'3 



MODERN TRAINING. 



thereafter will induce him to touch it. If the trainer 

 attempts to correct any one of these faults by punishment, 

 it invariably results in the end of retrieving. The dog does 

 not comprehend that the punishment is for the ill manner 

 of retrieving, but he applies it to the act of having the bird 

 in his mouth at all, the difference between a sound bird and 

 crushed one being nothing to him; but he can readily per- 

 ceive that he could have let the bird alone. So with other 

 faults relating to retrieving. If he breaks shot to retrieve, 

 from the dog's point of view it is simply a desirable effort to 

 get the bird in possession, and if he is punished therefor, 

 he associates it with the act of getting the bird and not with 

 a failure to remain steady, as his handler intended it should 

 be. Thereafter the dog endeavors to avoid punishment by 

 refusing to retrieve, and such refusal is commonly perma- 

 nent unless rebroken by the force system. A dog taught by 

 the natural system will rarely retrieve more than one species 

 cf game well, and that is the kind which he has hunted 

 most. One trained on quails will refuse to retrieve snipe; 

 a chicken dog may refuse to retrieve quails, and vice versa. 

 As in all other cases, there are occasional exceptions, yet 

 such are retrievers more from their natural willingness to 

 please, intelligence and comprehension of the purposes of 

 hunting, than from any inherent merit in the system of edu- 

 cation. The same peculiarities may be observed respecting 

 retrieving on different kinds of game in dogs perfected by 

 force, but there is this important distinction, the handler 

 always has the means of soon forcing obedience. 



The trainer should not expect to find any dogs which 

 retrieve from inheritance of the trait. Instances are related 

 of puppies which began to retrieve from the very first time 

 birds were shot over them. The professional trainer is 

 never favored with dogs of this kind, although they per- 

 fectly understand what is meant, and have many times seen 



