Foxglove

THIS is the time of year for that most delightful of traditions, the puppy show, where the next generation of hounds is shown to hunt supporters, and judged to the inch under the knowledgeable gaze of Masters and huntsmen.

Whether beagles, minkhounds, foxhounds or staghounds, the principles and format are the same. Held at the hunt kennels of that particular pack, weeks of preparation go into the day.

Everything that does not move is painted, weeded or mown: everything that does not move fast enough is scrubbed! When we supporters arrive on the day, the venue has that innocent air of having always been immaculate, which is true enough, but now with an added gleam. Anyone who has a single dog knows how difficult it can be to stay pristine when showing it: imagine achieving the same effect with around fifty couple of hounds.

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In keeping with the event, ladies wear pretty summer frocks and hats, and gentlemen array themselves in blazers, slacks and panamas. Sometimes an English summer gives us rain, and we cover our finery with our more usual outdoor garb, or else high winds threaten to disturb the hattage, and we flaunt our bare heads.

But we endeavour to stay as smart as conditions allow. Kennel staff wear crisp coats and black bowlers, and the judges are sober in dark suits and hats. This is our compliment to those who have worked so hard to present hounds and kennels in such excellent condition.

Though there may be a litter of whelps here and there, out of sight to visitors except by invitation, the hounds on show are not what most people would recognise as 'puppies'.

They have grown out of the roundness and beguiling appeal of the very young, and are teenagers, newly back from being 'at walk' with local farmers and landowners, and ready to begin their career as hunting hounds this autumn. But they have not yet the confidence that comes from a season of work behind them, nor yet the discipline that is needed when they work as a pack.

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Here they are on the threshold of their careers, to be judged on their looks because that is all there is to judge. After the puppies have come under scrutiny, older hounds will be brought out, that have earned their accolades from work, but for now our eyes are filled with the lithe athleticism of the young untried.

The judges work hard, confer, make notes, and at last the champion dog and the champion bitch pups are chosen, then the overall champion. Puppy-walkers come forward to receive their prizes, and mementos of their puppies are received by every walker, whether or not their puppy has won.

There will undoubtedly be other lasting mementos at home, of the chewed and dug variety, for hound puppies, while charming, are destructive and boisterous. Some families have walked puppies year in, year out, such an essential job in the making of a good hound.

After the judging we have short speeches and the odd joke told, then into the marquee for the famous hunt tea, trestle tables bending under a wealth of home cooking. We catch up with old friends, some of whom have come from a long way distant, just for the puppy show. Swallows swoop and wheel in the summer sky, our huntsman brings the pack out to display, and memories gather to meet the future.

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