22 TRAINING THE HUNTING DOG 



By a course of education, either direct or indirect, 

 all domestic dogs are taught what animals they may 

 kill and what ones they may not. This is not al- 

 ways an easy task, as any one who has been out in 

 the country with some mature, city-bred setters and 

 pointers on their first outing, can testify. The farm- 

 er's sheep and poultry then have cause for alarm. 



This instinct to pursue and kill is dog nature, and 

 moreover it is good dog nature. Checked to proper 

 limitations and schooled to the sportsman's purposes, 

 it is what makes the dog a useful servant. He has 

 the inclination, intelligence and capabilities for hunt- 

 ing; these the sportsman applies to the furtherance 

 of his own pleasure. 



Left to his own inclination entirely, the dog hunts 

 for himself, but his passion for hunting is so great 

 that he will submit to much restriction in his efforts 

 and great loss in respect to what he captures, before 

 he will desist. Yet too much restriction may lessen 

 his ardor; too much punishment may suppress all 

 effort. 



So far as teaching the dog how to hunt is con- 

 cerned, the trainer is in that relation hardly worth 

 considering; but he is an all-important factor in giv- 



