66 WITH BOAT AND (iOS IN THE YANGTZE VALLEY. 



dog's movements in his young green days, and the dog's remembrance of such control, 

 that makes an animal valuable. This may be called the hand breaking stage. In the 

 room, with the door shut, he should be perfected in the acts of bringing without loitering 

 or playing with it the "toy" (an old shooting sock covering three or four corks on end, 

 tightly rolled up and sewn forms an admirable "toy" for the youngster) that may have been 

 thrown for him, of seeking for it diligently when secretly hidden away, of dropping to the 

 word " down," which should always be spoken in the lowest of tones, and afterwards of 

 instantly dropping to the signal (.hand upraised) alone. Then the same performances may 

 be gone through for a few days in a yard or garden or any enclosed place from which the 

 animal cannot break away. The knowledge that he is under his owner's complete control 

 and unable to free himself from it will soon make the most headstrong pup amenable and 

 obedient. The mastery thus once attained by the trainer is seldom lost. But, of course, 

 the owner-trainer always runs some risk when he lends his animal to a friend even though 

 that friend may know something about and be fond of dogs; a very great risk when he 

 entrusts an intelligent pupil to the tender mercies of the man whose sole object is to make 

 a bag. A couple of months' work may thus be easily undone in a couple of days. Moral : — 

 " Never lend a good dog." 



The next step will be to take the pupil in the field, constantly throw his "toy " for him, 

 and always reward him when he returns with it. Subsequently the " toy " may be hidden in 

 the grass or any other cover and the dog sent to bring it back ; and it is marvellous what 

 distances dogs with any metal in them will traverse, and what a pace they will return at, 

 especially if the trainer has walked some little distance in the opposite direction as soon 

 as the pup has started off in quest. But be careful above all things never to make the 

 lesson so long as to tire the animal or disgust him, for puppies very soon get tired and 

 indifferent. Little and often should be the trainer's maxim. So far, this system of education 

 is one to be recommended in the case of any sporting dog of whatever breed ; but if the 

 pupil is a retriever it will be necessary now to confine him as much as possible to his 

 particular line of business. He must at once be taught to walk at heel, and nowhere can 

 this be better done in the first instance than by making him follow you down the narrow 

 paths which intersect the rice fields. He cannot pass you there, and this alone will be 

 productive of a great moral effect upon him and render him less likely to forge ahead of 

 you when you get into more open ground, and even then a pocket-handkerchief just flicked 

 in his face will be sufficient to keep him where he should be, and that is behind you, and 

 nowhere else. It is not essential in China that a retriever should "down charge." It will be 

 enough to make him sit down and wait until ordered to move, and this can be done in a 

 very few lessons if one end of a light cord, a dozen feet long, be attached to his collar and 

 the other to a small iron peg, to be stamped into the ground, and the animal pressed into a 

 sitting position. When a dog will freely do what has been suggested, fetch, carry and sit 

 down, the only thing remaining for him to learn is to retrieve, which he will soon do if he 

 has anything like a nose. And it is of the first importance to discover at the outset whether 

 your dog has a fine sense of scent or not. If not, you cannot expect good sport. Nose, it 

 must be remembered is the one thing, probably the only thing, the trainer cannot impart 

 to his pupil. A " drag " of some sort is the surest way of making a retriever a successful 



