IDEAS ON DOG-BREAKING. 255 



his manly development, used frequently to ask her 

 friends, her female ones of course, when discussing the 

 relative merits of husbands, " Have you ever seen Wil- 

 liam's muscle ? " I don't know that I ever saw it ; I 

 am certain that I often felt it, and believe now that 

 I would have been much better informed, and at that 

 period more devoted to my books, but for the whack- 

 ings that no excuse, whether just or not, could save 

 me from. So it is with the majority of dog-breakers, 

 they invest their surplus cash in the purchase of the 

 most formidable whip that can be found, and with it 

 conspicuously displayed from the yawning pocket of 

 their velveteen coat strut about in conscious pride, 

 and are at once dubbed dog-breakers ; and truly they 

 are dog breakers, if breaking the heart and spirit of 

 poor canines deserves the appellation. 



The dog I have found much like the child ; study 

 his character, mark his eccentricities ; when he does 

 wrong gently admonish him, when he does well, with- 

 hold not the approbation merited. Of course in 

 both races a headstrong pupil will occasionally be 

 found, when castigation becomes necessary. With 

 this I can find no fault, but I am persuaded that un- 

 necessary correction is too often administered to both. 

 In the course of my life I have possessed a great num- 



