The Book of the Greyhound

By Edward C. Ash and Ruth Fawcett

"The Book Of The Greyhound" will appeal to experienced fanciers and newcomers alike, covering all aspects if greyhound management from selection and breeding to racing and exhibiting. Also included are chapters on puppy care, training, health and ailments, adopting an ex-racer, history, notable kennels and dogs, and much more. This volume will be of considerable utility to all owners of greyhounds, and it is not to be missed by the discerning collector of related literature. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in a modern, high-quality edition complete with the original artwork and text.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Country Books
• Release date: Oct 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781528766326

Book preview

The Book of

the Greyhound

DOG BREEDING

For every longing dame select some happy paramour;

To him alone in leagues connubial join.

Consider well his lineage; what his fathers did of old,

Chiefs of the pack, and first to climb the rock,

Or plunge into the deep, or tread the brake

With thorn sharp-pointed, plashed, and briars inwoven.

Observe with care his shape, sort, colour, size.

Nor will sagacious huntsmen less regard his inward habits.

William Somerville – The Chase (1735).

As with humans, a dog is not always the product of its immediate parents but also that of the lineage of generations of earlier ancestors. Pedigree is of great importance to any serious breeder of dogs, whether they be for exhibition or work. Just because the sire and dam of a litter of puppies are both champions in their chosen field – it does not mean that every puppy in that litter will achieve the same. It is not possible to totally eliminate the chances of any of them being a throw back to a faulty type in their lineage. Heredity will always play a large part in breeding.

Dog breeding is the practice of mating selected dogs with the intent to maintain or produce specific qualities and characteristics. When dogs reproduce without such human intervention, their offsprings' characteristics are determined by natural selection, while dog breeding refers specifically to the artificial selection of dogs, in which dogs are intentionally bred by their owners. Humans have maintained populations of useful animals around their places of habitat since pre-historic times. They have intentionally fed dogs considered useful, while neglecting or killing others, thereby establishing a relationship between humans and certain types of dog over thousands of years. Over these millennia, domesticated dogs have developed into distinct types, or groups, such as livestock guardian dogs, hunting dogs, and sighthounds. Through this process, hundreds of dog breeds have been developed.

It should be the aim of every breeder to encourage quality and consistency in their kennel. A breeder should always have in mind their ideal type of dog and this image should be constantly referred to in every aspect of the breeders work. This reference point, used with much patience and some skill will eventually ensure success within the kennel. The pedigrees of stud dogs and brood matrons should be studied with great care to avoid as much as possible any divergence from the chosen route. The aims of some breeders, especially those who breed for show, will vary somewhat depending on the standard chosen by the governing bodies of a particular breed. Most breed clubs and societies will have a set format for the various elements required in their breed such as weight, height, colour, coat etc. They may even have rules applying to the dogs health, such as joint x-rays, hip certifications, and eye examinations; or specifications in working qualities, such as passing a special test or achieving at a trial.

Both inbreeding and outbreeding must be taken into account by today’s breeder – although it must be noted that over-use of inbreeding can lead to health problems for the dogs. Problems such as breathing in the Pug breed and Pekingese breed, spinal problems in the Dachshund breed, and Syringomyelia in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel breed, are all examples of the over-use of inbreeding. Providing that a breeders stock is wisely chosen, being sound in mind and constitution, inbreeding (sensibly used) should perpetuate and accentuate any qualities which are apparent in the sire and dam. Occasionally it will happen that new blood is required in a strain which appears to be deviating from the norm for its breed. In this case, outcrosses are made with another strain or sometimes, variety, of the same breed in order to influence the path of any offspring back towards the ideal.

Success in dog breeding is hard won, but once achieved a good quality kennel will have behind it the personality of the breeder, with his vision of the ideal dog finally achieved through persistence, knowledge, experience, and above all, patience. We hope the reader enjoys this book.

Subscribers to the Limited Edition

HIS MAJESTY KING FOUAD OF EGYPT

COL. H.H. THE MAHARAJA OF JIND, G.C.I.E., K.C.S.I.

CAPT. H.H. THE NAWAB OF BAHAWALPUR, G.C.I.E., K.C.S.I., K.C.V.O.

THE RT. HON. THE EARL OF LONSDALE, K.G., G.C.V.O.

THE RT. HON. LORD TWEEDMOUTH, C.M.G., D.S.O., M.V.O.

THE HON. FLORENCE AMHERST

LADY WOODMAN BURBIDGE

SIR JOHN HUMPHREY

MRS. L. M. ALLCOAT

GEORGE BIRDSALL, ESQ.

E. W. BROWN, ESQ.

F. G. BROWN, ESQ.

LT.-COL. H. A. BROWNE

O. E. BUNTING, ESQ.

CAPT. J. R. C. CHRISTOPHER

CHARLES MOLYNEUX COHAN, ESQ.

H. T. COPLAND, ESQ.

J. EDGAR DENNIS, ESQ.

MISS R. DOUGLAS

DR. G. W. DREWETT

C. R. D’ESTERRE, ESQ.

W. A. EVERSHED, ESQ.

MRS. ONSLOW FANE

GEORGE HENRY FLINTHAM, ESQ.

E. C. GODFREY, ESQ.

GORDON SMITH, ESQ.

WM. H. GREEN, ESQ.

EDWIN HALL, ESQ.

W. B. HART, ESQ.

J. W. HEALING, ESQ.

LT.-COL. J. HESELTINE

MRS. DORIS MAY HILLIARD

H. HODGKINSON, ESQ.

GEORGE G. F. HUMM, ESQ.

D. D. KAY, ESQ.

DR. WILLIAM JOHN LEACH

MRS. JOAN M. LOVETT

MRS. E. MARRYAT

MRS. H. MESRITZ

DAVID MINLORE, ESQ.

MRS. MONOPRIO

MRS. CECIL B. MORGAN

JOHN C. NOEL, ESQ.

C. GLIDDEN OSBORNE, ESQ.

MRS. HELEN G. PRINGLE

MAJOR C. E. ROTHERY-MOSS

THE NATIONAL GREYHOUND RACING SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN, LTD.

A. SIMOĒS, ESQ.

CAPT. E. A. V. STANLEY

P. J. O’SULLIVAN, ESQ.

MRS. TENISON

MRS. CHARLES TONGE

W. E. WASHBOURNE, ESQ.

MRS. WEBSTER, O.B.E.

From a painting by   

ARTHUR WARDLE

The Book of the Greyhound

By

EDWARD C. ASH, M.R.A.C. (Dip. Hons.)

Author of Dogs: Their History and Development;

Dogs, and How to Know Them; "The Practical Dog

Book; A. D. Brassett of the Tail Wagger Magazine."

With an Introduction by

MISS RUTH FAWCETT

Illustrated with a plate by

ARTHUR WARDLE

and over 120 pictures.

SECOND EDITION

DEDICATED

TO

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF SEFTON

A NAME TO BE EVER ASSOCIATED WITH

THE GREYHOUND AND THE WATERLOO CUP

AND ALSO TO

THE HONOURABLE FLORENCE AMHERST

TO WHOM THE ANCESTOR OF THE GREYHOUND

OWES SO MUCH

THE FAWCETTS OF THE WORLD-RENOWNED

FAWCETT KENNELS

AND TO

THE MEMORY OF THE LATE

SIR ROBERT BUCHANAN-JARDINE, BART.

Author’s Preface

IN handing this work to the public, I do so with the hope that it will prove entertaining apart from its practical importance. It is built up on an accumulation of interesting discoveries, carefully balanced and valued. It has occasioned many a hunt and, in a way, much adventure. As far as I am aware I have taken few liberties. In the chapter on Major Topham I have described the advent of the young lady as a niece from a convent using this well-known means of expression, Mrs. Wells telling us that she was supposed to have come from abroad. If, as it is stated, she was the daughter of a local barber, it seems hardly likely, that a man with so much experience, and one so much in public view as Major Topham, would have tried to beguile the local people as to this lady’s origin. We have only Mrs. Wells’ word for it.

I have to thank the many who, in some way or another, have been so good as to assist me, replying to my letters for information often when a needed link held up my chain of evidence, and for allowing me to have photographs taken from their collections of pictures or sending me photographs to use in this work. I am most grateful to the Rt. Hon. Lord Rutland for going to the trouble of having a photograph specially taken for me, of one of the first letters dealing with Greyhounds; and to Mr. J. E. Dennis of Stevenage who, on my telling him of the work under way, was good enough to loan me a book, I had never seen, out of his library, which allowed me, in my list of weights, to add a further forty important dogs; and to Mr. Foyle Fawcett for the excellent engraving after Maud Earl, he was so good as to send me.

To Mr. C. Glidden Osborne of Marlow, Bucks, I am indebted for not only happy moments spent in his company but for allowing me to have copies taken of the remarkable picture of Fullerton and of Mr. Mundy with, I presume, Young Snowball purchased by Mr. Mundy at £100 (so it is believed), and of two other pictures, one showing Greyhounds in action and the other Miss Glendyne and Penelope II in the slips, on the memorable day of 1886. I must also add my appreciation of his courtesy in allowing me the freedom of his kennels and of the kindness of his staff.

I am indebted to the Earl of Verulam for the plan of Sopwell Priory at St. Albans; to the National Coursing Club and to their secretary, Mr. S. H. Dalton, for the unique privilege and trust, to carry off various pictures for reproduction purposes; Captain E. A. V. Stanley for his willingness to help me whenever I needed information as to a pedigree; Major J. Fairfax-Blakeborough, M.C., for so kindly suggesting various lines of investigation.

I should like to add to my list of appreciation, Mr. David Minlore who was good enough to send me a photograph of an outstanding masterpiece by Sawrey Gilpin in his collection, that shows clearly the type of Greyhound before the days of Lord Orford, and for so kindly telling me of any discovery of a Greyhound picture, he might make. In this way he brought me into communication with Mr. Wyndham Law of Kent Lodge, Roehampton who has, in his collection, a remarkable picture of great beauty, painted and signed by Reinagle, of a white Greyhound with black markings, which on the back of the canvas bears the notice, the writing being of some considerable age, that the dog is Snowball the property of Major Topham. This picture is 72 by 54 inches and was at one time in the collection of the Countess of Yarborough at Edmonthorpe Hall, and is claimed to have been the one found in Topham’s home forty or fifty years ago.

It is a most interesting discovery, for Chalon shows Snowball as a black dog and the writers of the time describe the dog to be black. Reinagle painted Major, Snowball’s full brother for Col. Thorton. Did he also paint Snowball for Major Topham? Did Chalon and writers of the time mislead us?

To the Staff of the British Museum I am once again indebted for much patience, courtesy and consideration; to Mr. P. E. T. Edwards for assisting me with data in reference to manuscripts; to Mr. E. C. Beharrell, in whose department I have been most employed, for his forbearance, and as Greyhound research means the use of at least a hundred and fifty books at one and the same time, I feel I must have been in the nature of a trial to him. The reproductions from vases, pictures and so forth, are by Messrs. Fleming and Co., Photographers, of Bury Street, London, who have been for long associated with my works, and by the Photographic Staff of the British Museum, and also by the very skilled photographic genius of Messrs. Wallace Heaton of Bond Street. Some of the very excellent photographs of Race-course Greyhounds are by Walter Guiver of Muswell Hill, London.

On Dog Racing Matters I am indebted to Mr. David of Wembley and to Mr. Hastings and to Mr. Probert for their courtesy and kindness and for explaining anything on which I felt I needed further enlightenment; to various officials of the National Greyhound Racing Club and the National Greyhound Racing Society who gave me their opinions, one or two of which are found in the section dealing with this new development, and sending me the latest statistics on the Greyhound Racing Classics, and pointing out to me the various errors in my description of the details of Greyhound Racing Management.

I am indebted to His Majesty’s Ministers all over the World for so kindly sending me information and to many owners of important kennels and to the Managers of Racing Tracks in Great Britain for replying to my questions and often sending me interesting data and illustrations, and to Mr. Taylor of the Rutland Arms for sending me a picture of his delightful sun-bathed home.

I must mention the careful work and interest shown in its production by the stenographist, Miss D. Coppard, who has done her very best most capably.

I am also most grateful to Mr. Frank Mellard whose enthusiasm I found contagious and through whose kindness this work has been completed. Those who have been so good as to send me pictures of their dogs are acknowledged below the illustrations.

It is many years ago since Mr. A. W. Steer of Messrs. Cassell and Co. became a staunch friend to me and to his kind advice and good counsel I owe much of my success. Lastly I should like to add my appreciation of the printer, the readers and the staff who handled this book of thousands of unusual words and unusual names, and only made three printers’ errors! and not infrequently found I had made an error, and put it right.

I have also the pleasure of thanking Mr. S. Pratt of Shrivenham, Swindon, who was kind enough to send me a copy of the inscription on the tablet to the memory of Miss Richards. I felt doubtful as to the authenticity of the illustrations showing Lord Orford’s breeding experiments (see p. 56). I find that the same set (greatly enlarged) is in other volumes, with a statement that they are a similar bulldog crossing experiment as carried out by Lord Orford, but made by a Mr. Hugh Hanley of the 1st Life Guards.

EDWARD C. ASH.

ERRATA

Page 214, paragraph 2, line 11. The words "He is the first son of Beacon and Scotland Yet to appear. Beacon is a grandson of Lord Eglinton’s famous dog Waterloo." These words are wrongly interposed, and do not refer to Ball’s Bugle.

Page 195, line 6. Read 39 not 49.

Page 260, col. 4, sect. 5. Bellerment to read Betterment.

Page 318, line 18. Instead of "Bit of Fashion was one of his daughters . . . read one of Paris’ daughters . . ."

Introduction

To the Book of the Greyhound

By MISS RUTH FAWCETT

IT is rather an ordeal to write an introduction to a book and I really did not know when I said I would do so that it would be a work of such magnitude that one feels that the words a WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENT are the only words to describe it. Indeed, the only thing I feel I can say is that it is the most wonderful book I have ever read and I shall be very surprised if the world does not agree with me and consider it a most important addition to the literature of the country, apart from its value to those interested in Greyhounds, in one way or another.

It is not as if this is a copy from other books, but it is built up on what must have been immense toil. It is full of original matter, original tables and information and the most useful tables and statistics. The appendix alone must have meant immense work, which those who know what it has implied will fully appreciate. But these are only a few pages of a great work. What can I say of the CHART, which all brings me back to the fact that this is a most unusual book, and a very wonderful book indeed.

It has been to me more than a pleasure to read through the pages filled, as they are, with memories, amusing incidents and interesting facts, for it has taken me back to the days when the Fawcett kennels were started by my two uncles, Mr. George Foyle and Mr. Christopher Foyle, only in a small way until, as this book so clearly shows, the kennel became one of the most important in the land, winning five Waterloo Cups.

I have been, thanks to this wonderful work, at Waterloo Cup meetings ever since they started, since 1832. I have been with Topham, Thorton, Lord Orford. I have met Mrs. Wells, Miss Richards, Thacker and many others of coursing fame and interest, in the early days of coursing. But I have been further back still at the Forest Courts and met many people, who otherwise, I should not have known had ever existed, and I have found myself taking an interest in all they did and wrote and said.

It is indeed a remarkable work and the entire Greyhound industry owes Mr. Ash their thanks and no doubt they will give him their support. Indeed, no library of anybody interested in Greyhounds will be without it, for anybody interested in Greyhounds will find it a most important thing to possess and will be for everlastingly referring to it.

Contents

CHAPTER I

The Greyhound the dog of Ancient Egypt. Why the Greyhound was made in the desert. The Arab fixes the type. The Russian Borzoi came from Egypt. Tracing the Greyhound from the Saluki by vases. A remarkable discovery. The traitor and the Greyhound. Tiger crosses are recommended. The first account of coursing. Abusive dogs! How the rich Celts went coursing. The poor hare has a miserable time. Proud hares. The Greyhound of 1700 years ago. Greyhounds for uphill and downhill work, etc., etc.

CHAPTER II

How the Greyhound arrived in England, Ireland and Scotland. Value of Greyhounds in Ireland. The importance of a collar. Value changes from fourpence to a pound in a day. A dog warrior. Dogs and heaven. The mystery of the Irish Wolfhound. The cost of sending Greyhounds to England. A Spanish marquis is paid in Greyhounds. An interesting letter. Dorothy Osborne makes a Greyhound a condition. A young lady’s head in a Greyhound’s mouth. An Irish Greyhound saves Oliver Goldsmith’s mother. The King’s Majesties Water-Poet. The life in England before the year 1000. The war against the Greyhound starts. Torture. Fines paid in oxen, honey, etc. Screaming dogs. The poor people destroy all white puppies. Brindle becomes popular. Astonishing payments and privileges. Turning the blind eye. Conspiracy suggested. The Greyhound becomes the dog of exalted rank. A head staked against the forest. The plague steps in

CHAPTER III

Greyhounds as presents. Rewards paid. Trouble with Greyhound owners Feeding of Greyhounds. Two varieties of Greyhounds. The first account of Greyhounds. The prioress of Sopwell. The life of a Greyhound 500 years ago. Damp and Greyhounds. M’Grath and Fullerton compared. The Virago. A scoop journalist gets home. Milksops. A battle over a Greyhound. So-called Duke of Norfolk’s rules. Uses of the parts of a hare

CHAPTER IV

King James’ interest. New laws. The Church is asked to help. Increasing the length of a Greyhound’s neck. The Greyhound and the gentleman. Paddock Coursing Book—probably imaginary. First enclosed meetings. Greyhounds reappear. Early coursing meetings. The Duke of Norfolk’s rules. William and Mary suggest whipping. Informers to get half the fine. Farmers cause a change in coursing practice

CHAPTER V

The Boke of St. Albans. A prioress is beaten. Blome’s picture. First advertisement. Lord Orford. Rutland Arms hotel. Colonel Thornton. Major Topham. Swaffham Coursing Society. Elwes helps. Early rules. Death of Lord Orford. Lord Rivers. Ashdown Park Meeting. Malton Club. Miss Richards. Competition between owners. Goodlake’s early win. The course at Carlisle

CHAPTER VI

Lord Orford not the originator of smooth Greyhounds. The Balchristy Club. Sir Walter Scott’s letter and poem. Lord Rivers. Harding’s dogs. Snowball retires to stud. Spring beaten. Schoolboy. The Flixton Brow course. Plumer’s dog is beaten. Mr. Durand loses 1000 guineas. A Snowball makes 100 guineas. The farmer’s story. The suggested epitaph to Snowball. More challenges. Old Soho and Topham cannot agree. The Greyhound at Dover. Major Topham passes

CHAPTER VII

A little more of Topham, Thornton and Mrs. Wells. Topham’s adventure at Claire. Mrs. Wells’ uncertain history. Snowball’s cups. Fleet Prison. An Oriental marriage. A letter. The divorce case. Col. Thornton’s gifts. Mrs. Thornton’s races. Thornton is horsewhipped. His Greyhounds in 1803. The pilgrimage. Thornton’s will

CHAPTER VIII

The Saver Greyhound of Germany. Various interesting suggestions on Coursing, Feeding and Choosing and Training Greyhounds. Rev. E. W. Barnard. Goodlake. Thacker. Welsh. Walsh. Hints on coursing and coursers. Thacker described to Lord Rivers. Walsh strange ideas on trade. David Brown. The first Greyhound Stud Book. Difficulties. Notes in Entries. David Brown retires. The New Stud Book. Horace A. Groom takes over. Immense developments

CHAPTER IX

The Coursing Clubs, 1834. The Ashdown Club. Sam Parker. Waterloo v. Gracchus. A Greyhound race. Gracchus v. Tartarus. Ashdown Park Challenges. Lord Eglinton. Why a dog failed to appear. Malton. Louth. Ilsley. Newbury. Derby. Newmarket. King Cob’s success. A coursing evil. Beacon Hill. Letcombe Bowers Club. Morfe. Deptford Inn. Malmesbury. Justice Mansfield. Deptford Union. Burton-on-Trent. Altear. Astonishing evidence on breeding. Lanarkshire. Invention of the slip. Ardrossan. Biggar. Ridgeway. Scottish Clubs. North Country Clubs. A £100 wins £1000. Start of Enclosed Meetings. Fawcett Kennel. Bradford. Bradwell. Worcestershire. Ireland. Coursing Clubs in 1856. Enclosed Meetings. Poisoned Greyhound. An astonishing bookie. £25,000 to be won. A dead dog wins. A coursing meeting described. A lengthy entry. Start of the Waterloo Coursing Club. The First Rules. The Modern Rules. Cost of coursing meeting

CHAPTER X

Inbreeding. Supposed faults of inbred dogs. Young parents or old parents. Seasons. Breeding hints. Popular sires. Rearing Greyhounds. Feeding Greyhounds. The butcher and the Greyhound. Danger of fat. Digestibility of foods. Various feeding methods. Exercising. Training. Analysis of colour and sex. Colours in olden days. Colour breeding. Indications of speed. Judging dogs by appearance. Prejudice against Bulldog. Essentials for winning courses. Discovering the best puppy. Weights of dogs. Letters to Mr. Temple

CHAPTER XI

The start of the Waterloo Cup. The Waterloo Club. Various sweepstakes. Analysis of entries. The sharing of the Cup. Breeding of entries. Astonishing predominance of certain lines. The month of birth. Analysis of results

CHAPTER XII

Greyhound Racing

Appendices

Index

List of Illustrations

COLOURED ILLUSTRATION

CRIMEAN GREYHOUND—CIRCASSIAN GREYHOUND—ARAB GREYHOUND

THE GREYHOUND OF THE SOUDAN—THE PORTUGUESE GREYHOUND—THE BALEARIC GREYHOUND

THE DOG OFF TO HUNT—THE SALUKIS AND POSSIBLY SALUKI CROSSES

MURAL DECORATION OF 1400 B.C.—THE SALUKI OF TO-DAY, THE HON. FLORENCE AMHERST’S Ch. Zobeid AND A. Farhan

DOGS THAT MAY BE SALUKI—LOCAL BREED CROSSES OR DESCENDED FROM SUCH BREEDING, WITH NAKED-LIMBED WARRIORS

STEALING A DOG

THE GREYHOUND HEAD OIL-LAMP OF 400 B.C.—THE DRINKING HORN, 300 B.C

THE ROMAN GREYHOUND

AN IRISHMAN PROTECTING HIMSELF AGAINST A GREYHOUND—Ailbe SEIZING THE AXLE OF THE KING’S CHARIOT

FREEMEN AND PEASANTS, IN THE WAR AGAINST THE GREYHOUND, PAYING FINES—GREYHOUNDS BEING MUTILATED AT A FOREST COURT

THE IRISH GREYHOUND DURING ITS TIME OF GREAT IMPORTANCE, 1665—THE IRISH GREYHOUNDS IN WARELLI’S BOOK ON IRELAND, 1658

F. BARLOW’S IRISH WOLFDOG OF 1671

FEARING FOR THEIR LIVES—FOREST OFFICERS BEING TREATED BY HARES AS THEY TREATED THE PEOPLE

A GREYHOUND IN AN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

A LETTER OF 1593 CONCERNING A GREYHOUND WHICH IS LOST

THE GREYHOUND WITH A KING

GREYHOUNDS AS DISCOVERERS OF MURDERERS

GREYHOUNDS, PROBABLY IRISH WOLFHOUNDS

TWO TYPES OF GREYHOUND

COURSING IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

PAGE OUT OF THE Boke of St. Albans (1481)

THE ARTIST’S SCOOP, THE PIOUS FRAUD, DAME BERNERS ACCORDING TO BROOKE

THE GREYHOUND IS THE DOG TO LEAVE THE ARK

WHEN QUEEN ISABELLA WENT TO PARIS A GREYHOUND PLAYED A PART IN THE CEREMONIES

THE ROYAL SEALS OF EDWARD III AND CHARLES II, SHOWING THE GREYHOUND

THE GREYHOUNDS OF THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND

BLOME’S COURSING PLATE OF 1608

LORD ORFORD’S BULLDOG CROSS—GREYHOUND EXPERIMENT

THE RUTLAND ARMS—THE HOME OF MISS RICHARDS AT COMPTON BEAUCHAMP

COURSING

Warrant WINS THE ORFORD CUP IN ITS FIRST YEAR

LORD ORFORD—MAJOR TOPHAM OF MRS. WELLS AND Snowball FAME

MRS. THORNTON, THE WIFE OF COLONEL THORNTON, AS SHE APPEARED AT YORK—COLONEL THORNTON, WHO, AIDED BY MAJOR TOPHAM, FOUGHT THE WORLD WITH GREYHOUNDS

THE REV. DUDLEY BATE’S ESSEX DOG Miller—THE NOTED DOG Claret

TOPHAM’S Snowball, HELD IN THE LEASH OF A RIDING-CROP BY POSHBY

Major AT CARSHALTON, ON THE DAY OF THE 1000-GUINEA WAGER

MR. MUNDY, WITH POSSIBLY HIS Young Snowball

THE FIRST ATTEMPT AT A GREYHOUND STUD BOOK

THE GREYHOUND STUD BOOK OF MR. DAVID BROWN

THE INDEX OF THE GREYHOUND STUD BOOK OF TO-DAY

THE STUD BOOK OF TO-DAY (PAGE 511)

IN ACTION

FAMOUS GREYHOUNDS OF ONE TIME

THE WATERLOO CUP

Master M’Grath, THE GREAT WATERLOO CUP WINNER

AN ASHDOWN PARK MEETING

Lord Glendyne AND THE TWO IRISH DOGS Honeymoon AND Corby Castle IN 1875

AT A WATERLOO MEETING: Honeymoon AND Corby Castle IN THE FINALS, 1875

Snowflight AND Wild Mint AT THE WATERLOO CUP MEETING WHEN Wild Mint WON THE CUP AND Snowflight WAS THE RUNNER UP

THE ENCLOSED GROUND MEETINGS: Britain Still WINNING THE GOSFORTH GOLD CUP

THE EXCITING INCIDENT, WATERLOO CUP, 1886

COLONEL NORTH’S Fullerton, THE WINNER OF THE WATERLOO CUP FOUR YEARS IN SUCCESSION

THE FAMOUS LITTER BY Herschel-Fair Future, WITH T. WRIGHT

THE FAWCETT TRIO, Fabulous Fortune, Fearless Footsteps AND Farndon Ferry

Thoughtless Beauty

Dilwyn, THE WINNER OF THE WATERLOO CUP IN 1914, AND Distingué BEATEN BY Dilwyn IN THE SEMI-FINALS

Beaded Lil, THE WONDERFUL DAUGHTER OF Beaded Brow

FIVE NOTED GREYHOUNDS OUT OF Beaded Lil BY Jawleyford

LORD TWEEDMOUTH’S Guards Brigade, WINNER OF THE WATERLOO CUP IN 1922

MR. A. GORDON SMITH’S Cushey Job, WINNER OF THE WATERLOO CUP IN 1924

MR. A. L. WING’S Whitechapel, RUNNER UP FOR THE WATERLOO CUP IN 1924

MR. A. GORDON SMITH’S JUNE PUPPY Golden Seal, WINNER OF THE WATERLOO CUP IN 1927

White Collar, WINNER OF THE WATERLOO CUP IN 1928, AND Whisky Cocktail

MR. A. GORDON SMITH’S Golden Surprise, WINNER OF THE WATERLOO CUP IN 1929

MR. THOMAS NOBLE’S Church Street, WINNER OF THE WATERLOO CUP IN 1930

MR. T. COOK’S Conversion, WINNER OF THE WATERLOO CUP IN 1931

MR. N. SHAW’S Genial Nobleman, WINNER OF THE WATERLOO CUP IN 1933

THE RT. HON. THE EARL OF SEFTON’S Sold Again, RUNNER UP FOR THE WATERLOO CUP IN 1933

THE FIRST MECHANICAL HARE RACE AT THE WELSH HARP AT HENDON, NEAR LONDON, IN 1876

THE GREYHOUND RACING TRACK AT HOVE, BRIGHTON

THE GREYHOUNDS ARE PUT INTO THE BOXES AT THE WHITE CITY, LONDON

AT THE WHITE CITY, LONDON, GREYHOUND RACING TRACK, IN 1932

TWO GREAT DOG-RACING FAVOURITES

Beef Cutlet

THE GREAT WINNING GREYHOUND, Future Cutlet

Queen of the Suir

Fret Not

Wild Woolley

Goopy Gear

Long Hop

In the Text

COINS SHOWING THE GREYHOUND FOUND ON THE ISLANDS IN THE ÆGEAN SEA

THE HOME OF SIR WILLIAM SAINTCLAIR

SIR WILLIAM’S EFFIGY IN ROSSLYN CHAPEL

THE GREYHOUND PICTURE SENT BY DR. CAIUS TO GRESNER. 1570

THE GREYHOUND WITH THE HUNTERS IN THE STORY OF SCOTLAND, 1557

SOPWELL PRIORY

MISS RICHARDS AND HER COACH-AND-SIX

THE COURSER’S RAILWAY MAP

THE UP-TO-DATE CARRIAGE TO TAKE THE GREYHOUNDS TO COURSING MEETINGS

PROGRAMME OF OPEN COURSING MEETINGS AT HIGH GOSFORTH PARK. 1883–84

THE BOOK OF THE GREYHOUND

CHAPTER I

The Greyhound the dog of Ancient Egypt. Why the Greyhound was made in the desert. The Arab fixes the type. The Russian Borzoi came from Egypt. Tracing the Greyhound from the Saluki by vases. A remarkable discovery. The traitor and the Greyhound. Tiger crosses are recommended. The first account of coursing. Abusive Dogs! How the rich Celts went coursing. The poor hare has a miserable time. Proud hares. The Greyhound of 1700 years ago. Greyhounds for uphill and downhill work, etc., etc.

THE Greyhound is a distinct, easily recognizable type, found all over the world. It varies from the Irish Wolfhound, the Deerhound to the diminutive Whippet and Italian Greyhound. It is seen as the Saluki, the Russian Borzoi and the strange large-eared dogs of the Balearic Islands. In most parts of the world a form of the Greyhound is to be met with; however much its breeding may be concealed by crosses, it remains recognizable. The foundation-stock is of such considerable antiquity that a few hundred or maybe thousand years of crossing cannot eliminate it or conceal it sufficiently to pass our notice.

They are the speed dogs of the world, bereft to a greater or less extent from the usual canine traits that, in a speed dog, would waste time and energy. They have lost the wish and seemingly the power to use their noses and puzzle out a scent. If this power remains it is by no means well developed. They do not stop to dig, and they seldom cry out, barking, when after prey.

All such normal characteristics of dogs generally have been taken from them. They would be handicapped in hilly or wooded country where the general-purpose dog would prove useful and dogs developed for such country would prove supreme.

We may surmise that it was not in hilly or wooded country that the Greyhound was evolved, but in a countryside of little herbage, where the hunted relied upon speed to escape their enemies and not in hiding amongst the trees or finding their way down below the earth.

An impelling anxiety to get yet faster dogs brought in time the Greyhound type; the breeding of the fastest dogs together, just because they were the fastest, however much their type might vary. Year after year, generation after generation, this continued; this placing, as it were, in one box of the one and many things, that allowed a dog to be speedy, and faster than some others; fractions of an inch of tendon; a little muscle more in one place than another; the variations in length, thickness and quality of bones; the shape of body; length of limbs; angles of joints to one another; the texture of flesh; the differences in eyes, brains, nerves, valves, skin, feet, claws, pads and whatever else gave some slight advantage. In this one box were put a confused mass of ingredients to gradually bring into being all that speed required, the Greyhound shape; the Greyhound muscular development, that made the dog the fastest dog in the world and, except for the birds, the fastest of all animals.

We know that 4000 years ago such a dog had been evolved and the type fixed, so firmly indeed that in the 4000 years that have passed, the original type has altered very little, and shows itself in all the Greyhounds of the world. The Arab dog had no wish to dig or run by scent or bark when chasing prey. It had become distinct from all other breeds. It had a muzzle longer than was usual amongst dogs, a long, attenuated muzzle. Its body was more narrow. It had a coat so fine in texture that it allowed the air to get close to the blood-vessels of the skin. It had a shape of body, a build of limb that allowed the maximum of speed. It had perfect balance and control, able to change direction when running without hesitation, difficulty, or risk of falling, and its eyes were more acute than those of many other breeds.

Such was the dog evolved unwittingly, the natural result of constantly breeding the fastest dogs together and destroying those that disappointed. Compared to the general-purpose dog, this Arab Greyhound was fragilely built. It was certainly beautiful and devoted, extremely gentle and sensitive, the outcome of long close association with man and intensive breeding. It was not a powerful dog, it was just speed, built for speed and speed only. It won the admiration of the Arab. It was treated with respect. It rode upon the camels; shared the luxuries of its master’s tent (in which no other dog was allowed to put its nose). It wore beads and amulets to ward off evil eyes. Its very birth was an event.

In time some of these Arab Greyhounds arrived in other parts of the world. They became the dog of Persia, the only dog to be allowed in the next world, privileged to give evidence against mankind; in time they arrived in Afghanistan (taken there possibly by the Syrians), where hills and colder atmosphere developed heavier coats and greater strength, the Afghan Hound. The world beyond the Desert had dogs for general purposes, not dogs bred entirely for speed. These Arab Greyhounds therefore, able to run at over 43 miles an hour, caused great astonishment and admiration. It is mentioned in the history of the Tung Dynasty "that a sort of Persian dog could run 700 li (200 miles) a day, as gallant as a horse, some white, some brown.’

The Arab dog arrived in Russia, brought by the Tartars, and in time crossed with local dogs, and out of this mixture came the Borzoi and several other varieties of Russian Greyhound all very much alike. The story was the same wherever the Saluki might be taken, North, South, East and West, for only in the desert of North Africa, protected by the sands that cut off the civilization of the West; or in Persia or in Afghanistan did the breed remain more or less free from crosses.

In the tombs of Egypt are two Salukis led by an attendant. It is these two dogs, Salukis with somewhat shorter legs than we see to-day, that are believed to be the ancestors of the Southern European Greyhound. If this is so, we are at once faced with the changes that have taken place in type. The Southern European Greyhound is sufficiently dissimilar to be distinct. We would be surprised, and at a loss for an explanation, to discover a litter of pedigree Salukis developing into Greyhounds. I doubt if it would be accepted as an explanation that the Saluki breed had moved a step towards the modern Greyhound, for we know that the Saluki has not altered as much in the last 4000 years! So constant is the type indeed, that those of 2000 years before Christ and those in the tomb of Rechmara, illustrating part of the spoils of war of 1400 B.C., and those on a 16th-century Mogul painting showing Indra the king of the Gods with a number of Salukis, are very like the Saluki of to-day.

It is suggested by the mural paintings that the Egyptians of the towns and cities tried dog-breeding experiments. We have a number of dogs portrayed. A kennelman leads a hunting dog. It wears on its neck a cloth or ribbon collar something like a Barrister’s Bib, apparently held in place in the same manner. Under his arm the man carries a hamper or satchel containing the food the dog will need. Though not a Saluki it bears some little resemblance to that variety, as if the Saluki had grown longer legs, and had become not quite so long in body, and had been given a curled tail. There may be something in the fact that on the walls of the tomb is a short-bodied dog with a curled tail and a head very much like that of the hunting dog. It is a type we would imagine would, if crossed with the Saluki, produce the hunting dog. There are other drawings also suggesting various Saluki crosses; a short-legged dog with a suggestion of the Saluki, often claimed to be the first Dachshund; a large, well-built dog, not unlike the Great Dane of to-day, with limbs similar to those of the Salukis.

The Saluki or Saluki crosses found their way to other parts of the world. A large water-vase, decorated at Athens 600 years before Christ, shows warriors off to war, on horseback without saddles, naked legged and footed. Amongst their horses’ legs are three dogs with muzzles entirely out of balance to the rest of the head. They appear to have the extremely narrow muzzle of a Saluki attached to a head unaccustomed to such a muzzle. One of these dogs has a fringed tail and the feet, to some extent, are the feet of a Saluki. There is, moreover, a marked similarity between them and those depicted in the tomb of Rechmara of 1400 B.C. Along the top of a water-vase made 200 years later (also painted at Athens) are long-nosed dogs, but the muzzles are not out of all proportion to the head. The type is more of the Great Dane, and certainly more Greyhound than those shown on the earlier vase. They have, however, bushy tails as also have two dogs on the earlier vase.

COINS SHOWING THE GREYHOUND FOUND ON THE ISLANDS IN THE ÆGEAN SEA. (500 B.C.—A.D. 200)

Searching through the vases for further evidence I discovered a double-handled jar, which the Greeks used for carrying liquid, on which is depicted, most delightfully, a musician greatly enthralled with the agreeable melody he is playing, subjected to the attentions of a dog thief, who taking off his cloak is about to drop it over the dog. At once we notice the astonishing feet, exaggerated Saluki feet, and the muzzle, although of the Saluki type, fitting its head a little better. The jar is contemporary with that of the warriors going to the war, and it merely suggests a further cross, a smaller dog exhibiting Saluki in its breeding. Later I discovered amongst the vases, a wine-jug also of that century before Christ, depicting a man returning from a hunt, a hare hanging on the pole over his shoulders, and by his side a Greyhound of a type between and betwixt the three. It has a long muzzle but it is more natural to the head, and the tail is of the Saluki kind. There is yet a dog on a vase (the warrior is saying good-bye) with the Egyptian Saluki nose, with a tail of the modern Greyhound, that might be mistaken for a Whippet, one that is badly bred and heavy boned. The Whippet is a Greyhound-Terrier cross. But an astonishing discovery was to be made in the shape of an oil lamp made in Greece 200 years later, 6 1/2 inches long and nearly 3 inches high, a Greyhound’s head, a hare in its mouth, the top of the hare’s head open for the oil and wick, the head of the Greyhound of to-day! And another Greek domestic utensil, painted a hundred years later, a dog-head drinking horn, is the most beautiful head of a modern Greyhound. But the chain of Greyhound development was to be completed by an examination of the coins and gems found on the islands in the Ægean Sea (off the coast of Greece), dating from 500 B.C. to A.D. 200. They show Greyhounds of the modern type, with no suggestion of feathered tails or narrow Saluki muzzles, Greyhounds as we know them in England to-day, the Greyhound of the Coursing Field, Show Bench and Racing Track.

With so much evidence of the Greyhound in Greece, it is a little surprising that Xenophon, a Greek and a dog breeder, and an authority on canine matters, made no mention of the Greyhound variety in his writings on dogs. He wrote at a time when there was much interest in dog breeding and attempts were being made to improve dogs by a cross with tigers! which Xenophon evidently believed in, mentioning that frequently the tiger not being amorously inclined ate the dog. His silence on the Greyhound of Greece, may be explained by discretion; a fear of displeasing the Spartans, or perhaps as a form of spite not entirely unknown, for he had fought against his own people for the Spartans who had rewarded him with a country house and land and woods. Nor does Aristotle in his history of animals mention the variety, filling his pages on tiger-crosses and on breeding, care and equipment, informing us that dogs with flashing eyes are shameless! and those with pointed noses most easily exasperated and those with blunt faces (by which I presume he means such as that of the modern Bulldog or Pug-dog) are likely to be abusive! Possibly the Greyhound was so well known that Aristotle felt that the public would not be interested in reading further about them. Varro writes on sheep-dogs that were to be like lions, and thirty to sixty years later Ovid gives an excellent description of coursing, the generally accepted translation reading:

As when the impatient Greyhound, slipped from far,

Bounds o’er the glade to course the fearful hare,

She in her speed does all her safety lie.

And he with double speed pursues his prey,

O’erruns her at the sitting turns; but licks

His chops in vain; yet blows upon the flix,¹

She seeks the shelter which the neighbouring covert gives,

And gaining it, she doubts if she yet lives.

The story of the Greyhound might have ended there, as far as early times were concerned, if it had not been for one or two important discoveries. In the British Museum is the statue of two Roman Greyhounds of the first century A.D., a smooth-skinned dog and bitch, the dog holding the bitch’s ear, and in the ruined villa of Antonius the Roman Emperor, two Greek marble Greyhounds, 28 1/2 and 24 inches high were found. The British Museum dogs are distinctly Greyhounds, rather coarse headed and weak bodied. They have the type of head seen on the Greyhound and Saluki puppy. But fortunately there lived in the second century A.D. a Greek interested in Greyhounds, Flavius Arrianus, who liked to imagine himself to be Xenophon. Writing a work on Greyhounds containing excellent word-pictures of coursing, he, because of his strange whim, named his book Hunting With Dogs (the title that Xenophon had used). Later the works of Arrian were mistaken for those of Xenophon! In 1831 an anonymous translation was printed. If this translation is accurate we have an opinion and description of 1700 years ago, not an amateurish opinion but that of a man accustomed to Greyhounds and critically interested and modern in his view. He believed the dog to be a Celtic dog and thought its home was the country between the Pyrenees and the Rhine. He describes the Celts coursing; the method adopted by them depending on their wealth. The Celt of great fortune did not tire himself finding a hare, but stayed resting in his house, on his couch in comfort, sending out in the early hours of the morning to search the fields two of his men known as Hare-finders. On discovering a hare, one remained to watch whilst the other returning to the house told their master, who then mounted on his horse, and, with his dogs, went off to the field, ordering his men to put the hare up and hunted her about until he killed her. Celts of less fortune made up parties and taking their dogs rode to the fields to find the hares, and lastly poorer people who, with no horses to ride, enjoyed the proceedings on foot, walking the fields all day. If a man on horseback joined them he was expected to be the judge, to ride as close to the Greyhounds as he could, so that he might give a fair report at the end of each match.

A shortage of hares was due to the popularity and freedom of coursing, for anybody could course when and how and where he chose. Arrian complains that coursers on seeing a hare became excited and utter confusion followed, and the hare was killed by the dogs without being coursed at all. It was, as Arrian points out, to be expected with no one commanding, for no one knew who it was to let their dog free, and many in the excitement of the moment accidentally let their dogs go.

Meetings degenerated into rat hunts with the hare rising to her feet (or kicked up) immediately surrounded by Greyhounds making for her from all directions, whilst the yelling and shouting made matters worse, the poor, timid, utterly confused little hare running for her life from the mouth of one into the mouth of another. The sport ended with her death and nobody knew which dog had caught her; and the supply of hares was soon exhausted. Fewer dogs were needed, writes Arrian, for no hare could escape two Greyhounds, unless exceptionally strong or with matters well in her favour, such as a wood close by, into which she could escape, nor does he see need for using nets and traps as well as Greyhounds.

At a coursing meeting the crowd were not to be allowed to wander over the land, disturbing the hares, but each field was to be worked, if a large field taking one section at a time, and as each section was worked, the line was to turn upon the inside man and form up again upon him. To assure that the meeting was carried out in a proper manner a field steward was to be appointed at each meeting, to be obeyed without argument, whose duty it would be to see that the field worked the land and to tell each man in turn when to let his dog free.

It was also his duty to make sure that each hare had a fair start and was well away before the Greyhounds were sent after her.

So Arrian, about the year A.D. 200, laid down the way that coursing should be undertaken, rules which to some extent (in their basic principles) are the rules of to-day. He writes of the hare peculiarly sensible to the sounds behind her, allowing her to dodge out of the way of the dogs, when they least expected it, whose habit it was to listen to their breathing and judge their distance to a nicety. What could be better than the hare slipping away thinking to herself that she was unseen, whilst the Greyhounds, to course her, on the alert, pranced about in the wildest of anxiety, until set free. Then they flew over the land after her! Hearing them coming the hare lifted her ears to hear them better, and put her best foot forward, trying to reach the wood, before they overtook her. Arrian tells us that the best and strongest hares lived in open fields well away from woods in order to show that they were not afraid of their enemies, the dogs, and that they were willing to enter into competition with them! These proud hares did not attempt to run for woods and escape, having no wish to take a mean advantage over their enemies, but stayed well in the open for the sake of fair play. If a hare, being coursed, discovered that the Greyhounds were slow in their running, she moderated her speed accordingly during the contest (!) I suppose if Arrian lived in England to-day he would explain that if a car is of an antiquated pattern, we sport with it longer to give it a fair chance to run over us!

No true sportsman, he adds, wished to kill the hare, and if one should manage to outwit the Greyhounds she ought to be allowed her life, if driven into a wood the dogs had won, just as much as if they had killed her. More than once he had come up in time to save the hare from his dogs and he had struck his head with sorrow when he found the brave little hare dead.

Further in this book he describes the Greyhound. The chief sign of swiftness and breeding was length, a short body meaning lack of speed and want of breeding, and so important was length that all other faults were not to be considered. A tall dog was better than a short-legged one, but ungainly dogs, loosely knit, were useless.

The head light and well articulated might have the nose hooked, nor did it matter if the parts below the forehead were protruberant with muscles. (Possibly is it that by hooked nose he meant overshot, that is to say the upper jaw being longer than the lower jaw. In the Bulldog the lower jaw is longer than the upper one, which is undershot.) The large eyes of a Greyhound were to flash like lightning as did the eyes of leopards, lions and lynxes. Black was the colour of the eyes, but the colour did not matter as long as they were grim in appearance.

The ears, large and soft, should seem to be broken owing to their size and softness (it was no fault if they stood upright but never were to be short and stiff), the neck long and flexible; the chest broad; the shoulder-blades as