of prey he had found.
Some, however, of a savage disposition, or trained to unnatural
ferocity, would tear to pieces the hunted wretch, if timely rescue did
not arrive.

Hounds of every kind, both great and small, may be broken in to follow
any particular scent, and especially when they are feelingly convinced
that they are not to hunt any other. This is the case with the
blood-hound. He is destined to one particular object of pursuit, and a
total stranger with regard to every other.

In the border country between England and Scotland, and until the union
of the two kingdoms, these dogs were absolutely necessary for the
preservation of property, and the detection of robbery and murder. A tax
was levied on the inhabitants for the maintenance of a certain number of
blood-hounds. When, however, the civic government had sufficient power
to detect and punish crime, this dangerous breed of hounds fell into
disuse and was systematically discouraged. It, nevertheless, at the
present day, is often bred by the rangers in large forests or parks to
track the deer-stealer, but oftener to find the wounded deer.

The blood-hound is taller and better formed than the deer-hound. It has
large and deep ears, the forehead broad and the muzzle narrow. The
expression of the countenance is mild and pleasing, when the dog is not
excited; but, when he is following the robber, his ferocity becomes
truly alarming.

The Thrapstone Association lately trained a blood-hound for the
detection of sheepstealers. In order to prove the utility of this dog, a
person whom he had not seen was ordered to run as far and as fast as his
strength would permit. An hour afterwards the hound was brought out. He
was placed on the spot whence the man had started. He almost immediately
detected the scent and broke away, and, after a chase of an hour and a
half, found him concealed in a tree, fifteen miles distant.

Mr. John Lawrence says, that a servant, discharged by a sporting country
gentleman, broke into his stables by night, and cut off the ears and
tail of a favourite hunter. As soon as it was discovered, a blood-hound
was brought into the stable, who at once detected the scent of the
miscreant, and traced it more than twenty miles. He then stopped at a
door, whence no power could move him. Being at length admitted, he ran
to the top of the house, and, bursting open the door of a garret, found
the object that he sought in bed, and would have torn him to pieces, had
not the huntsman, who had followed him on a fleet horse, rushed up after
him.

Somerville thus describes the use to which he was generally put, in
pursuit of the robber: