354 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



When a year old I took him out for woodcock the first time lie was ever 

 in cover. I had not been on woodcock ground ten minutes before he gave 

 voice. I knew that meant birds, and immediately gave one short, sharp whistle, 

 which brought the dog to a stop Taking a good position, I gave one more 

 whistle, when he started quickly, giving voice, and flushed a woodcock, which 

 my friend shot. Calling to Gyp to " fetch," he obeyed instantly, bringing the 

 bird in tenderly. We hunted about four hours, raised nine woodcocks and shot 

 seven. Gyp found them all, and retrieved every dead bird, never failing to 

 obey me, and never flushed a bird until ordered to go on, always giving me 

 warning of the presence of a bird by giving voice. I have been unfortunate in 

 not living in a partridge country since I was a boy, and for that reason have 

 never trained a Cocker for partridge-hunting; still I believe I can take any one 

 of my Cockers and hunt partridges as I have woodcocks; but my friends who 

 use Cockers for partridge-hunting usually allow the dog to " tree" the birds. 

 All the experience I have had with Cockers on partridges was when a boy, and 

 without any trouble I had my little Spaniel trained so he would circle about 

 a bird, giving voice as he ran, gradually drawing the circle smaller until he 

 flushed the bird, which would seek refuge in the nearest tree. 



For fuller and more complete instructions on this sub- 

 ject, I would commend to my readers a little book called 

 " The Spaniel and its Training," by D. Boulton Herrold. 

 It is an excellent work, and is invaluable to owners of 

 Spaniels. 



I would advise anyone about to purchase a Cocker to 

 get a puppy, and train it for his own use. The best 

 worker I ever owned was trained on the street going to 

 and from my shop. Buy a dog that will mature at about 

 twenty-six or twenty-eight pounds, a cobby dog, that 

 stands about fourteen inches at shoulder, with head of 

 medium length, good straight legs, and hard, round feet. 



and puppy class, Albany, N. Y., June, 1888, special, best Cocker, Albany, 

 N.Y., June, 1888; V. H. C., open class, Buffalo, N.Y., September, 1888; second, 

 open class, Syracuse, N. Y , September, 1888; first, open class, London, Can- 

 ada, September, 1888; special, best Cocker dog, London, Canada, September, 

 1888; first, open class, New York, February, 1889; first, open class, Troy, 

 N. Y., February, 1889; first, open class, Albany, N. Y., March, 1889; first, 

 open class, Rochester, N. Y., March, 1889; first,' open class, Boston, Mass., 

 April, 1889; second, challenge class, Chicago, 111., April, 1889; second, chal- 

 lenge class, Philadelphia, Penn., April, 1889; first, challenge class, New York, 

 February, 1890; special, best American-bred Cocker, New York, February, 

 1890; second, challenge class, Boston, Mass., April, 1890; first, challenge class, 

 Buffalo, N. Y., April, 1890; special, best American-bred Cocker, Buffalo, 

 N. Y., April, 1890. 



