226 TRAINING THE HUNTING DOG 



exercised to guard against two dogs attempting to 

 retrieve the same bird, or against interference with a 

 good retriever by a partly broken dog. A thor- 

 oughly trained dog may be demoralized in a few mo- 

 ments by such bad management. 



Some preliminary training may be given the dog 

 afield, which in a way will be of value in marking the 

 flight of birds and in "seeking dead." The cob is 

 shown to him, then thrown in the air far away, 

 where he can see it and mark its flight. He is not 

 permitted to go after it till he is ordered to "Fetch." 

 He will then have some difficulty in finding it, and 

 will rake the ground about with his nose in an effort 

 to catch scent of it. The lessons may be varied by 

 throwing the cob to the opposite side of walls, fences, 

 bushes, etq., thus enabling the dog to see part of its 

 flight, but preventing him from seeing it land. When 

 assisting the dog to search for it, the trainer utters 

 the command "Seek," or "Find," or whatever other 

 command he may fancy, at the same time affecting 

 earnestness in searching for it himself. In this man- 

 ner, after a sufficient number of lessons, the dog will 

 mark the cob's" flight quite accurately, will find it 

 with reasonable quickness, and will learn the signifi- 



