58 WITH BOAT AND GUN IN THE YANGTZE VALLEY. 



To be able to go direct to and bring back the "toy " that may have been left behind. 



By many these requirements will be considered unnecessary in a setter or pointer; but 

 as the learning of these things is always associated with pleasure, it may be just as well to 

 let a pupil enjoy himself thoroughly before introducing him to the power of the check cord, 

 which is the very foundation of all good breaking in the case of a pointing dog. Further, 

 the check cord should not be brought into requisition until the dog has tasted to the full the 

 joy of hunting free of all control. Ranging at will in his early days makes a dog bold ; and 

 it must be borne in mind that it is easier to curb the spirits of a high-couraged dog than it is 

 to impart confidence and heart to a timid animal. 



Now begins the serious part of the pointer's or setter's education. The pup must be 

 taught to drop to signal in the open and this can be best done with a check cord. Get a 

 slight rope — signal halyard will do — some 30 yards long, attach one end to the dog's collar 

 and the other to a peg which should be securely fixed in the ground. At his first rush to 

 get off he will be brought to a check by the cord which will alarm him considerably. He 

 should then be pulled back to the peg and made to crouch alongside of it. On the trainer 

 moving, the dog will very naturally rise and follow him, but the animal must be pulled back 

 as before and made to lie down at the word "Drop "or "Down," spoken with the right hand 

 uplifted. In a very few lessons he will readily drop to the signal, without the warning of voice 

 or whistle. When he will do this, cleanly and instantly, the length of the cord may be 

 reduced one half and the dropping lessons continued and a little later on he will be as much 

 under your control when dragging a five-yard cord at any distance from you as he would 

 be did you actually hold the cord. As this instant dropping is the secret of all successful 

 training, it is well worth while to expend a little extra present care to avoid much subsequent 

 annoyance and trouble. 



The next step in the curriculum is to encourage the pupil to range where there is little 

 or no game, and to drop him constantly during his work; and nowhere could one find a 

 better ranging ground than the banks of the Soochow Creek above Wongdoo, in the cotton 

 or indigo fields, where a prevalent, steady breeze, right in the dog's face may be relied on 

 according to the season of the year. It is a fatal mistake to permit a young dog to work 

 with the wind either on one side of or behind him. In the first case he will make nothing 

 at all like a regular parallel, and in the second he may possibly get so far away from you 

 as to be beyond your control. Therefore always try and work your young dog with the 

 wind in his face and if you walk zig-zag fashion your dog will turn when you turn, and 

 soon learn to make even parallels. Old and tried dogs may, of course, be allowed to run 

 down wind and work up against it to the shooter : but a young dog never. 



After an experience in ranging in something like a systematic manner, it will be 

 well to work him on ground where there is a probability of his seeing birds. At home, of 

 course, he would be dropped on the rising of a bird, but in China this is scarcely necessary, 

 as the chances of disturbing other game are very remote. But it would be just as well to 

 prevent him running in at shot. Should, however, he run in, far better than thrashing him 

 would be to administer a sound "rating," and to adjust the original long check cord again. 

 Later on he may be permitted to run in when a bird is dropped, and his early lessons in 

 retrieving may then be discovered to have been not altogether in vain. 



