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WHIPPET-RACING.-The whippet has often been called "the poor man's race-horse," but nevertheless it can also be the rich man's race-dog. It is true that, with a few exceptions, only working-men in England have ever attended to whippet-racing, but I shall endeavour to show that, although it is the cheapest form of sport, it is far from being the meanest.

Although whippet-racing finds its patrons amongst some of the narrowest intellects in England, there is no doubt that the simple miners and mill-hands of the North have a genius for the breeding, running, and educating of their dogs. I have visited Lancashire more than once, especially to investigate whippet-racing there, and have come away full of admiration for their scientific methods, their keenness and honesty.

The best racing-whippets are bred like race-horses, through a long line of winners. To be of any use the dog must begin its

education very young. As soon as it has been weaned it is kept aloof from his fellow-puppies and other dogs. From this day forward it lives the life of a hermit, having no friends and no enemies. The reason for this is that the dog will have to do his racing unjockeyed, so to speak, over a 200 yards' course, and from the moment he leaves the "slipper's" hands he must never take his eyes off the "rag" which another man (the walker-up) has carried before him up to the end of the course. If, then, he has been in the habit of chiveying playmates, or fighting with strange dogs, there are ten chances to one he will prefer to indulge in these games up the course instead of honestly "running to the rag." If, on the contrary, he has never known the society of other dogs, it will rarely occur to a whippet to molest them. Those who turn out "slappers," as they are called, are useless for racing, as they will never run in front. At the first Lancashire whippet-race I attended a friend told me he was bringing out a whelp for the first time. It was twelve months old and had never run in company. I suggested it was a toss-up whether it would "run honest or not, and he was quite surprised at my doubts. But the whelp turned neither to right nor to left, and in the company of five screaming dogs, and between some thousand onlookers, ran as straight as a line from start to rag.

During the first six months or year a puppy requires much attention and patience; he is generally, therefore, handed over to an experienced "walker," who, for two or three shillings a week, will keep and educate him. The puppy at once takes up his quarters in the man's kitchen and bedroom, where he plays and sleeps till his master has left work for the day, when he is taken

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for a walk. It is comical to see a little puppy walking on a lead, muzzled and coated. They always muzzle whippets to prevent them picking up bad food when in training; many of them even sleep in their muzzles.

The puppy is now encouraged to tear and worry rag and paper, even though he destroy, at times, some of his master's belongings. The taste for the rag once developed, he is held by one man in the proper slipping fashion, whilst another worries him with a rag. He is let loose at it, and then, by increasing the distance from a yard to thirty yards or so, the puppy will dash at the rag with all the speed he can muster. Great care is taken not to give the puppy too much exertion, as this would damp his fire. He is taken to whippet-races, where he hears the people shout, accustoms himself to the starter's pistol and the noise of the dogs yelping. No dog shows more nerve than the racer; he is indifferent to everything save his rag, and afraid of nothing. The experiment was once tried, for a wager, of lighting a line of straw across the track; the dogs ran through it quite blindly. I have been asked whether a dog was brought to such a pitch of keenness by starving him; and again whether he was taught by the whip! The reader will have already understood there is no need for such curious means to prick the courage; nay rather, the dog, whatever be his offence, is never chastised. the race-dog is due entirely to the fact that suppression or defeat from man or beast. daily given his runs and walks, and his only diversion is to witness a dog-race, or to visit the public-house of an evening in his master's arms or on the lead. Here he will attract a circle of whippeters, who will handle him and maul him about on the table, much to the satisfaction of the walker.

The fearlessness of he has never known He lives by rule, is

When the whelp is about ten months old he bids good-bye to his first keeper, and starts life with a trainer. Of course the greater number of dogs are brought up by their owners and trained by them, but most of these will spend six weeks, at some time, with a trainer. But the successful dogs, as a rule, are those that are under professional care, which is by no means expensive.

The dog is now walked regularly from 5 to 15 miles a day, according to his size, and does a 200-yards' course twice a-week, or even shorter distances. When he is quite hard, and his feet in condition to stand the cinder track, he runs his first race. It is impossible to lay down hard and fast rules for training, as trainers differ so much in method, and dogs in constitution; but the chief points observed are these. The dog must have

enough slow work for hardening him to give him stamina, say, for three races in an afternoon, and enough running to develop his speed; by observation and timing the trainer is able to see how much exercise, fast and slow, he needs. It is important, moreover, that the dog, when walking, should go on a lead at his trainer's pace, and that, when he runs, the distance shall never exceed 200 yards. As for feeding, the bantam's eggs, the first slice off a shoulder of lamb, old sherry, and other delicacies that one hears is the race-dog's bill of fare, these are vain imaginations! The dog usually gets a basin of broken bread, gravy, and pudding; very often tea and ale, and, in fact, has just what the family has. Meat he is not given until the last few days before a race. Of course if he has to run for a £50 match he is somewhat more expensively fed for a week or so.

I have now considered the education and training of a racedog. Before I come to the handicapping a word or two must be said of the "slipper" and "walker-up," For the race the dog is put into the hands of the slipper, who stands behind the starting mark, and the walker-up, who is generally the owner or trainer, or some one whom the dog knows, takes the rag, waves it in the face of the dog, and then, with frantic shouts or whistles, passes up the course with the other walkers-up, and does not stop till the "trig mark" is reached—that is, 15 yards behind the winning mark. The judge signals to the starter at the other end, who tells the slippers to get ready." These take up their position, holding the dogs by a good handful of skin by the neck, and the tail firmly at the root. The starter, standing behind the dogs, fires the pistol, and with a lurch forward the dogs are all thrown into their stride, and before thirteen seconds they will have caught, every dog, his own rag, with all the grip of his jaws, be lifted into the air by his own momentum, and swing around his particular man like a fish on a line!

The first over the winning mark wins; the walkers-up are careful to hold the rag at arm's length to the side, otherwise, when the dog comes at full speed to catch the rag, he would break his neck against the man's legs. A whippet, when at full speed, is going at the rate of somewhere between 36 and 40 miles an hour!

So

There are seldom more than three or four crack slippers in Oldham, for their business requires great skill. These men take from £3 to £5 for slipping the winner of a handicap. precisely can they tell how dogs are slipped that a slipper is commonly heard to say that he got his dog off three or four inches better than another, or vice versa! And seeing that in the finals

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