118 ANIMALS USED BY THE SHOOTER. 



Botk in pointers and setters the bitch is lighter in frame 

 than the dog, and she is generally more quick and active. 

 Her nose is somewhat more sensitive ; and when she can be 

 brought out well, she is very valuable in the field. This, 

 however, is often very difficult, either from weakness in con- 

 sequence of having reared a litter of puppies, or from dis- 

 ordered health arising from having been " put by." Of the 

 two evils the former is the least, as the bitch recovers her 

 strength, and with it her flesh, in an incredibly short space 

 of time, if she is not absolutely diseased from mismanage- 

 ment. I have known a litter of puppies whelped in July 

 and suckled up to the last week in August ; yet the bitch has 

 been in high health on the 1st of September, and has gone 

 through the month with great credit as to all the points 

 essential to a partridge dog. On the other hand, many a bitch 

 " put by" in June is not in condition for work till after 

 Christmas, when her services are no longer required. On 

 the whole, therefore, I should always advise that a bitch in- 

 tended for work should be allowed to have a litter if she is 

 likely to whelp before the middle of July. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON THE BREAKING OF POINTERS 

 AND SETTERS. 



The proper education of all animals depends upon the 

 consistent carrying out of two principles viz., the hope of 

 reward and the fear of punishment. The former is required to 

 induce the pupil to do right, while the latter prevents him 

 from doing wrong. Compulsion alone will never succeed; 

 and the proverb that " one man can take a horse to water, 

 but forty cannot make him drink," is perfectly true, and 

 should be remembered by all those who undertake the train- 

 ing of any animal. By severity a dog may be kept in such 

 subjection that he will never do wrong; but when broken in 

 this way his spirit is altogether cowed, and he refuses to do 

 the work for which alone he is wanted by his master. It is 

 from the neglect of this knowledge that so many dogs are 

 rendered useless, being "gun-shy," or "slack workers," or 

 " blinkers ;" all faults which make them quite useless in the 

 field. Indeed, if a dog is brought up by the person who is 



