BREAKING AND HANDLING. 87 



peculiarity, a great deal of unnecessary trouble can, at times, 

 be avoided. 



In forcing large, heavy, obstinate dogs to retrieve, it is 

 much better to use both the spike collar and whip. A dog 

 which weighs sixty or seventy pounds has so much weight 

 that a severe jerk shocks the trainer as much as it does the 

 dog. The trainer's shoulder or arm will be badly strained 

 or lamed, particularly if he has three or four heavy dogs in 

 training at the same time. The manner of conjointly apply- 

 ing the whip and collar is described in the chapter on 

 retrieving. 



A whip of medium weight is the best. The abomina- 

 tions which are heavily loaded with iron in the handle 

 should be severely condemned. They are unnecessary and 

 have a suggestion of brutality that is not in accord with the 

 loving nature of the dog or the purposes of an education. 

 There are too many novices who are disposed to use the 

 wrong end of the whip. An ordinary one is severe enough. 

 To gain an idea of its effects, the trainer may permit some 

 friend to give him a middling sharp cut with it, and there- 

 from he will have a keener perception of its effects on the 

 dog. A whip should be a whip, plain and simple. A com- 

 bined whistle, whip, slingshot and dog lead, is a snare and 

 a delusion. A snap on the end of the whip is useful to at- 

 tach it to a loop on the coat, some sportsmen preferring to 

 carry them thus on the outside instead of in the pocket. A 

 better way is to have a small ring sewed on the inside of the 

 breast of the hunting coat to which the whip can be at- 

 tached. A pocket should be made, six inches underneath, 

 for the lash, which can be rolled up easily, to rest in. It 

 can be gotten at quickly, and has not the untidy appearance 

 which it has when hanging loosely outside of the coat. 



The whip is indispensable in dog training. Not that it 

 is a constant necessity, but that at such times as its use is 



