466 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



one who loses his patience, or the control of his whip 

 or even his tongue. 



It is often asserted that some men possess a gift 

 of training a dog, but this gift is nothing super- 

 natural ; it mainly consists in treating any dog you 

 wish to educate, with common sense, firmness, perse- 

 verance, and kindness, varied by a judicious bestowal 

 of reward and punishment, and above all a consistent 

 behaviour toward him in all your actions. 



A dog breaker frequently fails to realise that as an 

 animal cannot understand speech it will, as an alter- 

 native, liare to be taught by gestures, and by a tone of 

 voice that expresses the praise or anger of its master, 

 rather than by actual w r ords. 



If a clog could talk plain English for five minutes, 

 his duties could be explained to him in that time ; 

 but as this is impossible, we have to spend months in 

 drilling into his memory, little by little, what is correct 

 conduct on his part and what is not. 



Half our dogs are irretrievably ruined from their 

 masters striving to cram into their brains all they 

 should know as quickly as possible, in the mistaken 

 idea of saving time and trouble. 



Never beat a dog severely, for if a bad-tempered 

 one you will make him of a still worse disposition, and 

 if a timid animal you are likely to break his spirit. 

 Recollect how difficult it must be for a young dog to 



