INTRODUCTORY. XIX 



training, made a general improvement in methods, corrected 

 many erroneous details, and established more uniformity in 

 systems, although, as in all systems brought to a high degree 

 of refinement and which have variable intrinsic elements, 

 there are yet a few unsettled points. 



Dog training can never be reduced to a system of arbi- 

 trary rules. With many of the exact sciences, a theoretical 

 knowledge may be exact so far as it goes, but in dog train- 

 ing there is always an unknown and variable quantity which 

 governs the application of the training, namely, the disposi- 

 tion and intelligence of the dog. While a trainer may have 

 an extensive theoretical knowledge, he must learn how to 

 modify or extend his methods by actual experience. No 

 science of training can supplant experience; they are mu- 

 tually dependent. No two dogs have precisely the same 

 degree of intelligence or the same habits, inclinations, dis- 

 position, etc., hence a certain course of education which 

 might be eminently successful in one instance might be 

 ruinous in another. While the system herein taught will 

 serve to train any dog which is capable of being trained, the 

 success depends on the manner of applying it. The ama- 

 teur cannot expend too much pains in studying dog char- 

 acter, and thereto he must gain and hold the affections of 

 his dog, otherwise he cannot succeed. 



While field trials developed a higher grade of expert 

 training, experts were not slow to learn that a dog too well 

 broken, or rather one thoroughly broken for field work, was 

 at a disadvantage in a field trial competition. One that was 

 obedient to the whistle might mind all notes blown by either 

 handler, and the same undesirable results with signals. The 

 aim was to get a dog to be barely obedient; to be quick in 

 locating and pointing his birds; to back so long as his com- 

 petitor pointed, but not an instant longer; to whip in quickly 

 and take the point from a competitor when possible, and to 



