352 BRITISH DOGS 



of all that is good, and the firm correction of all that is bad and 

 wilful. 



Sometimes it happens that everything that can be done in 

 the shape of kindly persuasion is of no avail, and a dog is so 

 obstinate and so headstrong that severe measures have to be 

 resorted to. We all know the old proverb, "Spare the rod and 

 spoil the child," though many of us have protested loudly against 

 its exemplification when levelled against our own youthful persons ; 

 but as some children are spoilt by corporal punishment, the 

 moral welfare of others thrive thereon ; so it is with the Retriever. 

 All that we can say is, do not thrash your dog until all other 

 methods have failed ; but on the principle of " a stitch in time 

 saves nine," when you do administer the whip, lay it on with 

 a will, so that the memory of the infliction becomes an abiding 

 and restraining terror. Some Retrievers are so high-spirited and 

 headstrong that they deliberately risk a "hiding," rather than 

 forego the joy of running in and chasing fur. If such a dog 

 persistently elects "to do his bit, and take his hit," it may even 

 be necessary to see how he likes a charge of No. 8 shot at 

 sixty yards ! This is a last resource, and should only be practised 

 as such: but it is marvellously successful in most cases, though 

 always attended with more or less danger. 



Another somewhat questionable method of steadying a head- 

 strong dog is to peg him down with a long cord, and liberate 

 a bird or a rabbit; when this is shot, the dog rushes in, comes 

 to the length of his tether, and is violently precipitated tail over 

 tip. He soon gets tired of this, unless he breaks his neck, and 

 therein lies the danger. 



It is debatable whether or not the Retriever proper i.e. 

 one absolutely steady without slip, for battue-shooting should be 

 allowed to retrieve fur at all. If once a keen and high-spirited 

 dog has been permitted to go for a wounded hare or rabbit, 

 he enjoys the game so well that he constantly breaks in when 

 he sees Brer Rabbit stricken, and as often as not will totally 

 neglect feather, in favour of fur. The writer has seen such an one 

 retrieving a winged cock-pheasant as proud as you please, drop 

 it to chase a passing hare with a broken hind leg. Of course the 

 pheasant ran off, but the hare was retrieved, and this misguided 

 dog expected to be eulogised for his cleverness. Alas ! he was 

 disappointed ! 



Again, the retrieving of fur is apt to make a dog hard-mouthed. 

 A wounded hare kicking a dog's face for all he is worth, is apt 

 to engender reprisals, and crack go the ribs of the hapless rodent. 

 To break to fur a dog who has a rooted predilection for that 

 form of sport, many methods have been devised, including those 

 Which have been alluded to above ; but the oddest scheme the 



