Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1883-06-30
THE DOGS.
How, Like Men, Their Muscles are
Developed for ihe Ring.


To those Of a sporting turn who have
never seen anything of the sort, it will be
interesting to know how . fighting dog is
trained for the ring. Two thoroughbred
hull tarriers, each Of which has killed .
number Of antagonists, and neither Of
which has ever been worsted, two dogs
first class Of their kind at every point, are
being trained here now for q match on the
evening OF the Fourth Of July. This is
the way that one Of them is being ''ixed"
for the struggle, which in all probability
will be fatal to one of the two, possibly both.
When his training began, some ten days
ago, and which is to be kept up system
atically until the fight takes place, he was
pussy and had no wind" 1t was neces-
sary to get the fat off him and bring out
the muscles. Then, being strong and
light, he would also have wind" and en-
durance. The first work was to develop
the muscles in the legs and shoulders, and
afterwards to work on the muscles Of the
Jaw, for without great strength in these
muscles they are apt to become paralyzed
and relax in a long, hard, go-to-sleep grip.
A rope was tied between the tops Of two
posts and stretched about five feet from
the ground. From this rope IN inflated
bladder was suspended by . short string.
At the sight Of this enemy, the dog we
have reference to, Orndorff' 3 Turk, be-
comes almost u~nmanageable. he jumps
at it, and, as he strikes 1t with his
nose first, it bounds into the air.
He drops to the ground, but turning
about he bounds at it again. He is exer-
cised in this way twice 9 day in the cool OF
the morning and evening, at the beginning
only for a minute or two and afterwards
for q longer and longer time. Starting
with superfuous flesh covering the mus
Giles, the muscles f1abby, and no s'wind"
to endure the exercise, and hardly able to
Jump a. far as a full grown frog, it was
surprising to see him in eight or nine days
reduced almost as many pounds in flesh,
retaining scarcely an ounce OF useless
flesh on his bones. Turned literally into
q bundle of muscles and nerves, he can
jump nearly as high and nearly as far as q
wild deer, while he can keep up the savage
but futile effort to pull down the fugitive
bladder for q great length Of time without
exhaustion. OF course, he is not allowed to
Jump after the bladder until he gives up
exhausted, as he would do if he were not
pulled of. Several times during each u
ercise he is held back and his throat
swabbed with cool water.
A few days ago the general muscles hav-
ing been brought up sufficiently to allow
the second course Of training to begin and
be carried along with the first, attention
was directed to developing and hardening
the muscles Of Turks jaw. This is done
| by ~suspending, instead Of the inf ated blad-
der, a piece Of s'green" rawhide, doubled
| with the fleshy part outside, from the hor
izontsl rope. The dog goes for this, find
ing. fight in every object that his attention
ia called TO in y hostile manner The idea
is to have him take hold and support him
self by his teeth partially buried in it. The
teeth cannot penetrate the hide. and they
| slip slowly down until the dog tumbles
| of. This repeated strain on the jaw has
| the same effecton the muscles located there
as the first course OF training has on the
muscles Of the legs, chest and throat.
Gus. C~avanaugh's dog is being trained
on the same principles. but the exercise he
adopts differs in some particulars Of de-
tail.