Sporting Dogs: Their Points and Management in Health and DiseaseBarton, Frank Townend
Science
Sporting Dogs: Their Points and Management in Health and Disease
Barton, Frank Townend
Dogs
Although there are packs of Harriers in various parts of the country,
they are of a very limited number, hare-hunting with Hounds being a
very inferior sport to that of fox-hunting. Moreover, hares are not as
plentiful as in the days of our forefathers, in a large measure arising
through diminished agricultural industry and commercial relations.
That good sport is still to be had with Harriers we do not for a moment
dispute, but it is not general.
Formerly "dwarf" foxhounds were used for hare-hunting, though proved
not to be equal to the typical Harrier for this purpose.
Harriers vary in their height according to the nature of the country
they have to work in.
[Illustration: LECTURER--A MEMBER OF THE CRICKHOWELL HARRIERS.]
From 16 to 20 inches is the general height, sometimes a trifle more, or
less.
Unless very carefully trained, Harriers will hunt rabbits, and then
they are with difficulty broken of this vice.
The most useful colour is black, white and tan (tricolour), but hare,
red, tan, badger and yellow pies are frequent.
Throughout, the Harrier should be symmetrical, have a large nose,
dilated nostrils, ears low set on and lying close to the cheeks, and
the neck long and strong. A short neck is a defective one.
There must be no loose skin, such as dewlap, etc., in this region.
Elbows well let down and carried in the same line as body.
_Loins._--Broad; and back straight, strong, and wide.
_Back ribs._--Deep.
_Chest._--Deep, but not wide.
_Fore-limbs._--Straight as a line, well rounded and of good bone and
substance. Feet must be hard and compact.
Strong hind-quarters, and a gay carriage of tail are typical of a
well-built Harrier.
_Coat._--Dense, smooth (not coarse), and glossy.
Twenty couples were considered by the late Peter Beckford as
constituting a full pack of Harriers, though there is no fixed number
for this purpose.
Our illustration represents one of the Crickhowell Harriers, and for
the picture I am indebted to Mr Stanhope Lovell of Crickhowell.[3]
=The Otterhound=
Otter-hunting is a very ancient sport, otter dogs being used during the
reign of King John.
The Hounds in those days had not the beauty of the present-day
Otterhound, as very different types of dogs were then used, _e.g._, a
cross-bred Terrier, Foxhounds, etc.
One of the best packs of Otterhounds in this country are those
belonging to the Dumfriesshire otter-hunt, the River Tweed affording
the pack excellent hunting ground. It is an old-established pack, and
has always given, we believe, the best of sport.
Looking at a typical specimen of this breed, one is not slow to
recognise a "workman all over."
To a casual observer he has the appearance of a rough-coated--if such
there can be--Bloodhound.
These dogs weigh from about 65 to 80 or 90 lbs., and the bitch Hounds
10 or 15 lbs. less, and of different colours, but grizzle (black and
grey), and tan is the most general.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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