UPLAND SHOOTING. 



355 



done by the gentleman sportsman, and indeed I should hardly 

 recommend the attempt. 



For a novice to attempt it, would be an act of stark mad- 

 ness. Still, however, it is necessary to know something of the 

 theory of the science, otherwise it will be impossible to keep 

 the animal, after being thoroughly trained, perfect in his prac- 

 tice ; and again, it is well that the rules should be laid down 

 distinctly, as veiy many professed breakers fail in their art from 

 want not of perseverance, but of knowledge. 



First of all, it must be remembered, that although to foint 

 was once a taught quality, it is now, in the pure high-bred 

 Pointer and Setter an inherited, if not natural, instinct, and in 

 the very purest caste of Pointers to hack the point of their fel- 

 lows, is also now hereditary. I have seen half-a-dozen Pointer 

 puppies, not above six weeks old, crawling about the yard, 

 pointing the Pigeons and fowls, and backing one another, as 

 steadily as old dogs in the field ; and I hardly consider any dog, 

 Pointer or Setter, as worth the trouble and expense of breaking, 

 unless he points the first game bird he ever scents, even if he 

 have not seen it. 



The first step I therefore would take with a young dog, 

 is to find out whether he has got a nose or not, and whether he 

 is worth breaking ; this I should do by taking a walk with him, 

 and without a gun, where game abounded, and observing his 

 actions and movements. If he have a good nose, and be highly 

 bred, he will undoubtedly point on the first occasion of his 

 crossing the scent of Quail, Grouse, Snipe, or Woodcock. 



This point once established, the sooner he is cairied home 

 the better, and he is, on no account whatever, to be taken out 

 again, or to see game again, until he is perfectly Jwusc-hrokc. 



It is to the vicious plan of attempting to break doo-s in the 

 field, and in the face of game, that the number of wild, Worth- 

 less, iiTeclaimable brutes, is to be attributed. 



The first step in breaking, is to teach the dog to " down," or 

 '- charge," wherever he is. He is taught to do this in the com- 

 mencement, by means of a cord fastened to his collar, and by 



