CHAPTER IX
The modern Foxhound is bred, or ought to be bred, with a sound constitution, contained in a graceful, elegant, and symmetrical body of a size which is neither bulky nor insignificant. This type has now held the field for about one hundred and seventy years. The middle of the eighteenth century marks the evolution in the breeding of Foxhounds for courage, stoutness, and speed. Before that time our ancestors were satisfied with something very much slower. They apparently kept Hounds who had to be taken out at an undignified hour in the morning to drag up their Fox in the hopes of getting on to terms with him before he had properly digested his supper, perhaps killing him after a leisurely stern chase lasting well into the afternoon. But this pottering style did not suit the ardent spirit of such pioneers as Hugo Meynell, John Musters, and John Smith-Barry. During the decade 1750–1760 the modern system of unkennelling the Fox at a gentlemanly hour in the morning, and bursting him by the speed and condition of the Hound, was successfully launched. The best evidence of the new pace is afforded by the celebrated match at Newmarket, which took place in 1762. A match was made between Mr. Meynell and Mr. Barry, each to run a couple of his Hounds a drag, from the rubbing-house at Newmarket town-end to the rubbing-house at the starting-post Beacon-course, a distance of four and a half miles, for five hundred guineas. After the match was made, the famous Will Crane was invited to train Mr. Barry’s couple of Hounds, of which Bluecap was four and Wanton three years old. Crane at first objected to their being Hounds that had been entered, and wished for young Hounds, who might probably be taught with more certainty to run a drag; his motion, however, was set aside, and the Hounds were sent to Rivenhall, in Essex. As Crane had foretold, at the first trials to induce them to run the drag they took no notice; but at length, by dragging a Fox along the ground, and then crossing the Hounds upon the scent, and taking care to let them kill him, they became more handy to a drag, and had their exercise regularly three times a week upon Tip-tree Heath; the ground chosen was turf, and the distance over which it was taken was from eight to ten miles. The dogs were in training for one month, their food consisting of oatmeal, milk, and boiled sheep’s trotters. On the 30th of September the drag was drawn over the distance previously agreed on, and the four Hounds were laid on the scent: Mr. Barry’s Bluecap came in first; Wanton, very close to Bluecap, second; Mr. Meynell’s Richmond was beaten by upwards of a hundred yards, and his second, a bitch, never ran in at all: the course was covered in eight minutes and a few seconds. Threescore horses started with the Hounds.
Copper, Mr. Barry’s Huntsman, was the first up, but the mare he rode was completely blind at the finish. There were only twelve horses up out of the sixty; Will Crane, who was mounted upon Rib, a King’s Plate horse, only finished twelfth. The odds, before starting, were seven to four in favour of Mr. Meynell, whose Hounds it was said were fed, during the time of training, entirely with legs of mutton. This epoch-making affair is immortalized by Sartorius in pictures belonging to the present Lord Barrymore, who also has, at Marbury Hall, a portrait of Bluecap by an unknown artist, which perhaps may not do justice to the subject. Two structural points, however, are interesting, being symptoms of speed: the forearm is placed under the very foremost part of the shoulder, and the hocks are well let down.
And so the modern Foxhound was evolved from models like Mr. Barry’s Bluecap, and Mr. Corbet’s Trojan, bred for quality, stoutness, and speed. It is sometimes argued that one type of Foxhound is not enough, because different countries require different Hounds. The validity of this maxim is doubtful. In a sense it may be true that a coarse, bulky, heavy-shouldered brute, who would be ridden over in the first field in the Midlands, might manage to hide his congenital defects and keep out of the way of underbred horses in a cramped country where small enclosures are fenced from each other by impossible banks. But in truth there is no country where a well-bred Hound of the middle size, with good neck and shoulders, will not hold his own with any other sort that has yet been bred, besides being far more pleasing to the eye.
Let us try to describe him in a little more detail. He stands not less than twenty-three, and not more than twenty-four inches high. He has a lean head, rather conical than flat, with a delicately chiselled muzzle; dark, full, luminous eyes, denoting keenness and intelligence; close-lying ears, small and pointed. His long neck, with the line of the throat quite clean, is supported by sloping shoulders, at the foremost point of which his fore-legs are set on, with knees near to the ground, plumb straight whether viewed from the side or the front. His feet are round without being fleshy, with the toes close together. His fore-ribs are deep, but not so widely sprung as to push his shoulders forward. The upward curve of the under-line is not unduly pronounced, even when he has not been fed for twenty-four hours. His muscular back is flat and straight right up to the point where his feathery and delicately curved stern is set on. The thighs are wide and muscular, supported by straight hocks near to the ground like his knees. His coat is smooth, glossy, and so supple that you can pick up a handful of it from his back and see it glide back into its place the moment it is released.
A Hound built on these lines would be difficult to beat in any country. If, however, we wish to perpetuate the type, the question arises whether the mating of dogs and bitches of the middle size may not tend to breed Hounds that are too small, until eventually we get our Foxhounds as small as harriers. There seems to be no danger of that at present. “Keep your own hounds of the middle size,” said an old breeder, “and you can always go to other kennels where they keep big ones for a stallion hound.” But the probability is that in many Kennels during the last fifty years the more massive sort has become the more fashionable.
The celebrated Brocklesby Rallywood, entered in 1843, with Sir Richard Sutton’s and Mr. Osbaldiston’s best blood in his veins, came to Belvoir in 1851 in the time of the no less celebrated Will Goodall, and is said to have made the Belvoir Pack. Goodall fell deeply in love with him, and bred from him freely. His own opinion of Rallywood is quoted by Mr. Collins in his very interesting History of the Brocklesby Hounds, and is worth repeating here: “This is a most beautiful little short-legged dog, exceedingly light of bone, but with beautiful legs and feet.” From the same book we learn that “Druid” in Silk and Scarlet wrote of Rallywood that “although good twenty-three, he was mean to those who like a big hound.” This dog hunted hard for nine seasons, and was certainly one of the most famous, if not the most famous, sire of the last century. Yet, from the contemporary descriptions of his lack of calibre, he would not be among the fashionable sires of to-day, and would look like a harrier if he were brought to the covert-side with some of our modern dog packs. So there is good ground for the assertion that during the last fifty years the size of Foxhounds has increased. Why? The explanation may possibly be found in the growing popularity of Hound Shows.
There is much to be said for and against a Hound Show. The most valid argument in favour of a Hound Show is that it gives prominence to the value of symmetry. Symmetry in Foxhounds should be aimed at not because it is good to look upon, but because a certain physical structure enables a Hound to do his work for the longest possible time in the quickest and easiest manner. Other things being equal, the good-looking Foxhound on the flags should certainly, in the long run, beat the ugly one in the field. This is the value of symmetry, and nothing else is. Immediately that a fashionable standard of looks becomes an arbitrary affair, presented, like one of M. Poiret’s creations, to satisfy caprice with no reference to utility, then the show-ring becomes dangerous.
Now the tendency of live-stock shows is to create an advantage in favour of bulk, particularly when its exhibition is enhanced by generous feeding. How often does one hear that “a good big one is better than a good little one.” This standard of judgement may or may not be all very well when applied to shire horses, bullocks, or pigs. But it is all very bad when applied to Foxhounds. And there can be no doubt whatever that bulk is, unfortunately, an advantage in a Foxhound Show. Nowadays a dog of twenty-four inches, an inch higher than the Brocklesby Rallywood, the Belvoir Gambler, and the Warwickshire Harper, when exhibited against modern Peterborough winners is apt to be described as “a smart little dog, but not big enough,” unless, indeed, his structure is so ultra-perfect that nothing can deny it. This does not mean to say that the Peterborough Foxhound Show should be discontinued. Far from it. The show is extremely valuable in that it preserves a standard of symmetry. The danger is that this standard of symmetry may become a purely show-ring standard, instead of remaining a standard of physical structure designed to enable the Foxhound to tire and catch his Fox. But one Foxhound Show is probably enough. The multiplication of shows might lead to pot-hunting with Foxhounds, the most unthinkable of all calamities.
While we are on the subject of appearance, a word may be said about rounding Hounds’ ears. This practice is a relic of an age when mutilation of animals for the sake of appearance was much more common than it is to-day. Horses’ ears, for instance, were cropped for no other reason than to gratify contemporary fashion. There could have been no other reason. It is urged that Foxhounds’ ears are still rounded for certain practical purposes, such as a healthy letting of blood, and the avoidance of tearing the ears in brambles and thorns. And on the other hand it can be claimed that nature gave Hounds long ears to protect the ear-hole from water getting into it. Either of these reasons is open to argument. But probably the principal reasons are that the eye has become accustomed to rounded ears, and that inasmuch as the different shape and length of Hounds’ ears are accentuated by giving a free rein to nature, the uniform appearance of a pack is enhanced by rounding all ears to the same length.
Many people think that all Hounds’ ears, however shapely by nature, look better when they have been artificially curtailed. So that the matter of rounding probably resolves itself into a question of taste. Masters who have abandoned the practice certainly save their men and Hounds from some very sanguinary hours in the Kennel. Moreover, the silken ear of the Hound, untouched by the knife, lying close to his head, tapering down to a delicate point, is surely one of nature’s endowments which cannot be improved by human interference.
The average Foxhound is at his or her best during the third and fourth seasons of hunting. It is, no doubt, delightful to see the puppies entering to the sport of their ancestors in their first season, but they cannot be considered reliable until they have completed at least two seasons of Cub-hunting. A bitch may then be mated. But it is really wise not to breed from a dog Hound until after the whole of his second season is completed. In this way he will have done three Cub-hunting seasons before the time of year arrives for putting him to the stud, and his stoutness and steadiness will have been fairly tested. Indeed the more brilliant a dog puppy appears to be in his first season, the more chary one should be of using him. His pedigree may be spotless, and the risk may seem a very small one, but his very brilliancy, fortified by a stroke or two of good luck, may very easily make him conceited and develop in his character vices that may be transmitted to his descendants with disastrous effects to the pack. Perhaps he may contain in his disposition all the latent faults of his otherwise illustrious progenitors, so that to breed from him too early in his career, until these faults have had a chance of declaring themselves, is an offence against the principle of selection which is the secret of true breeding. Some breeders may say that we have now arrived at an era in the breeding of Foxhounds when all pedigrees contain the same strains, so that particular selection need not be so carefully studied. This argument pushed to its extremity would seem to convey that Foxhounds can be produced indiscriminately like guinea-pigs. Be this as it may, nothing can ever alter the fact that some Hounds are better than others, and that, while no bitch should be kept who is not worth breeding from, too much trouble cannot be taken in the choice of a sire. It is well to study constitution in mating Foxhounds. Given of course tongue, speed, and steadiness, constitution is the most important thing of all. Some very highly-bred strains seem to develop feeble constitutions; it is therefore wise to resist the temptation of using a sire because he is first-rate in his work, if his food does not do him any good even when he has been coaxed to eat it. His descendants will be weak to resist disease, difficult to rear, and will cause much loss of time and much disappointment.
Breeders’ opinions differ as to the degree of closeness that should be observed in comparing the pedigrees of a sire and a dam whom it is proposed to mate. It is not necessary to have the whole Mendelian theory at the fingers’ ends, but it is a good rule of thumb not to allow the same name to occur more than once until you get above a line drawn across the top of the second generation. That is to say, that every Hound should at least have different great-grandsires and great-grand-dams on both sides of the house. When you get farther back than the second generation the same names may occur, indeed must occur, dotted about all over the pedigree chart. This is necessary in order to preserve the type. It is a mistake to go too far away in blood. To take an extreme case, a fantastic alliance between an English Foxhound and a Welsh Foxhound who have no ancestors in common, is calculated to produce a family of freaks of no recognized type, or perhaps the whole litter will favour the English or the Welsh, according as the one or the other is dominant or recessive.
Another good thing to remember in breeding, which would seem obvious, though occasionally forgotten, is that, in the long run, like begets like. If straight Hounds are wanted, it is asking for trouble to breed from crooked ones. If it is desired to breed Hounds with good necks and shoulders, the most likely chance of success is to select a sire with good neck and shoulders, and mate him with a bitch of similar structure in this regard.
A well-bred pack of Foxhounds will not contain the names of many different foreign sires in its list. The best packs in England are bred from comparatively few strains. By adhering to these one is sure sooner or later to produce replicas of the best types in certain families; they are bound to crop up from time to time; nothing, as far as we understand the laws of heredity, can possibly prevent their appearance. If, on the other hand, the M.F.H. goes to all and sundry Kennels in search of a type that pleases the eye, and uses five or six sires of good looks but doubtful ancestry, he may perhaps breed a good-looking one, but he is not likely to breed a stallion hound or a brood bitch that will endow posterity. Therefore, in looking over a pack of Hounds with a view to finding a sire, one should beware of a Hound list that contains sires from a variety of obscure Kennels. When a suitable sire has been selected from a Kennel of good repute, it is wise to send to him one or two of the best-looking bitches from home, and not the moderate ones, so as to give him every chance; if these bitches are themselves got by a foreign sire, so much the better, because any dog puppies from them, provided they grow into stallion hounds, will be far enough away in blood to be mated with most of the bitches at home. One or two lucky hits made on these lines every second or third year will keep a pack together, and confirm the type far better than any number of experiments in first-class looks with third-class pedigrees.
