DOG-BREAKING. 



A DIVERGENCE of opinion between two of my 

 friends on the above subject is amusing, more espe- 

 cially to me that has had experience in the science of 

 dog-breaking, for it is easily to be seen that both are 

 right, and therefore that the respective modes that 

 they recommend would prove successful only, how- 

 ever, with dogs of perfectly different temperament. 



As there are human beings of all sorts and con- 

 ditions, so there are dogs ; thus, where punishment 

 will succeed with one, it will fail with another ; where 

 coaxing will be awarded success with one, it will be 

 entirely thrown away upon another; where reliance 

 upon affection to obtain a desired result from one is 

 successful, that method of treatment will be utterly 

 useless with another. To mitigate trouble in break- 

 ing dogs, and, therefore, to arrive at the result desired 

 in the shortest possible space of time, the character of 

 your animal should be studied, and there is no time 

 more appropriate for that purpose than when the 

 initiatory process of " home or house breaking " 

 takes place, then you can learn without fail which is 

 to be repressed or which encouraged. 



I had two brothers, and both dogs turned out as 

 good and staunch as could be desired by the most 

 fastidious sportsman. In their early lessons in 

 retrieving, Beau had at first to be rounded up by a 

 whipper-in, while Muff, if so treated, dropped his 

 bird, and timorously came to heel. Both I made 

 companions of, and each evinced equally their 



