246 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



kept at heel by a sign or word of command. It has 

 been said, and with truth, of setters and pointers, 

 that they ought to be the constant companions of 

 the person who has the charge of training them, 

 that they should be hunted exclusively by him, 

 and that therefore, when practicable that is to 

 say, when he can afford the necessary leisure and 

 at the same time possess the indispensable qualifi- 

 cations of patience and good temper the sports- 

 man should break his own dogs. This remark 

 applies with still greater force to the case of the 

 retriever. He should never be confined in a 

 leash. He should follow close behind his master 

 or trainer. No temptation should be sufficiently 

 strong to induce him to quit his heels after he 

 has been once completely broken without receiv- 

 ing the signal or word of command to do so. But 

 to effect this he must be carefully educated by 

 the same person from an early age, and accus- 

 tomed to follow without leash or strap. 



The most effective retrievers I ever saw are 

 those belonging to a time-honoured friend of mine 

 a thorough-bred sportsman of the old school 

 and their merit consists rather in the perfect 

 manner in which they have been trained, and can 

 be hunted by the respective keepers to whose 

 care they were consigned at an early age, than 

 from any facilities or advantages afforded by the 



