528 MODERN FARRIER. 



55. Breaking Dogs for the Gun. 



In the training, or breaking of dogs, for the gun, 

 the first thing to be considered is the animal's tem- 

 per ; some requiring severe and frequent correction, 

 others little or none, and some standing in need of 

 encouragement. A dog should not be broken in 

 too young lest he become chest foundered. Some 

 dogs will begin to hunt very early, while others are 

 so long before they take even the smallest notice of 

 game, that many persons have given them away as 

 useless. Let no sportsmen, however, be too hasty 

 in condemning backward dogs, as they frequently 

 prove of first-rate excellence ; for those which are 

 difficult to break, turn out the best, when by pa- 

 tience and perseverance they have been brought to 

 hunt, and are become staunch. When brought 

 under proper subjection, at the age of nine months 

 or thereabouts, according as he is strong and healthy, 

 you should take him into the field, with an old 

 staunch dog two or three times, as the latter will 

 give him a notion of ranging and beating his ground. 

 He should be accu.* loi led to obey the whistle, and 

 motion of the hand, in preference to the voice. A 

 pistol or gun should be frequently fired over him, to 

 make him acquainted and familiar with the report ; 

 for young dogs are sometimes alarmed at a shot, 

 and should therefore be reconciled to it by practice. 

 He should be made to sit or lie down until the 

 piece be re-loaded, as a dog that breaks away at shot 

 will injure diversion. When first taken into the 

 field he may do as he pleases : he will most likely 

 pursue indiscriminately every thing he sees ; but 

 this eagerness will soon abate, and he will content 

 himself with pursuing partridges, &c. As soon as 

 he begins to know his game, the best method will 

 be to let him hunt by himself, for he can be more 

 easily stopped and managed than when he is in 



