BREAKING AND HANDLING! 250 



ing for want of opportunity; moreover, a dog may perform 

 excellently well alone, or with familiar companions, while 

 with a strange companion in every heat, strange whistles and 

 commands, he might become excited, or confused, or jeal- 

 ous. The change of food, water, kenneling and long rail- 

 road journeys sometimes throw a dog off his work. It 

 would seem that of the great multitude of dogs that are not 

 present at field trials, but which can, nevertheless, beat the 

 field trial competitors, it would be an act of true philan- 

 thropy to take one of the multitude to some of the trials by 

 way of a model of what a good dog should be, not to men- 

 tion the lesser honors and winnings. 



The advantages of a superior course of education are of 

 prime importance. The dog which has been trained to work 

 on birds correctly, but independent of any prompting of his 

 handler, will far outclass one which depends on his handler 

 for assistance and guidance at every turn. The one can be 

 cast off with certainty of good performance on his own judg- 

 ment, the other cannot do so if it would; while the latter is 

 making preparations to do certain work, the former has it 

 done. The system which requires the dog to do the hunt- 

 ing stands distinctly superior over the one which requires 

 the man and dog to do the hunting. 



In preparing any dog for field trial, he should not bf. 

 worked so long at one time as to cause him to slacken his 

 speed or quit work. Whenever it is observed that the dog 

 shows weariness, it is time for him to have a rest, or that 

 work should cease for that day. The aim is to establish a 

 fast pace that he can maintain uniformly for a couple of 

 hours; also he should be trained to work on birds as quickly 

 as is consistent with accuracy. Quickness of execution al- 

 ways gives a decided advantage to the dog possessing it. 

 However, no dog should be encouraged to run at his utmost 

 speed, for when so extended, his attention is taken up with 



