TRAINING. 



307 



and where this is observed puppies will soon be free from 

 their most objectionable habit. And cleanliness estab- 

 lished, one of the greatest difficulties has been over- 

 come, while what is to follow will be comparatively easy if 

 good judgment, patience and perseverance are invariably 

 exhibited. 



Dogs are not human, yet they are not far removed, and 

 that they are capable of reasoning at a very early age is 

 plainly evident from the fact that invariably when ad- 

 mitted on the same footing to several persons they single 

 out some one for whom they show a marked preference. 

 The infant barely six weeks old, and while still a stranger 

 to the world, will respond to human expression, for a 

 smiling air or cooing sound raises a smile to his lips, 

 showing that sympathy is already at work. So it is with 

 the puppy. While yet his brain is comparatively inert he 

 is accessible to influences, whether kindly or unkindly, 

 and these impress him more and more forcibly as he 

 grows older. Therefore, in efforts to teach him and reg- 

 ulate his conduct, as with the child, there should be habit- 

 ually exhibited those qualities which the educator desires 

 him to possess. In other words, that he may be kind, 

 gentle, affectionate, intelligent and courageous, he must 

 grow up under a master or mistress who is naturally all 

 this, or whose conflicting humors are under wholesome 

 restraint. 



There is no difficulty in fixing the time at which the 

 education of a puppy should commence, for a person of in- 

 telligence can always detect when the little one is capable 

 of reasoning. This stage reached, he should be subjected 

 to salutary restraint and prevented if possible from acquir- 

 ing bad habits. Moreover, every time he falls very far 

 from grace he should be at once corrected for it. The 

 reader must not assume from this that rigid propriety is 



