How to Buy a Foxhound in 1890 America
"No animal that lives is more worthless than a worthless hound. I have seen many dear at one dollar per hundred. One hundred dollars is a moderate figure for a…
NOTE: This excerpt is part of a larger text on the history, selection, and use of dogs in fox hunting in early America. This section highlights the selection of dogs and the recommended questions for the buyer to ask the seller.
From The American Fox-hound: Embracing a History of the Celebrated Trigg, Birdsong And Maupin Strains by Haiden C. Trigg
"No animal that lives is more worthless than a worthless hound. I have seen many dear at one dollar per hundred. One hundred dollars is a moderate figure for a good hound."
I sympathize with the new beginners in their efforts to get up a pack of first-class fox-hounds. Many imagine that they can, by purchase, get together a pack of dogs in a month or two that will be able to kill the red fox. We say to our young friends, banish all such thoughts. In the first place you must understand hunting in order to teach your pack the dogs can't teach you.
After you thoroughly master the science, which will require some years, you will be prepared to train your dogs. The surest way to get together a first-rate pack of dogs is to breed, raise and train them yourself. The sporting papers are filled with advertisements offering for sale fox-hounds that are recommended as possessing qualities of first-class dogs. i. e., fine rangers, splendid trailers and dead game.
Some of these advertisers may have such animals and are honest in their statements, while others known nothing about hunting, are unreliable and their object is to get money without any consideration. The question presents itself, How is a buyer to be protected? In the first place, you must not be impatient or in too great a hurry to purchase dogs from strangers. You can learn a great deal of such men by exchanging two or three letters. Ask them these questions:
Do you live in the country or city?
What kind of game do you hunt, deer, wolf, red or gray foxes?
How long have you been a hunter?
From whom did you get your stock dogs?
To whom have you sold dogs?
Trigg, Haiden C, and John A. Seaverns Equine Collection (Tufts University). The American Fox-hound: Embracing a History of the Celebrated Trigg, Birdsong And Maupin Strains. Glasgow, Ky, 1890.
About TOTA
TOTA.world provides cultural information and sharing across the world to help you explore your Family’s Cultural History and create deep connections with the lives and cultures of your ancestors.
