AUTUMNAL COMPLETION OF BREAKING. 131 



thoroughly educated animal would carefully draw up to his 

 game, and if first-rate, would leave his point, go round them, 

 and head them. Such examples as these are, however, rare, 

 and when met with, they cannot be too highly prized. No 

 education can instil these faculties into a dog of limited brains, 

 and therefore the owner of a brace of puppies must not expect 

 that they will come back to him from the breaker with a full 

 development of them. 



AUTUMNAL COMPLETION OF BREAKING. 



In the two previous divisions of the breaking process the 

 dog has been taught to do nearly all which he will be re- 

 quired to perform in the shooting season, but he has been 

 barely taught the various acts required j for if he were to be 

 severely drilled he would become disgusted, and " blinking" 

 would be developed. Now, however, there must be no 

 flinching on the part of the breaker, who must firmly correct 

 everv fault, however slight, proportioning the punishment to 

 it; but in all cases making the dog understand his error. 

 It will inevitably happen that something wrong is done, but 

 the faults will be venial if the previous education has been 

 conducted by the same person as is now shooting over him, 

 and if that person has been firm and consistent in carrying 

 out his orders in the spring. The range being the first act 

 which must be performed, should at once be attended to, and 

 the dog should be worked by hand most carefully, not allow- 

 ing him to take his own way for a single yard. This, how- 

 ever, should have been previously carried out during the last 

 few days of the close time, for no one ought to shoot over a 

 puppy (nor, indeed, an old dog), however steady he might 

 have shown himself in the spring, without running him over 

 similar ground two or three times previously. According to 

 the nature of the beat must now be the range : if on an 

 enclosed manor full of birds, the quartering must be so 

 arranged as to keep the dog always within a hundred or a 

 hundred and fifty yards at most of the shooter : if, on the 

 other hand, it is a wild partridge country, or a northern 

 moor, the dogs are made to range two or three hundred yards 

 right and left, and their parallels are also wider apart. There 

 is a considerable difference of opinion and practice as to the 



K2 



