Hunting Dogs Part 14

I sometimes bake corn bread for the dogs for a change, which makes a good food for them but not so strong a food as the other. I think a hound will do more running and keep in better order on that mush with meat than any food you can give them. Of course, if a person has but one dog, he can generally get enough from the house sc.r.a.ps from the table, but when you have a dozen or so you will have to get your dog food elsewhere. In warm weather this mush will sour in a few hours, but in cold weather it will keep sweet. I feed my dogs once a day when they are idle, but when I am hunting them I feed them twice a day. Feed each dog by himself.

Now as to their sleeping places, if you can let your dogs run loose, and they will find warm places to sleep, with plenty of bedding in the barn or other out buildings where the ventilation is good, but no drafts of air to blow on them, that is the best place for them. I keep part of my dogs tied up, as they would be off hunting if I let them run loose. For those I use on the chain I use a 20-foot chain.

Build a good, warm dog house with a shingle roof, an individual house for one dog. Cut a hole that he can get thru easily and then tack some burlap just above the hole and let it hang down over the hole.

When it is cold weather I leave it down, but when it is pleasant I fasten it up so that it leaves the hole open. The air can get thru the burlap but it breaks the wind off of the dog and keeps the snow from blowing in on his nest, or rain if it is raining. He can go out and in when the burlap is down.

Another easy way to make a good place for a dog is cut a hole in the side of a building that has a good roof, and put a box large enough so that it will give your dog plenty of room right tight up against the inside of the building where you cut the holes thru. Knock one side of your box out and put it to the hole on inside of building.

Put your burlap on the outside at the hole as before described, and you have a fine place for your dog. Make the hole just large enough so he can get thru it easily, and cut it high enough so that when he lays down in the box, the bottom of the hole will be above the dog.

Give your dog good, clean bedding at least once a week. Twice a week is not too often. Use some disinfectant about two or three times a month inside of dog house. The best cure for mange that I have ever used, or for sores to heal them is black gun powder, powdered sulphur and lard, mixed and well rubbed in. It is a sure cure for mange. It will soon kill the germs, if properly applied.

I notice where a brother, in telling how to break a young dog to tree 'c.o.o.n said, to let the 'c.o.o.n chew the dog for a while, help the 'c.o.o.n, let him eat the dog for about 20 minutes and the dog would go to hunting them to get revenge, or something to that effect. Now it is my opinion that the dog would not want any more revenge as he would get a plenty right there, and the chances are that he would ever after be afraid of a 'c.o.o.n, if he were a pup and got that kind of treatment. Help your dog kill a 'c.o.o.n whenever you can, if you can do it without danger to the dog. I never let my dogs kill a 'c.o.o.n when it can be avoided. If I can find the 'c.o.o.n with my light in the tree I shoot him out, and then sometimes he has plenty of fight in him when he comes down. Other times he is dead when he hits the ground.

Any one of my dogs will kill a 'c.o.o.n if necessary, but they don't get the chance very often. There has been a few times that I let them kill the 'c.o.o.n, when I could have killed him myself, when there were some of the boys with me that wanted to see them kill the 'c.o.o.n, but it is tiresome work on a dog to kill a 'c.o.o.n, harder a great deal than treeing one. My dogs will not stay at a hole unless the 'c.o.o.n is very close to the top of the ground, as where I hunt there are a great many old coal entries and it would be a nuisance to have them bark at such places as you could not get them out, so I never encourage them to stay at a hole when they run one in.

I have seen some discussion about the size of 'c.o.o.ns. The largest 'c.o.o.n I ever caught weighed 30 pounds. He measured from the tip of his tail to the end of his nose, 4 feet and 4 inches. I caught another one last winter that weighed 25 pounds and measured four feet and 2 inches from his nose to the end of his tail.

I catch a good many that weigh over 20 pounds. Another thing I want to tell you is this, in over 20 years of 'c.o.o.n hunting I have never cut a tree down to get a 'c.o.o.n. There is too much of that kind of work done. Where are all of the 'c.o.o.ns going to stay when you get all of the den trees cut down? I want to ask you where is the land owner that wants 'c.o.o.n hunters cutting his timber down? Think of cutting a fine, large tree down because it has a hole in it with a 'c.o.o.n inside. If I get a 'c.o.o.n in such a tree and can't climb it, I just call the dogs away from the tree and let him go until some other time. I make it my business to go that way again some night, and the chances are I get that same 'c.o.o.n in such a tree and can't climb it, I just tree a head of Mr. 'c.o.o.n if I can, and he goes up some tree that I can get him out of when he sees he is cut off from his den tree, and the tree is left for the next 'c.o.o.n that comes along. So, brothers, please cut the tree cutting out, as it is for your own good to let those kind of trees stand if you want to hunt 'c.o.o.n. When you go around thru the timber destroying it, some one is going to call a halt on YOU, and on the other hand it is not at all necessary to cut the timber to get the 'c.o.o.n, and the tree is undoubtedly worth more to the man that own the land than the 'c.o.o.n is to you.

Of course, if the owner of the tree gives you permission to cut the tree, that clears you on that score, but after the tree is down, you will never find another 'c.o.o.n in that tree.

CHAPTER XXVI.

DESCRIPTIVE TABLE OF TECHNICAL TERMS AS APPLIED TO THE DOG.

The following table of definitions are used descriptive of the parts of the dog's anatomy, and are used and understood generally by professionals:

[Ill.u.s.tration: (The numbers refer to the picture.)]

Apple-headed.--Skull round instead of flat on top.

1. ARM.

Blaze.--A white mark up the face.

Brush.--The tail of a Collie, or any bushy tail.

2. BRISKET.--The part of the body between the chest and the neck.

Front part of chest.

b.u.t.terfly-nose.--A spotted nose.

b.u.t.ton-ear.--An ear which falls over in front, concealing the inside, as in Fox-Terriers.

Broken-up Face.--Refers more particularly to the face of the Bulldog or Toy Spaniel, and comprises the receding nose, or lay-back, deep stop, and wrinkle.

Burr.--The inside of the ears.

Breeching.--The tan-colored hairs on the back of the thighs of a Black-and-tan Terrier.

Beefy.--Big, beefy hind-quarters.

Cat-foot.--A short, round foot, with the knuckles high and well developed; like a cat's, short, round and compact.

3. CHEST.--The chest of a dog must not be confounded with the brisket; the breast or chest extends between the fore-legs from the brisket to the belly.

Cheeky.--When the cheek b.u.mps are strongly defined; thick in cheek.

Chaps or Chops.--The pendulous lips of the Bulldog; the foreface of a Bulldog.

Cobby.--Well ribbed up; short and compact.

Cloddy or Cobby.--Thick-set, short-coupled and low in stature.

Couplings.--The length or s.p.a.ce between the tops of the shoulder-blades and tops of the hip-joints, or buckle-bones. A dog is accordingly spoken of as long or short "in the couplings."

Cow-hocked.--The hocks turning inward; hocks that turn in, like those of a cow.

Cushion.--Fulness in the top lips.

Crook-tail.--The crooked tail of a Bulldog.

Crank-tail.--Same as above.

Culotte.--The feather on the thighs, as in the Schipperke and Pomeranian.

Character.--The combination of points contributing to the whole make-up and giving to a dog that which is desired in his particular variety.

Corky.--Compact and active looking; springy and lively in action.

Dew-claws.--The extra claws found occasionally on the legs of all breeds, but especially of the St. Bernard; the superfluous claws inside the hind-leg just above the foot.

Dewlap.--Pendulous skin under the throat as in case of Blood-hound.

Dish-faced.--This term describes a dog whose nasal bone is higher at the nose than at the stop--a feature not infrequently seen in pointers.

Dudley-nose.--A flesh-colored nose.

Domed Skull.--Round skull.

Deep in Brisket.--Deep in chest; deep from withers to point where chest and brisket meet.

4. ELBOW.--The joint at the top of the forearm.

Elbows Out or "Out at Elbows."--This term defines itself.

Bulldogs and Dachshunde are desirable with elbows so shaped, but it may occur as a fault through weakness.

Expression.--The expression of a dog is largely but not wholly determined by the size, angular position, and degree of prominence of the eye. For instance in a St. Bernard the eye is small, somewhat sunken, showing a little haw. This gives a dignified and rather benevolent expression. "Collie expression" depends largely on the angle at which eyes are set to each other.