I3O TRAINING THE HUNTING DOG 



once, and he is apt to use the whip too soon and too 

 often in consequence. 



There is, in this connection, a certain difficulty in 

 making the dog understand that the pursuit of the 

 birds is not for his own benefit; that he is to stop 

 short where his every natural impulse is to go on, 

 and that punishment has reference to steady pointing 

 and thus to the interests of the shooter. 



By injudicious punishment the dog may mistak- 

 enly understand that he has done wrong in finding 

 the birds at all, and thereafter when near birds he 

 may shy away from and quietly leave them so as to 

 avoid the war which is likely to ensue if he happens 

 to flush them. This act is called blinking, and is 

 about the worst fault that a dog can have. Not in- 

 frequently weeks are required to cure it, and tl 

 trainer who was the cause of it, from the fear he ii 

 spires in the pupils, is unable to cure it. A change o. 

 trainers is therefore then necessary. This alone 

 should make clear the need of proper deliberation in 

 training the dog to stanchness on point. 



Excessive violence defeats its own ends. The dog 

 cannot be taught to point if he has no inclination to 

 do so. The instinct is slow, to develop in some dogs. 



