DOG-BEEAKING 61 



" ' But how do you Break your dogs in the field, Mr. Belt ? ' 



"'Break' is a bad word. I train my dogs, and I train 'em in this very room'— the 

 room was about twelve feet square. 



'"Look'ee, sir, a dog only wishes to know one thing, and that is what you want him 

 to do; and he only wants to learn one thing, and that is how to do it. Come here, Shot.' 



"'Hold up! good dogs,' said Belt; and the creatures at once bounded about the room. 

 'To-ho!' holding up his hand, and at the word both dropped motionless on the sanded floor. 

 As they lay. Belt took up a gun, capped, but not loaded, and snapped both barrels over their 

 heads. Grouse pricked up his cars, but on receipt of a reproving 'Down charge, sir!' lay 

 perfectly motionless until told to 'Hold up!' again, 



"'I shall take them pups into the field to-morrow, and you'll see how they behave.' 



'"But how do you teach them to point ? ' I asked. 



" ' Nature teaches them that, sir. I expect that at first a point was only a pause that 

 a dog made to be sure where the game lay before he sprung upon it; but the pause has been 

 lengthened out, first into a stop and then into a point; and the habit has descended from 

 one generation to another till a well-bred puppy points on coming on the scent of the game 

 just as naturally as he curls himself up to sleep, or shakes himself when he awakes.' 



'"But if he point on the scent of game, why should he not onthe scent of anything 

 else ?— a lark, or a sparrow, a cat, or mouse ! ' 



"'Why, so he will; but he soon learns to take no notice of 'em when he sees you 



don't When a puppy points at a lark, or a mouse, or a snake, just take no 



notice of him, turn away, or, what he feels most of all, just laugh at him quietly — sneer 

 like : neither dog nor horse can abide being laughed at. There are only three things I teach 

 my dogs . . . . : to keep to //r<7/ till they're told to hunt; to hunt when they are told; 

 and to drop to hand. All the rest comes by nature.' .... 



And now for a lesson in the field : — 



" ' No, no, Shot ! softly, Grouse ! go to heel, good dogs " said Belt as we approached 

 the gap in the hedge. "'Ware fence, 'ware fence,' and the puppies, who were coupled 

 together, slunk behind their master, 'and now, puppies, let's see what you're made of,' 

 taking off the couples as he spoke. At a wave of the hand the high-bred dogs bounded 

 forth, and it was both a beautiful and an interesting sight to watch the development of what 

 I must consider the reasoning power as apart from, or in addition to, instinct. At a signal 

 they dashed forward, seeking for something they knew not what— but still, in obedience to 

 their master's signals, quartering the ground, and seeking on in blind but undoubting 

 confidence of finding it. 



" 'Shot is shy and modest you see, sir, but he'll soon take to hunting on his own 

 account ; he has the finer nose of the two. Shot has. So-oftly, puppies !' Just now he follows 

 Grouse. A moment later, and then both dogs stood erect, stiff, rigid, immovable. How 

 beautiful they looked ! — every muscle at its full tension, living, but apparently spell-bound, 

 'There, sir,' said Belt, 'that's nature — that's breeding. All the breaking in the world couldn't 

 teach that. They*d stand like that for an hour.' In accordance with Belt's custom this 

 lesson did not last too long. 



