The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-14
THE MODERN BLOODHOUND.
One of the Most AmiabIe of Dogs
When You Know Him Well.
From the London Spectator.

From the London Spectator.
The blood hound trials held on the moors
near Scarborough are interesting rather
as drawing attention to neglected and
possibly valuable form of animal talent
than for any contribution they made to
our knowledge of what these dogs can do.
The runs were scarcely a mile i'm length,
and most of the hounds acquitted them
selves creditably. The result has shown
that after some century and a half, dur
ing which the breed has not been trained,
or exercised in the work which was form
erly the sole object for which il was kept,
the dogs readily follow the trail OF a man
at once, and at a rapid pace. But heather
is the best seeming ground in England,
and it was largely over such moorlands
that the Border bloodhounds were used.
If only required TO follow a single trail
there is little doubt that the dogs would
have gone not one mile, but ten. In 1916
Mr.. Youatt wrote: THE Thrapstone AS
ISOLATION lately trained a bloodhound for
the detection of sheep stealers. In order
TO prove the usefulness of this dog, a per-
son he had not seen was ordered to run
as fast and as far as his strength would
permit An hour afterward the hound
was brought out. He was placed on the
spot where the man had started, He al
most Immediately detected the scent and
broke away, and after a chase of an hour
and a half found him concealed In a tree
fifteen miles distant" The figures require
the man to have kept up a pace of six
miles an hour, not at all an improbable
pace across country The past history of
the breed shows that this particular hound
always has been used for purposes of POI
lice, and for nothing else, though some
enthusiastic "fanciers" maintain that he
is a first class hound for the chase. Packs
of modern bloodhounds have been estab-
hshed for hunting tame deer, and present
very splendid appearance, like the
hounds that Theseus showed Hippolyta,
except that the modern bloodhound has
straight legs, instead of being Crook
kneed." But they never had and never
needed pace, like a fox hound or stag
hound, for much of the tracking was done
over country where no horse could go,
and even when cattle were driven off by
mounted moss troopers, no pace could ever
be maintained across such ground.
If the party reached place where the
track of cattle was clear they picked up
the dog and carried 1t across a horse, as
the dog had not the speed to follow. But
the bloodhound, though slow, was sure.
1t was pure-blooded hound of the ancient
stock, kept entirely for slow tracking by
scent. There was, therefore, no inducement
to impair this natural gift by crosses to
give speed or courage, such as were neces-
sary to develop the foxhound and stag
hound. and it is still equipped with proba-
bly, the best powers of scent of any breed
of hound.
The following first-hand notes on the zap
titude" of a young English bloodhound.
absolutely unframed, show the material
which the breed presents for development
When a puppy 1t naturally followed its
master by scent putting It's nose down at
once on to the grass path of the garden
Later 1t was seen TO pick up the scent Of
its master forty-eight hours old, and run
il for two miles home across gravelly foot
paths near London. II was taught to
amuse itself by hitting off his track and
finding him in large wood, which IL did
very successfully and on Eastbourne
Downs often ran three-mile course when
the ground was hard frozen and snow was
Tying in the hollows. With strong wind
blowing across the trail it ran parallel with
this but from fifty yards to one hundred
yards 10 leewaTd, at such a headlong pace
that it more than once went head over
heels in snowdrifts Like almost all blood
hounds, this was gentle animal and very
teachable, would fetch slippers mind"
babies, and of It's own accord struck up a
friendship with the police, whose fire at
Tho tta0BqaH 10 freuuanf1v abarad