BREAKING TO RETRIEVE. 275 



variety, the first tiling to be done is to get the pupjDy to " fetch 

 and carry " well ; after which he may be introduced to " flappers " 

 in Juh^ and August, when the water is warm, and he does not 

 feel the ill effects and disagreeables attendant on a cold winter's 

 day with a wet coat. The young birds are also slow and awkward 

 in swimming and diving, so that every encouragement is afforded 

 to the dog, and he may readily be induced to continue the 

 sport, to which he is naturally inclined, for hours together. The 

 chief difficulty at first is in breaking the water-spaniel from 

 rats which infest the banks of most streams, and which are 

 apt to engage the attention of most dogs. The dog should be 

 taught to beat to the hand, and, whenever a flapper is shot 

 and falls in the water, then he must be encoura2:ed to brino" it 

 to land without delay. No art must be neglected to induce him 

 to do this, and, failing every other plan, the breaker must him- 

 self enter the water ; for, if the dog is once allowed to leave a 

 duck behind him, he is much more difficult afterwards to break. 

 Indeed, perseverance in the breaker is necessary at all times, 

 to insure the same quality in the pupil. The object in teach- 

 ing the range to hand to the spaniel is, because without this 

 there will often be a difficulty in showing him where a bird lies 

 in the water, the eye of the dog being so little above its level, 

 and the bird very often so much immersed, that when there 

 is the slightest ruffle he can scarcely see it a yard from his nose. 

 As in all other cases, the water-retriever must be strictly " down 

 charge," and he must be thoroughly steady and quiet at heel, 



or he will be sure to disturb the water-fowl when the shooter 



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