BREAKING AND HANDLING. 237 



fall of a broomstick, or other unusual sound, would pro- 

 duce the like result. It is hardly necessary to add that they 

 were gunshy. The gunshyness, merely an incident of the 

 fault, is mistaken for the fault itself. Unquestionably, dogs 

 of such character are predisposed to gunshyness, but no 

 more so than, from their infirmity, they are predisposed to 

 many other annoying traits. 



Frequently good dogs are unnecessarily made gunshy by 

 mismanagement, and quite as frequently the fault is ascribed 

 to the imperfection of the dog. Very, few cases, if any, 

 are known where the trainer was admittedly blamable. 

 When puppies are handled properly, the fault rarely appears. 

 It is a safe estimate that four cases out of five are caused 

 by bad management, consequently could have been avoided. 

 Often the first introduction the dog has to the report of a 

 gun is under the most adverse circumstances. The owner 

 takes the dog out, for the first time perhaps, to a strange 

 place. When a favorable opportunity offers, he looks 

 sternly at the dog, shouts Steady, and fires, not improbably 

 with five drams of powder with a ten bore. The dog 

 sees a flash, hears a dreadful noise, smells a vile smell of 

 burnt powder, is panic stricken and bolts the owner shouts 

 loudly for him to come in; when the dog is caught sooner 

 or later, the lesson may be gracefully finished with a lav- 

 ish profusion of whip, spike collar, and imprecation. If 

 then it can be learned that the dog had an ancestor which 

 was gunshy, such affords ample material, with some furbish- 

 ing of the imagination, for a learned and lengthy public let- 

 ter on hereditary gunshyness, whereupon the production 

 finds favor as a contribution to science, and the amateur 

 establishes a reputation as a close observer and astute rea- 

 soner. Such a case may apparently be overdrawn, but in 

 the main features it happens frequently, the hereditary 

 failing not being in the dog. In view of the fact that a re- 



