BREEDING OUT FAULTS By Hewitt Meriwether, Jackson, Tenn The Hunter's Horn January, 1948 Page 11 I have been thinking for some time, that some of the older breeders would write an article on "Trying to breed faults out, instead of in, foxhounds."  Understand I don't consider myself any authority on this subject, and know there are plenty of the older breeders that have forgotten more than I will ever know; but as I said in the beginning, I haven't seen anything along this line.  So, as some great general said, "A fool's idea is better than none at all." Suppose, as we are going to deal with faults in foxhounds, and trying to breed them out, instead of in, we take up hunting first.  I will list the different hunting faults in fox hounds.  First of course we have the sorry hunting hound or the hound that stands around and waits for some hound to strike for him.  Second, we have what some hunters call the wide hunter, but I call them fools or straight line hunters.  They are the kind of hounds that, whatever direction they get started in, never turn back, but just keep going, generally in some old road or path, and when you hear them they will be in another range and if you hear any of the race you will have to move camp and follow them.  This kind of hunting hounds have more go than brains.  Now then let me list the kinds of hunting hound I like:  This is the level headed hound that when you turn him loose, doesn't break off in a dead run like his wide or fool hunter, but maybe just trots off and you will see him get an old sign and kinda switch his tail or maybe open a time or two.  Does he break off down some ridge road or path then?  No, he doesn't , he takes off down a hollow or maybe through some old field or gully and he is the kind that will get you a fox in the range that you are hunting in. Well, I have listed two hounds with faults and one that is the kind I like.  Then we have hounds that are not persistent enough in their hunting.  This is the kind of hound that, if you run a fox four or five hours will come in to camp, and unless some hound that is more persistent gets another fox will be contented to get in a "coil" and stay there.  The question arises how to cross these three faulty hunting hounds in order to get the best results or to eliminate some of their faults.  I would say cross this wide or fool hunting hound on either of the other two.  This will give the puppies more go and hunt, where, if you cross the sorry hunter and the hound that wasn't persistent enough, the puppies would be short on hunting.  On the other hand, if you cross the fool hunter, or straight line hunter with or on one of the same type, you would get some hounds that you would always be changing your camping place to get to hear a race.  I can hear some of the fellows ask the question:  Well, why breed a faulty hound?  All I have to say to their kind is, I have heard of these hounds without faults, but I have never seen or owned one and some of the best hounds I have ever seen have had some bad faults. Now come the faults in trailing hounds.  One of the worse faults in a trailing hound is pottering or dragging on a trail.  This kind of hound uses his nose to jump his fox, instead of his brains and nose combined.  Then we have the hound that tries to skip on a trail too much, and let me say here that if he is a hound with plenty fox sense, I like it, but if he hasn't enough sense and nose to hold down on it, he can be a nuisance.  Then we have the fault of hounds not giving enough mouth on a trail and others being too mouthy.  Then we have the fault of the hunting hound, the level headed type; this is the kind that can take a trail and go right on up to their fox.  The "Bill Burgess" were the best trailing Walker hounds I have ever seen.  But we are dealing with the faulty hounds and trying to breed the faults out.  Well, we take the "Potterer".  What to breed this hound to, that will take some of this fault of pottering out.  I would breed him to the hound that was inclined to skip on a trail provided the skipping hound was level headed. I certainly wouldn't cross him on another potterer, because if you do, you'll more than likely get hounds that will trail under the shade of a tree all night.  Now then, what to cross on the hound that is a little mouthy on a trail.  I would cross him on the hound that was inclined to be tight mouthed on a trail.  If you cross two tight-mouth hounds you will more than likely get some hounds that won't say anything until the fox is up running. We come to the running hound.  There are lots of faults of a running hound, as there are in the trailing and hunting hound, but I'm taking up the main faults.  There are, as I see them in a running hound swing too wide on a run over, running the line too close, not having brains enough to know which side of the line he lost it on, and the tight-mouth running hound, also, the hound that's a little too mouthy.  Let me say here that I'm partial to a close driving hound provided he doesn't get thrown behind too much after a swimming red fox.  Now then how to cross these hounds in order to get a more level head and smoother running hound is the question.  I would cross the close running hound with the wide swinging hound and vice versa.  I would cross the tight mouth hound on the free mouth hound and I would cross the brainless hound that always seems to turn the wrong way on a  loss to some hound that got about three-fourths of the "Pick ups". Now we come to the most important thing of all, gameness, and i am going to have very little to say on this most important of all qualities, for as someone once said I have heard of hounds that were too game, but I never saw one.  I will say this that gameness and toughness or stamina go "hand in hand."  There are so many "man made" quitters and there are also so many hunters breeding hounds that don't know a good game hound, that, it's no wonder to me that we have so many quitters nowadays.  Then, too, the way some hunters handle their hounds and the condition they run them in it's not surprising to me that so many of the best known breeders refuse to ship hounds on trial.   I think the main thing to watch in trying to breed good game hounds is how they finish a long hard race.  If he is back end doesn't show which way his front end is going the next morning when the run comes up you had better breed him to one that's hitting the ground like a rubber ball.  Then, too, if he is too willing to leave a fox on top of the ground it's a bad sign.  Persistence and determination backed by toughness or stamina is what we all want but it's hard to get it, all wrapped in one bundle. I would like to see something by some of the better known breeders on this subject, also would like to see something on handling and conditioning for a long hard roll.