. Hou' TO TRAIN A RETRIEVER (LESSON VI) 495 



about for a short time to evince his gratitude at being 

 set free, but in a few minutes call him to you and 

 * down charge ' him, fasten a dozen yards of string to 

 his collar, and every time he leaves you as you stroll 

 along allow him to go a little space, then jerk the cord 

 and cry ' Heel ! ' indicating his proper position by a 

 backward wave of your right arm, which position, by 

 the way, is bchhul you, and not at your side or trotting 

 j ust before you.* The dog will soon learn to keep at heel 

 if you persevere for a week in this course, and you may 

 finally dispense with the cord, which do as soon as you 

 can, for many a young retriever is clever enough to 

 know he cannot leave you when secured to a cord, and 

 hence does not try to escape, though if you remove 

 his cord off he bolts. 



Having trained the dog to keep at heel when there 

 . enticement for him to leave you save for a frisk, 

 or to visit a tuft of grass, the next thing is to train 

 him to keep at heel when his natural instincts to 

 chase ground game are excited, and this will be toler- 

 ably easy if you have given him his preliminary lessons 

 thoroughly. 



You may now take the dog where he is likely to 

 hares or rabbits, but with the cord to his collar 



* If you have any difficulty in teaching the puppy to walk behind 

 you, procure a long walking stick, fasten a foot of cord to it by means 

 of a hole drilled in the ferrule end, and then secure the cord to the 

 dog's collar ; by this means you can check the dog from walking at 

 your side, and at the same time teach him to keep properly at heel. 



