CHAPTER XXI. 

 Dog on the Trap Line. 



nOW, we will say first that there is as much or more differ- 

 ence in the man who handles the dog as there is in the dif- 

 ferent breeds of dogs. I have heard men say that they 

 wanted no dog on the trap line with them, and that they 

 didn't believe that any one who did want a dog on the trap line 

 knew but very little about trapping at best. 



Now those are the views and ideas of some trappers, while 

 my experience has led me to see altogether different. One who is 

 so constituted that they must give a dog the growl or perhaps a 

 kick every time they come in reach, will undoubtedly find a dog 

 of but little use on the trap line. I have known some dogs to re- 

 fuse to eat, and would lay out where they could watch the direction 

 in which their master had gone and piteously howl for hours. I 

 have seen other dogs that would take for the barn or any other 

 place to get out of the way of the first sight or sound of their 

 master. This man's dog is usually more attached to a stranger 

 than to his master. The man who cannot treat his dog as a friend 

 and companion will have good cause to say that a dog is a nuisance 

 on the trap line. 



I have seen men training dogs for bird hunting, who would 

 beat the dog most cruelly and claim that a dog could not be trained 

 to work a bird successfully under any other treatment. Though 

 I have seen others train the same breed of dogs to work a bird to 

 perfection and their most harsh treatment that they would use 

 would be a tap or two with a little switch. I will say that one 

 who cannot understand the wag of a dog's tail, the wistful gaze 

 of the eyes, the quick lifting of the ears, the cautious raising of a 

 foot, and above all, treat his dog as a friend, need not expect his 

 dog to be but little else than a nuisance on the trap line. 



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