148 ANIMALS USED BY THE SHOOTER. 



sometimes to leave it on the wrong side of a fence or river. 

 In teaching these dogs to take water, it is only necessary to 

 begin in the summer, and to avoid throwing them in. They 

 will always, at that season, readily enter the water, and fetch 

 anything floating out of it. Nothing is so easy as to teach a 

 retriever to do his work, but the difficulty is to keep him at 

 heel till ordered off; yet by firmness, and a little system of 

 rewards and punishments, this may always be effected. A 

 "hard-mouthed" dog is most difficult to break of his bad habit, 

 and indeed he may almost be said to be irretrievably spoiled. 

 When, however, a puppy has shown natural abilities for this 

 office, and has only taken to pinch game from over-eagerness, 

 he may be mended in this respect by putting on a check 

 collar, and taking him up very steadily and slowly to his 

 game. Give him, in the course of the walk-up to it, several 

 monitory pieces of advice, such as " Steady, boy, steady," by 

 which his ardour will be damped, and if these fail, check his 

 collar smartly. Then let him very gradually and slowly take 

 the bird into his mouth, keeping his nose just away from it 

 till he has had time to inhale the scent. When he grasps it, 

 still caution him, but let him keep possession for two or three 

 minutes, and then make him drop it into the hand. By pro- 

 ceeding in this slow and cautious manner, the dog may get 

 over his tendency to grip his game, but in the majority of 

 instances, such an animal never becomes quite what he ought 

 to be. Balls stuck full of needles, steel bits which keep the 

 mouth slightly open, and other similar devices, have been 

 invented, but none of them are of much service. The bit or 

 bridle, as it is sometimes called, answers as long as it is worn, 

 but few people would care to have a retriever which bears the 

 unmistakeable marks of being a bad one. 



The WATER RETRIEVER requires very little special teaching 

 in addition to that which has been already alluded to as 

 necessary on land. But he must have a great deal of practice 

 before he is really useful, and a good water-retriever is not 

 often to be met with. Of course he must be induced to 

 " take water" readily, but those breeds which are likely to 

 become good in this capacity require very little education 

 in this particular. The water retriever should commence on 

 land, like the land retriever, to seek for gloves and young 



