464 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS 



LETTEE XXX 



NOTES ON BREAKING DOGS FOR THE GUN 



You will find it a mighty puzzling affair to train a 

 dog from the voluminous directions commonly given 

 in treatises on sport. 



Study any work you like on dog breaking (except 

 perhaps Colonel Hutchinson's), it is probable when 

 you arrive at the end of it you will know little more 

 of the actual practice of training a dog than you did 

 before its perusal ! 



When dog breaking is described by a sporting 

 author he is wont to discuss the subject in a rambling 

 picturesque style, and to pad his pages with useless 

 anecdotes, that only tend to confuse a beginner, who 

 perhaps wishes to learn the answer to some simple 

 question, such as how to teach his retriever to keep 

 at heel, or his pointer to be staunch on birds. 



I shall not here allude to ' the noble sagacity,' 

 the companionable qualities,' ' the exquisite powers 



