490 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS 



give it gently up to you, for the harder you pull the 

 tighter will he close his jaws over their contents. 



A dovecot pigeon, lately killed (not a farm one ; 

 it is too large and fully feathered), is very suitable 

 for a retriever puppy to learn to retrieve. The first 

 time a young dog is sent for a bird in the field he is 

 liable to bite and spoil it, because he does not know 

 how to hold it in his mouth, but if he has had some 

 previous practice in carrying a small pigeon he will 

 manage a partridge equally well. If you do not use 

 a pigeon, then a fresh rabbit skin, rolled up into the 

 shape of a ball and bound round with twine, will do 

 very well to train the puppy with, as it will have 

 ' scent ' about it to some extend 



LESSON IV 



' SEEK AND FIND BY SIGHT ' 



Our puppy is now some five to six months of age, 

 and has learnt to come instantly to call or whistle 

 when ordered, to ' down charge,' and to retrieve in the 

 open ; we next have to teach him to ' seek and find.' 

 (' Seek and find ' can best be expressed in the field by 

 the one word * seek.') 



Commence by teaching your puppy to find by 

 searching (not yet by scent), let him see you pitch the 

 pigeon, glove, or ball behind the corner of a wall : he will 

 naturally go round to pick it up ; then throw it behind 

 a stone, or perhaps into a tussock of grass, or a bunch 



