FOR THE FIELD AND FIELD TRIALS. 



In the first lessons the trainer permits the dog to 

 exercise his own pleasure. He is building up an in- 

 terest in the sport which later is to become a busi- 

 ness. When the dog is habituated to play, he teas- 

 ingly waves the object to and fro before the dog's 

 eyes in a challenge for him to seize it. This the dog 

 is keen to accept. While he is endeavoring to seize 

 it, it is thrown alluringly out a few yards away, and 

 he eagerly scrambles after it, grasps it in his mouth 

 and struts about spiritedly in the pride of possession. 

 If the trainer endeavors to get it, the puppy by pan- 

 tomime banters him to get possession if he can do so, 

 and by wily devices evades him as much as possible 

 when he comes too near. 



At length by craft and intimidation the trainer 

 again gets possession of the object and throws it out 

 as before. And thus the play proceeds, lesson by 

 lesson, till from habit and deference to mild author- 

 ity the puppy obeys the order to "Fetch," which is al- 

 ways uttered when the object is thrown out, so that 

 this command is associated with the act of fetching. 



The erratic faultiness which the puppy will display 

 from the beginning should be corrected as positively 

 and as soon as possible, consistently with holding his 



