64 TllAINING vs. BREAKING. 



days, for the course that we have pursued has wonderfully- 

 developed his reasoning faculties, and there will be no trouble 

 in ea'ily teaching him to comprehend that when ordered to 

 retrieve a cripple-1 bird, no license is thereby granted him to 

 indiscrimately rush for every one that starts. When once 

 we have our dog under the perfect control that it has been 

 our aim to achieve, it is comparatively an ca^y matter to keep 

 him up to his work, as our knowledge of his disposition and 

 his knowledge of our method will render an occasional word 

 all that will be required. 



Having brought teacher and pupil safely afield, we 

 shall now regretfully take our leave of them, trusting that 

 not entirely in vain have been our labors, and that some at 

 least of the new recruits to the vast army of sportsmen may 

 be induced to follow the course here marked out, and by their 

 success encourage others to try our humane system of training. 

 Upon carefully reviewing our very pleasant task, we are 

 painfully impressed with its many shortcomings and imper- 

 fections ; the most serious of these is the failure to express 

 the ideas that we wish to convey in a satisfactory manner. 

 Although to the best of our ability have we endeavored to 

 impart the knowledge gained by a large experience, yet we 

 feel that we have but crudely and imperfectly accomplished 

 our purpose. There appears to be an indescribable, in- 

 tangible something lacking which our pen is unable to portray 

 There is a mysterious and subtle power, inherent in some 

 and only gained by others with long experience, that enables 

 its possessor to exact an instant and willing obedience from 

 the lower animals by a single word or look that others cannot 

 compel by vociferous commands or even by blows. We 

 have always noticed that those who possessed this peculiar 

 gift appeared intuitively, as it were, to understand the nature 

 and disposition of the animals under their care, and that 

 there was invariably an almost electrical and harmonious 

 sympathy between them. Would that we could reveal the 

 secret of this mysterious power ; then could we lay aside our 

 pen with pride in the belief that we had laid at the feet of 

 the sportsmen's shrine a worthy offering. 



