7O TRAINING THE HUNTING DOG 



ing animal he is shy of those which suggest pain. 

 He is afraid of the whip because it is associated with 

 painful memories. He is afraid of his handler be- 

 cause the latter is a being of superior force and dan- 

 gerous in certain moods. He is afraid of the gun if 

 the concussion of it has strained and pained his ear 

 drums, if the flash has hurt his eyes, if the smell of 

 the foul gases has offended his delicate nose, and if 

 he has been thrashed in a way by which he reasoned 

 that the presence of the gun was associated with the 

 thrashing. He is shy of birds if he is whipped con- 

 cerning them before he knows for what he is 

 whipped ; the pain then is associated with them, and 

 when he catches scent of them he blinks. He be- 

 comes shy of taking any independent action if he is 

 constantly nagged and balked and scolded and be- 

 deviled, and it is a fair assumption that his master 

 would be so if subjected to the same treatment, be- 

 sides having therefrom a large fund of hard-luck 

 stories with which to edify his friends. 



While it is not possible to conduct the training of 

 all dogs without evoking a feeling of shyness at 

 times, it is quite possible to keep the shyness within 

 bounds which are not harmful, if not possible to dis- 



