TRACING THE HUNTING DOG 



positive of the instinctive origin of the act So 

 much, by the old, and in most instances superficial, 

 writers, was ascribed to instinct by way of explain- 

 ing the dog's acts that one could justly wonder why 

 the dog had brains at all ; or, having them, why he 

 used them so little. 



How this act which could be taught to but a rela- 

 tively small number of the canine race, has to all the 

 race become instinctive by inheritance, and how 

 many other acts, taught to dogs generally, have not 

 become likewise instinctive, is left by the old writers 

 for the reader's own solution. However, if a writer 

 does not understand certain phenomena of dog life, 

 there is no easier way to dispose of it than to boldly 

 assert that it is instinctive. 



As to the pointing and backing of puppies, as 

 above mentioned, the superficial observer failed to 

 note that the point is followed by a chase of the little 

 birds when flushed. The dogs have an instinctive 

 impulse to pursue their prey, and in intelligent meth- 

 ods of successful pursuit they are astonishingly pre- 

 cocious. 



Let us follow the first attempts of the puppies and 

 observe thereby their rapid educational evolution. 



