74 UNASKED ADVICE. 



them that apply to retrievers, and that they are equally 

 to be made or marred by injudicious treatment. Is it 

 reasonable to expect that hounds who are always going 

 to holloas should trouble themselves much at a check ? 

 Would a retriever persevere in snuffling about dry 

 turnips, if the '' runner '' was constantly pointed out to 

 him ? But on the other hand, as it is the nature of the 

 dog to hunt, if he finds that he, and not his master, is 

 going to do the active part of the pursuit, he will devote 

 all his energies to the business in hand, whatever he be — 

 whether a foxhound in covert or the open, a retriever in 

 a field of mangold, or a schoolboy^s terrier hunting a 

 water hen round a pond. 



Take another instance. The orthodox greyhound 

 expects to have his game found for him; ask him to 

 draw for a hare, and you will be disappointed. But he 

 keeps an uncommonly sharp eye upon the beaters ; he 

 knows they will find the hare, and he is ready to do his 

 part. But give this well-meaning dog to a poacher, or 

 take him constant walks with yourself, and don^t inter- 

 fere with him at all : you will find that he not only looks 

 out for himself, but that he will soon learn to investigate 

 likely-looking bits of covert for himself, and in the 

 majority of cases to use his nose in so doing. Why then, 

 in the name of common sense, should it be wanting too 

 much if we expect every pack of hounds to put down 

 their noses and hunt ? That they do not do so is the 

 fault of the huntsmen. Many have absurd notions about 

 being quick or slow, forgetting altogether the proverb 

 of " more haste, less speed. ^^ Before the hounds have 

 made their own cast at a check, the huntsman makes 

 his, which may be right or not : but next time, esiDecially 

 ■if the cast were right, the hounds look for him naturally. 



