MODERN TRAINING. 



CHAPTER VI. 



COMMANDS. 



All signals and oral orders, to which the dog is taught 

 obedience, may be considered under one generic head, 

 namely, commands. The chief distinction is in the manner 

 of delivery, and not in the mental activities which they pro- 

 duce in the dog; considering the subject only as it relates to 

 the dog's perceptive powers. 



The commands, by the medium of sound, such as those 

 delivered with the voice, the whistle, the gun, or the sound 

 produced by the whirr of wings, are conveyed to the cog- 

 nition of the dog through the sense of hearing; the signals, 

 by the sense of sight; a touch, by sense of feeling. Identi- 

 cal meanings can be conveyed through the different senses 

 by appealing to them under circumstances which come within 

 their powers. Thus the order Drop, a command by voice, or 

 the report of a gun, or the whirr of wings, is conveyed to 

 the mind through the sense of hearing; the signal to drop 

 is conveyed by the sense of sight;, a touch of the whip on 

 the shoulder, which signifies that the dog is to drop, is per- 

 ceived through the sense of feeling; yet each one of these 

 commands, distinct in form, yet the same in meaning, can 

 be associated alike in the mind with the same ideas and the 

 associated act of obedience. As these are all the senses 

 which are directly appealed to in enforcing obedience, the 

 others are not worthy of consideration in this relation. By 

 thus tracing these similarities of principles in conveying 



