148 The Dog Book 



brilliant parents all too frequently have children in no ways their equals, 

 so also well-built parents do riot always have equally symmetrical children, 

 though that is the case much more so than in dogs as a rule. 



Presuming that the would-be trainer is about selecting a puppy upon 

 which to try his skill, and the breeding of a certain litter or dog suits him, 

 as promising good results, then let him satisfy himself that the dog is shaped 

 so that he can gallop with ease and freedom, if of an age to run at speed; 

 or if too young for that, see that he stands straight in front, has good bone, 

 a short back and is well crooked in hind legs. A dog straight behind is 

 almost invariably wrong in shoulders, and anyway if he cannot reach well 

 forward with his hind legs he will prove a poor gallopper. Stress is laid 

 upon formation, because no matter if one sees field trials winners in all 

 sorts of shapes, that is no argument that they do better than if they were 

 better made, or as well. There are plenty of well-made dogs incapable of 

 doing good work in the field just as we find many strong, muscular men 

 quite incapable of continued exertion or of standing severe punishment. 

 We know that certain conformations are not conducive to speed in animals 

 and there is little use selecting a puppy with radical faults in that respect 

 when there are plenty of others in the market. Good health is another 

 necessity, and it will be well to find out that the parents are strong consti- 

 tutioned dogs, vigorous and healthy. A bad constitutioned dog eats poorly 

 and works poorly and should be left alone. 



In some works on training the first lessons are devoted to a good many 

 simple things which are just as much associated with field work as is the 

 a, b, c a hand-book for a college course. If the setter or pointer has 

 not before he is six or eight months old been taught to come at call or become 

 accustomed to the collar and chain, we may well ask what the dog's owner 

 has been thinking about. "Here, puppy; come, puppy" was the first 

 start in the education of the field dog, just as a-b, ab was the start of the 

 college graduate's education. Training simply consists in the dog doing 

 what he has been ordered to do, the recognition of the man as the director 

 of his ways and one that must be obeyed. Not only must the puppy come 

 promptly to his master when called, but he must get in the habit of obeying 

 him in ways that are not quite as much to his liking, such as being taken 

 for a walk and then ordered home, going to his kennel when so ordered, and 

 all in obedience to order and long before any course of training is taken up. 

 Wearing a collar and leading on chain are plain dog education and not 



