184 MODERN TRAINING. 



ing ends. By various little arts, applied as opportunity of- 

 fers, much can be done to establish stanchness with very 

 little punishment. If the trainer can walk in from the 

 front, or ta"ke a circular course and get nearly in front of 

 the puppy while he is pointing, he will be enabled to catch 

 the dog's- eye and can easily check any signs of unsteadi- 

 ness. No effort should be made to make the dog over- 

 stanch on his point. He should be permitted to ma- 

 neuver and point his birds in an intelligent manner, and any 

 stanchness beyond what is necessary is a fault, which will 

 be shown by standing after the birds have run, or on a hot 

 footscent, or by standing after the birds have flown away. 

 It is essential to train the dog to point at a proper dis- 

 tance from his birds neither too far nor too close; in the 

 former case he gives the handler a great deal of unneces- 

 sary trouble in beating over a large area of ground to flush; 

 in the latter, he will make a great many unnecessary flushes; 

 therefore, notwithstanding that pointing birds at a long dis- 

 tance is considered a desirable quality by many, since it is as- 

 serted that it denotes a keen nose, it is undesirable in practice. 

 It does not necessarily denote a keener nose than that of a dog 

 which points closer, but it denotes bad judgment in the dog 

 or unskillful training in the handler. To correct the fault 

 if he is well advanced in training, judicious punishment 

 should be given for flushes caused by pressing the birds too 

 closely. This will make him cautious to avoid flushing. 

 The dog which stands on the footscent or points at too 

 great a distance requires encouragement by kindness. Grad- 

 ually he will acquire more boldness; and flushes which he 

 makes occasionally may be overlooked discreetly. In fact, 

 tact must be exercised in applying methods, it being quite 

 as important as method itself. The intelligence and natural 

 capabilities of the dog are important elements in train- 

 ing. If he is honest, but a bit stupid and frequent errors 



