THE CHESAPEAKE BAY DOG. 367 



few outings, you will have little or no trouble. It will be 

 but a short time until you will find you will only have to 

 look for the ducks coming, and your dog will look after 

 those you knock down; and when he once goes at his work 

 in this way, do not interfere with him by trying to make 

 him come into the blind, or get down in the boat out of 

 sight; his coat and color provide for this, and he appears 

 to be aware of the fact. 



I am a strong believer in natural instincts, and insist 

 that to have a dog do his work satisfactorily, he must do it 

 for the love of the sport, rather, than because he is forced 

 to do it. I have never yet seen a forced retriever that could 

 be depended upon at all times. They are liable to become 

 sulky at times, and when they do, the owner is liable to get 

 in the same mood; then the sport is over, for that day, at 

 least. Companionably handled, the chances are this trouble 

 will be avoided. I would not be understood as saying that 

 all that is necessary is to buy one of these puppies, grow 

 him up to six months, take him to the marsh, and you have 

 a thorough retriever for ten years to come. Far from it. 

 The first six months it may be ten or twelve months of 

 his life are to be a continuous period of breaking and training 

 not a breaking all jammed into one week, or two, but 

 continuous, little by little; and when the six or twelve 

 months are past, you will be surprised to see how much 

 your puppy will do for you, and how little trouble he has 

 been. In my opinion, dog-breaking is a thing in which no 

 stated rules can be followed. The most necessary thing is, 

 first, fair material on which to work, and then lots of good, 

 hard common-sense on the part of the trainer. 



A few words on breeding may be of interest. First of 

 all, if you wish to be successful, do not attempt cross-breed- 

 ing. By this I mean do not attempt to improve the breed 

 of Chesapeakes by an infusion of other blood, such as 

 Setter, Spaniel, etc. Those experiments have already been 

 made, and with the worst possible results. For instance, 

 on the Irish Setter; result, a litter of all black puppies. On 

 the English Setter; result, a litter of all colors but the 



