34 TRAINING vs. BREAKING. 



had considerable practice at this, and will readily come il e 

 step or two at the word " bring; " or you can use the word 

 "fetch " if you prefer, but do not use more than one of them, 

 at least until your pupil is further advanced. Of course 

 you will have taught him to come to you when called, long 

 before this, and by prefacing your call with the word bring, 

 or fetch, it will not be long before he will understand its 

 meaning ; but until he does understand it and comes readily 

 at the word you sho^d cot increase the distance. 



There is a great difference ii do:s in learning this ; some 

 of them will give ycu scarcely any trouble and from the first 

 appear to know just what you want and take delight in 

 bringing cnything you may throw for them ; while others 

 seem to b3 stupid and will never bring anything of their own 

 accord. The first is a natural retriever and will be easily 

 taught, and also easily spoiled. The last, although harder to 

 teach, will make nearly as good a retriever as the former if 

 the proper course is pursued. We very much dislike that a 

 pup should retrieve before his mouth is all right and his per- 

 manent teeth well grown ; for this propensity, if indulged 

 before this time is very apt to give you a hard-mouthed dog. 

 Hence, for this reason, we never encourage a pup to bring 

 anything while at play. In fact he should never for a 

 moment be allowed to think that he is u; play while under 

 instruction in any of his lessons, for there is nothing that is 

 so conducive to bad behavior and disobedience as this. 

 Therefore, make him realize that when you require him to do 

 anything you mean work and not play. 



Do not forget that he must never be allowed to eat the 

 piece of meat that he has held in his mouth or brought 'to 

 you, but that he must be rewarded with something different. 

 This is a very important point, and you will find it very use- 

 ful in perfecting the delicate mouth that we all admire so 

 much. You must also insist upon instant obedience to your 

 command to drop. This can be obtained at the outset by 

 practice with your hand, clasping his muzzle as we have be- 

 fore described, and this must be resorted to should he show 

 the slightest inclination to hesitate or roll the morsel around 



