BREAKING AND HANDLING. 97 



knowledge, and similarity of cognition in acquiring it, a 

 more orderly and systematic theory and practice of training 

 are established. Ordinarily, every distinct branch, some- 

 times parts of the same branch, is considered and treated by 

 authors as being not related either in methods or ideas, 

 a wholly erroneous conception. While the act of know- 

 ing is through the mediation of entirely distinct organs of 

 sense, the principle of training is the same in all branches, 

 namely, to associate certain forms of obedience with certain 

 fixed forms of command, whether such commands are 

 sounds or signals. 



While it is necessary in training to associate the com- 

 mand with the required act of obedience, it should not for 

 a moment be considered that the dog's powers of under- 

 standing are limited to a simple corresponding association 

 of ideas. Such is merely the inceptive form of knowing 

 and does not differ materially from the primary forms of 

 teaching the infant human subject, as for instance, in object 

 teaching; or the more complex forms in the adult, as asso- 

 ciating certain ideas with certain words, certain sounds with 

 certain objects, even if the objects are absent; certain ideas 

 with certain other ideas, etc., which is abstract knowledge. 



The words of command and signals in common use are 

 as follows: 



Come in is the order which denotes that the dog is to 

 come directly to the handler without delay. A beckon of 

 the hand has a like significance. A prolonged blast on the 

 whistle is the order which has a corresponding meaning, 

 although, in respect to the common use of the whistle, these 

 are not constant or uniform signals. 



Hie on or go on is the order to begin hunting. If the 

 dog is at heel, a click with the tongue, or a slight motion 

 with the forefinger, are equivalent signals. 



Heel is the order which denotes that the dog is to 



