196 DOGS 



Conscience was silent in the excitement of the 

 chase, but now it is very much alive. Instead of 

 fawning and jumping up on you, they will not meet 

 your eye, and sneak into the back regions, even 

 when half-dying of hunger. 



You must train up a dog in the way he should 

 go, and what you must chiefly impress upon him 

 is obedience and self-control. But gentle methods 

 are the best, except with impracticable animals 

 you had better get rid of, and everything may be 

 done by kindness. When you are teaching the 

 dog, it is good training for yourself, and some- 

 times patience is sorely tried. A dog-call always 

 hangs at my button-hole, but I never carry a dog- 

 whip, and though I sometimes lay the stick lightly 

 over a dog's back, it is only by way of hint as 

 to what might possibly happen. Only once did I 

 actually chastise a dog severely, and he was the 

 greatest favourite I have ever had. Once when I 

 returned home after a few weeks' absence, I found 

 he had become an incorrigible poacher, or rather 

 hunter, for there w^as nothing of the sneak about 

 his proceedings, and he never realised he was doing 

 wrong. Servants had taken him out for walks 

 in the woods, and were quite content to bring 

 him home safe, waiting patiently until he had 

 done amusing himself with the game. Taking 

 the same walks myself, I found that my friend 

 gave me the slip ; then I heard him, as the old 

 writers say, making the welkin ring, as he followed 

 hot-foot on a burning scent. His cheery cry 



