4 g MODERN TRAINING. 



which are timid; also, there are some foolish ones. The 

 latter class must not be trained by any arbitrary rules; the 

 training must be applied as their powers and confidence 

 develop; to teach and develop such dogs properly requires 

 the highest skill of the trainer. They require punishment 

 and correcting at times, but it must be applied with care; if 

 properly applied, the dog can be educated to take ordinary 

 punishment with comparative indifference. Herein trainers 

 differ greatly; a good trainer can whip a dog, enforce obe- 

 dience and retain the dog's confidence, while a poor one 

 has a wonderfully positive talent for completely demoral- 

 izing and shattering a dog's ideas, affection, and hunting 

 inclinations, at one punishment. Timidity is often combined 

 with obstinacy or self will, which complicates the training a 

 great deal and requires the exercise of the nicest judgment. 

 The obstinacy must be overcome, yet the dog must not be 

 cowed or his confidence lost, or any unpleasant associations 

 established with field work. It is here apparent that to 

 avoid possible complications the yard lessons should first be 

 thoroughly inculcated. One mistake may retard the training 

 for weeks; the dog may cease work, and no blandishments 

 or commands thereafter will have any desirable effect on 

 him; thus he may follow at heel during every hunt for an 

 indefinite time. A dog of this disposition should never be 

 taught to come to heel, or held there any important length 

 of time before his training is well advanced in obedience, 

 steadiness on birds, and general experience. There is no 

 fault so difficult to overcome and none in which a trainer is 

 so completely helpless as when a timid dog comes to heel 

 and there remains. The trainer can only bide the dog's 

 time. A sulky dog could be whipped from heel; but time 

 must be allowed to efface the fears of the timid. However, 

 a dog may begin his training with timidity, and acquire a 

 great deal of boldness before it is completed. 



