502 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



lick it, put the bird in your pocket, and reward 

 the dog with a piece of food, and he will soon learn to 

 fetch game he is sent for, whether you stand still, or, 

 as you may soon do, walk forward. 



A first love affair, a first tiger, stag, or salmon, 

 does not, I imagine, make more impression on the 

 human mind than the first partridge he retrieves 

 in the shooting field will on the mind of a young 

 dog, so have a care he retrieves it properly. Never 

 send a young dog for at least a week for a wounded 

 bird; it will be capital practice for him to keep at 

 heel, and to watch a really steady retriever, if possible 

 in another person's charge, fetch the runners. A 

 young dog is sure to at first bite a wounded bird a 

 trifle too hard with the object of holding it firmly 

 as it struggles, and a little maybe for the pleasure of 

 feeling it crunch in his jaws ; though if he once takes 

 to the latter habit with any persistency, have no more 

 to do with him. 



If your dog cannot find the dead bird you have 

 sent him for, on no account allow him to be disap- 

 pointed, which implies discouraged ; but drop the bird 

 you carry in your pocket when he is not observing, 

 lead him up to it, and on his finding it, reward and 

 caress him as though it were the one you sought. 

 For the same reason never pick up a bird yourself 

 which you have .sent a retriever to seek without 

 showing it to him, or he will think you have been 

 fooling him on an empty quest ; it is still better to 



