178 MODERN TRAINING. 



pains have been taken to prevent the exercise of it, and 

 equal pains have been taken to afford opportunity to inten- 

 sify the instinct to hunt birds; yet the instinct to hunt rab- 

 bits is just as strong in the dogs of to-day as in those of by- 

 gone ages. The desire to hunt rabbits appears to be, in 

 fact, stronger than the desire to hunt birds, for dogs will 

 hunt them from an early age and, if left to themselves, will ' 

 often do so as a matter of choice. Even dogs posssessing 

 indifferent merits of physique and poor merit in work on 

 birds will hunt rabbits voluntarily with great dash and de- 

 termination. Their fondness for hunting them is often so 

 strong that severe punishment is required to break them of 

 it. This leads us to the point that no breeder would enter- 

 tain the proposition for a moment that it was necessary to 

 hunt a pregnant bitch on rabbits to perpetuate the instinct 

 in her progeny; nevertheless, the instinct is precisely the 

 same in both instances, and has no reference to a man and 

 gun, but to a food supply in a state of nature. Birds are 

 but one part of the dog's natural prey; by education he can 

 be taught to hunt birds and entirely ignore rabbits, or vice 

 versa, but his instincts are not changed thereby in the slight- 

 est degree. 



The early exhibition of the pointing instinct is often pa- 

 raded as a decisive sign of superiority. The assumption is 

 fallacious. Some puppies will point when very young, even 

 when a few weeks old, yet such early exhibition of the in- 

 stinct is of no material advantage. Until the dog has some 

 maturity and working powers, pointing has no value. If 

 there is no manifestation of it within the first year, or year 

 and one half, the puppy should not be condemned if his 

 other qualities are sufficiently meritorious to promise well. 

 Probably at some period of the second year the instinct will 

 develop. A dog of this kind may work weeks in succession 

 under the most favorable conditions in respect to birds, 



