62 MODERN TRAINING. 



the training should be dropped for the time being, and the 

 role of kind and indulgent master assumed. Ceaseless 

 effort begets distrust or dislike ; furthermore, the dog's 

 mental faculties are not equal to long continued efforts 

 without excessive fatigue, a trait which is also peculiar to 

 the nobler animal. 



It is also worthy of note that a trainer cannot train dogs 

 successfully and at the same time indulge in regular shoot- 

 ing. It may be done after a certain loose fashion, but the 

 education of the dog invariably suffers. The thousands of 

 birds a man may have shot over a dog, or his expertness 

 with a gun, is no criterion whatever in respect to his train- 

 ing capabilities. Training is a distinct art by itself of 

 which shooting birds is merely a detail, hence experience 

 in shooting is not necessarily experience in training. Ex- 

 perience, to be of value, must be correctly derived and 

 associated. A fine shot, if an amateur, is rarely a good 

 trainer, for the sufficient reason that he is so passionately 

 fond of shooting he has no patience with obstructive delays 

 to his pleasure, therefore he makes all else subservient to 

 it. He does the shooting first and the training afterward, 

 contrary to the correct method. 



It requires just the same study, industry, natural capa- 

 bilities and enthusiasm to make an expert trainer and 

 handler as are required to become expert in any other art 

 of equal complexity, hence it is apparent that the length of 

 time required to learn the art is dependent on the amateur's 

 aptitude and industry. If he cannot train a dog well even 

 after studying and applying a proper system, his efforts are 

 not without gain, for the knowledge will be serviceable in 

 handling a trained dog. Good handling is a very desirable 

 accomplishment, a thorough knowledge of it leading to a 

 higher appreciation and better understanding of good 

 work, the disposition of dogs, and a correct judgment of a 



