WILDFOWL DOGS— HOW TO BREAK THEM 67 



hand at four months old. The idea of having your pupil 

 under view so young-, is not that his breaking may be then 

 started, but that he may, by careful attention, be prevented 

 from acquiring many bad habits, such as jumping up, tearing 

 things to pieces, and so on, which are troublesome to eradicate. 



At six or seven months breaking should be commenced. 

 For example, let us suppose we have secured a puppy of the 

 right calibre and intend to break him. The first lessons 

 should be to teach him to disregard everyone except his 

 master, to follow closely to heel (in a leash at first), and 

 "drop" instantly the word "down" is shouted. It will be 

 necessary at first to press him to the ground, but after a few 

 such pressings and by using the word "down" he will soon 

 know exactly what is wanted. Carry out the "down " charge to 

 extremes at first by shouting to him as he runs past, thereby 

 teaching him to heed and act instantly to the order. This 

 is not a great necessity in his later work, but it answers admir- 

 ably the purpose of letting the dog know he is under attention 

 and must act according to orders. After about a month of 

 daily lessons of an hour's duration he should be under very 

 good control. He is then ready to be taught the more practical 

 part of his work. 



Before going on to describe his breaking proper it will be 

 well to add that the orders given the dog should be as concise 

 as possible. What I mean is that the trainer should avoid 

 long sentences and contrive his commands in single syllables 

 if possible. This also applies to the field name given to the 

 dog. My idea on this point is to choose a name of one 

 syllable only, such as Jack, Knot, Bang, Nap, Duke, Cane, 

 Eve, and Whip, avoiding two or more syllables and words 

 with the "s" sound in them, which have the undesired result 

 of setting a dog to seek when his name is shouted. I will 

 note the words of command that I have found answer best, and 

 later, as we proceed with the dog's breaking, the reader may 



