356 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
little puppyish tricks, they soon learn to know that mas- 
ter as their friend ; they try to please him, to learn, per- 
haps not because they care for the knowledge them- 
selves, but their little heads soon are wise enough to 
see that when they do as their master wishes, they 
please him, his pleasure is shown them, in divers ways, 
by fond petting, little delicacies to eat, and kind and 
affectionate words. These attentions soon wean him 
from his playmates,—he longs to please his master ; 
perhaps he may feel sometimes his master is a little 
too particular with him, or he is too severe, when he in- 
sists on his learning his lessons when other dogs are 
loafing in the streets; possibly, when his chum, the 
neighbor’s dog, has treed a cat and barks loudly for him 
to come and help keep her there, yet, he has learned to 
love his master; kind words and loving caresses have 
won his heart. He looks on the man as his companion, 
his protector, his friend, and in his heart, although he 
is but a dog, the seeds of kindness have been sown, 
have sprouted, ripened and developed into everlasting 
love and gratitude. In the selection of a dog for wild 
fowl shooting the purchaser should take into considera- 
tion the places and seasons of the year the dog is to be 
used. This sport is full of hardships for the dog, and 
it is but seldom that he can be used, except when the 
water is of icy coldness, or the wind equally cold and 
penetrating, when it comes in contact with his shiver- 
ing frame. <A dog for this kind of sport should be one 
peculiarly fitted for it. His coat should be thick, 
oily, and liver or sedge color ; as so much of his life is 
to be passed in the marsh, floundering in the mud, 
struggling through the tangled rice, or in the swollen 
stream, swimming against the rushing current, he 
