xxxn. Ho\v TO TRAIN A RETRIEVER (LESSON III) 489 



place the article in his mouth again, and close his 

 ja\vs over it with your hand, and now and then take it 

 from him and give it him back.* 



As part of a puppy's education is learning to re- 

 trieve tenderly without injury to bird or animal, you 

 will have to see to this. If a puppy is inclined to 

 bite or lacerate what he is sent for, or to pounce vio- 

 lently on it, practise him with a thin glove, such as a 

 wash-leather one, with part of a hedgehog skin stuffed 

 inside it (inns are brutal) ; if he seizes or carries this 

 lightly he will feel nothing, but if he bites or pinches 

 it, it will prick him, and he may as a result learn to 

 bt- tender in the mouth. 



If a dog is naturally hard-mouthed he is rarely 

 cured (a puppy is soft-mouthed by nature, not by 

 training), though any young dog can soon be made 

 hard in the mouth by the foolish and not un.usual 

 custom of snatching or dragging what he carries from 

 him, instead of coaxing him to open his mouth and 



* Teaching a puppy to walk after you as he carries some object 

 in his mouth is a common performance, I know, but it is one 

 that should not be encouraged to any extent. Too much prac- 

 tice in carrying will certainly create a hard mouth ; remember a 

 retriever's duty is to bring with the least possible delay what he is 

 sent after, to your hand, and not to walk about with it, wagging his 

 tail. 



If you want to make your young dog clever in such things, 

 teach him a feat that requires ' smartness ' and also exercises his 

 natural instincts. Drop your glove, for example, and let him hunt 

 your trail till he finds the glove, and then see that he brings it you 

 as fast as his legs will carry him. This is a tiseful trick, and one of 

 great service in the education of your dog, while learning to ' carry ' 

 on his part certainly is not ! 



