TEAINING.] 



THE DOG, AND ITS VARIETIES; 



[teaining-. 



to run in immediately after a shot is fired, pick 

 up and bring whatever game is killed ; and in 

 the case of a hare being shot at and wounded, 

 to chase and do his best to catch the hare; 

 and, if he is absent half an hour, provided he 

 returns with the hare, his master is highly 

 delighted, and considers him a first-rate dog. 

 We have seea. some hundred pointers and 

 setters — at least what are called so — and never 

 saw one that either went down to charge, or 

 that did not invariably chase. As all dogs are 

 naturally disposed to chase, the highest bred 

 ones as well as mongrels, it is not to be won- 

 dered at that when they meet with constant 

 encouragement they should accomplish this 

 feat to perfection. 



There are various methods of breaking 

 pointers and setters, recommended by different 

 sportsmen and gamekeepers ; and although 

 there is some difierence of opinion as to which 

 are most advisable to be employed, there is 

 none as to what the results ought to be. A 

 good dog is expected to go down to charge, 

 drop to hand, stand, back, carry his head high, 

 range well, and quarter his ground in the most 

 advantageous manner. 



The natural requisites in pointers and setters 

 are good breeding, perfect symmetry, and fine 

 nose. The two latter qualities are generally 

 consequent on the first, as it is rare to find a 

 well-bred dog that is not well made and has a 

 good nose. Admitting this position to be 

 correct, attention to breeding becomes im- 

 portant ; and, supposing a sportsman to have a 

 first-rate female, either setter or pointer, we 

 should recommend him to spare no trouble or 

 expense in procuring or sending to the best 

 dog he can find ; and if he selects a dog that is 

 unexceptionable in every respect, there will be 

 little liability to disappointment. Differing 

 from opinions given by some excellent sports- 

 men, we should say that it is best not to breed 

 constantly in-and-in with dogs used in the sense 

 of breeding from dogs nearly related one to 

 another, as we have good reason to believe that 

 the produce of such connections would be 

 physically degenerate, and most probably defi- 

 cient in sagacity. We cannot explain the 

 physiological reasons for this result, as these, 

 like many other operations of nature, we fancy 

 are beyond our intellectual range; but we 

 think we may safely affirm that the law of 

 456 



nature is universal in this respect, and there- 

 fore should not be disregarded. Herdsmen, 

 farmers, shepherds, gardeners, and breeders of 

 horses and cattle, are all well alive to the fact 

 that breeding in-and-in produces degeneracy : 

 it is discernible in plants and seeds as well as 

 in animals — in potatoes and wheat as well as 

 in sheep. No good farmer will sow two years 

 consecutively wheat in the same soil that pro- 

 duced it; and intelligent gardeners seek for 

 change of seed. Shepherds, also, who have the 

 care of large flocks of sheep, make changes 

 every two years, too obvious to be more than 

 hinted at, and find these necessary to avoid 

 degeneracy. We refrain from going further 

 into the particulars of this law of change, com- 

 pliance with which is majiifestly universally 

 required by nature for the maintenance and 

 advancement of our general interests, inas- 

 much as the subject, in all its various bearings, 

 however interesting and important, is not likely 

 to be settled by us. In support of these views, 

 some very valuable information has been ad- 

 vanced on the subject of breeding fowls, not 

 for the purpose of exhibition, but for the more 

 important object of utility, where it is stated 

 that, by following the law of change (i. e. 

 crossing), heavier, finer, and more marketable 

 fowls are produced ; and it should be remem- 

 bered " that the exhibition of birds is only a 

 secondary consideration when compared with 

 their commercial utility." 



In proceeding with the method of training 

 and breaking pointers, and setters, we will 

 assume, for argument's sake, that a young dog 

 is well bred, of good shape and make, and 

 about twelve months old, and just brought 

 home from his walk to be taught everything 

 which a pointer and setter ought to learn. 

 The first thing to be done is to make him 

 thoroughly docile and obedient, to know his 

 name, to come immediately when called, to 

 drop to hand, and not to move till he is allowed 

 to do so. To produce these results, some use 

 a collar with a cord ; some the spiked collar 

 with the cord also; and others exert moral 

 influence aided by the whip. The merit and 

 success of each plan will depend much upon a 

 dog's temper, as there is much difference in 

 this respect ; so that what would produce suc- 

 cess with one dog would entirely fail with 

 another. The breaker must, therefore, be 



