THE PUPPY AT WALK

CHAPTER XX

WITHOUT the Puppy Walkers—who deserve capital letters—where would the Hunt be? Why nowhere! The most important period of a fox-hound’s life is the time spent at walk. At this stage of his existence he may be made or marred, and to the credit of puppy walkers as a whole be it said the majority of young hounds in their care receive the very best of treatment.

Many men, and women too, who do not hunt, nevertheless walk puppies, and by so doing exhibit a sporting spirit which is extremely pleasing. The hound puppy is sent out to walk in spring, so that in his very young days he gets the full benefit of the warm weather. From the time he is able to use his legs, he is imbued with the spirit of mischief, and nothing left lying about is free from his attentions. At first he will confine his peregrinations within the limits of the house and its near vicinity, but as he grows older and stronger he will enlarge his sphere of operations. During infancy he is like a child, playing one minute, and sleeping the next. For this reason he should be supplied with a box or kennel into which he can easily crawl when he feels inclined for a nap. Good food, unlimited exercise, and fresh air are what he requires, if he is to thrive and do well. Oatmeal porridge and new milk is a good diet for young puppies, but the milk should not be overdone, as it is not conducive to the building up of strength if given in excess. Pearl barley, well simmered over the fire until it becomes like a jelly, and then mixed with new milk is a capital diet, particularly in wet weather, for it is soothing on the stomach, and a puppy thrives on it. In the case of weakly puppies, “Lactol” will be found very beneficial. When the puppy is of an age to manage a more solid diet, dog biscuits soaked in thick soup will be greedily eaten. A certain amount of milk is of course good at all times, and a fair-sized bone to gnaw at occasionally will keep the puppy employed, and benefit his teeth. Small bones should not be given, as they are liable to splinter and stick in the puppy’s throat. Food should be given twice a day at regular hours, after the puppy can manage a fairly solid diet. When quite young, smaller quantities of food given at more frequent intervals are better. Clean, fresh water should be within the puppy’s reach both day and night. He should be housed in a dry place with plenty of fresh bedding, and should be able to go in and out as he likes during the daytime. Whilst at walk he may suffer from simple ailments such as worms, or he may contract the more serious malady, distemper. If the bitch is well treated for worms before she gives birth to a litter, the puppies are less liable to be troubled with these parasites. There are various remedies for worms on the market, most of which are more or less effective. Areca nut we do not recommend, for though certain in its action, it is very drastic on the stomach. Kamala powder is better, and for puppies there is nothing to beat pumpkin seed. The seeds are pulped in a mortar, and then boiled until they become a thick mass. After removing any of the coarser bits that have not softened, give the puppy a teaspoonful in his food for three mornings. Kamala powder is given in the proportion of one and a half to two grains per pound weight of the dog, the patient first having been starved for twenty-four hours. It may be given in fat, molasses, or made up in gelatine capsules.

As far as distemper is concerned, the first thing to do on observing the symptoms, i.e., loss of appetite, cough, and discharge from the nose, is to at once isolate the patient in a warm, dry building, free from draughts. Provide a good, clean bed of straw, but do not heat the place artificially, unless an equable temperature can be kept up both day and night. As long as the place is dry and free from draughts, and there is plenty of bedding, the patient will be all right. The chief thing is to keep him warm and dry. A dose of castor oil may then be given, followed by one to three grains of quinine and the same amount of hyposulphite of soda three times a day. Two grains will be found sufficient for a hound puppy from twelve weeks to a year old. Wipe away all discharge from eyes and nose with luke-warm water, and when the patient shows signs of improvement, give a tonic. For this purpose we have found Benbow’s Mixture a capital pick-me-up. During the initial stages of the complaint the puppy will often refuse food, therefore he should be made to swallow fresh eggs, by breaking the contents in his mouth. Later, when he begins to improve, fresh, lean beef will be acceptable to him. As we have already said, the chief thing is to keep the patient warm and dry, reduce the feverish symptoms, and keep up his strength. We have seen it stated, by an experienced breeder of bull-dogs, that brewer’s yeast is an infallible cure for distemper. It is given twice a day, in doses from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful, depending on the size and age of the dog. Never having used it, we can therefore give no opinion on it, but it is a very simple remedy if it does all that it is said to do.

Puppies are sent out to different places to walk, some going to farms, others to tradesmen in the villages and country towns, while the members of the Hunt take their share. A farm is nowadays the safest place for a valuable fox-hound puppy, for though tradesmen do their charges very well, giving them plenty of exercise on the roads by letting them follow the carts, there is so much reckless driving of motors in these times that a puppy runs great risks on the highway. On the farm, the puppy not only has his liberty, but he learns the rudiments of his future business in life, by chasing the hares and rabbits. He also learns that poultry and sheep are tabu. Although hares and rabbits are not his legitimate quarry, they teach the puppy to get his nose down and hunt. Thus when he goes back to kennels he is more than half made and a morning or two cub-hunting soon teaches him to distinguish between riot and fox.

The more fresh people, sights, and sounds a puppy sees and hears, the less shy will be become, thus he imbibes a spirit of independence and self reliance. In the old days, when hounds were trencher-fed, they lived at their various walks all the year round. Being thus isolated, distemper was unknown amongst them, whereas now when they are herded together in kennel, the complaint is rife every season. In the Lakes, the fell hounds, both old and young go out to walk in summer, thus the kennels get a chance to sweeten.

Whilst the puppy should be well done to when out at walk, he should not be over-cossetted or brought up too artificially. Many puppies are sent in from walk too fat and heavy, and these are the ones which suffer most from distemper. Over-feeding is as bad as under-feeding, for it tends to make the puppy soft, and thus he is unable to combat any complaints to which he may fall heir.

Puppies in from walk are naturally homesick at the kennels, and heart-broken at the loss of their liberty. For this reason where possible it is advisable to have large paddocks in which the youngsters can roam about as they please. Their flesh can be given them on the ground, and if they have dry, draught-proof sheds to sleep in, they gradually accustom themselves to the kennel discipline. By adopting such measures, the young hounds are prevented from fretting, and thus laying themselves open to distemper and other complaints. Any which show signs of distemper can be at once isolated, and the germs of the disease are not disseminated amongst the older hounds in the kennels, as would be the case if the young entry came in contact with them. It seems that environment may have a good deal to do with the spread of distemper, and that it is possible where old hounds have access to yards or paddocks which have previously been tenanted by puppies with distemper, contamination from the tainted ground may result in the absorbing of the infection, and thus brood bitches may pass it on to their whelps in embryo. Whatever the real truth of the matter may be, it is safe to say that the cleaner and sweeter the yards and paddocks can be kept, the healthier will the hounds be. This applies strongly to ground on which bitches with young whelps are situated. Generations of hounds bred and kennelled on the same ground, are bound to cause the latter to become foul in time, no matter how careful the supervision, therefore a period of dressing and cultivation should be applied to paddocks at intervals, in order to refresh them, and reduce the liability to infection.