l6 TRAINING THE HUNTING DOG 



better grasp the disadvantages under which the pup- 

 py labors. With a better intellect, with the advan- 

 tages of a language both oral and written, and with 

 more years at school than w r ould measure twice the 

 age of the average old dog, the boy in comparison 

 makes slow progress even in the rudiments. If, in- 

 stead of patient treatment, the teacher shook him by 

 the collar, cuffed his ears or kicked him in the ribs 

 as the true method of conveying knowledge, no sensi- 

 ble person would expect the boy to learn much. In- 

 deed, corporal punishment, even as a corrective, has 

 been almost entirely abolished in the public schools. 

 And yet the .same patient effort on the part of the 

 teacher in educating the boy is much the same as that 

 to be observed in the education of the dog. 



Dog training, in any of its particulars, is not a 

 matter of set forms and arbitrary methods. Each 

 particular pupil should be developed according to his 

 individual characteristics, and the governing circum- 

 stances. There are hundreds of little differences of 

 dog character and capabilities to be noted and con- 

 sidered, and, until the trainer can perceive, under- 

 stand and take advantage of them, his attempts to 

 teach will be more or less arbitrary and mechanical. 



