TRAINING DOGS FOR THE GUN. 127 



and though grouse or partridge see him hunt round them, they 

 will be much less alarmed than when they observe him follow- 

 ing their track, and suffer his near approach ; or, in other words, 

 lie well. The reason seems evident : the dog, I apprehend, 

 is seen by the birds (generally speaking) as soon as he enters 

 the field ; or, at all events, at a very considerable distance ; and 

 the moment they perceive him approach by the track, they take 

 the alarm, supposing themselves discovered, or, at least, very 

 likely to be discovered ; but watching, as they assuredly do, the 

 motions of the dog, and observing that he does not follow the 

 track along which they have run, they conceive themselves un- 

 discovered, and thus allow the dog to come to a steady point. 

 It may, moreover, be further remarked, that a dog which car- 

 ries his head high will always find the most game, to say nothing 

 of finding it in a handsome style. 



A YOUNG dog should be kept regularly to his work, if possi- 

 ble, until he become quite staunch. Great care should be taken 

 with him the first season he is shot over, as it seldom fails to 

 determine his worth: at this period, numbers" of otherwise val- 

 uable dogs are ruined by improper treatment, particularly by 

 ignorant, passionate game -keepers arid dog breakers: no fault, 

 however, should be allowed to escape correction or reproof. I 

 do not mean that the dog should be flogged for every trivial 

 mistake, but that the most trifling error should be noticed by 

 sounds or symptoms of displeasure ; and, proceeding in this 

 way, you should administer correction according to the degree 

 of crime. 



We will suppose the young dog broke, and taken out to be 

 put into effectual practice all his previous instruction. On the 

 first shot, particularly if the dog see the bird fall, he will be very 

 apt to break away, in which case he should be brought back to 

 the spot whence he had run, and there making him lie down, call 

 out, down charge! He should be compelled to remain in that 



