INITIATORY LESSONS WITHIN DOOES. 473 



17. So long as you are a bachelor, you can make a 

 companion of your dog, without incurring the danger 

 of his being spoilt by your wife and children ; the more, 

 by-the-bye, he is your own companion and nobody else's 

 the better : and it is a fact, though you may smile at the 

 assertion, that all the initiatory lessons can be, and can 

 best be inculcated in your own breakfast-room. 



18. Follow Astley's plan. Let no one be present to 

 distract the dog's attention. Call him to you by the 

 whistle you propose always using in the field. Tie a 

 slight cord a few yards long to his collar. Throw him a 

 small piece of toast or meat, saying at the time, " Dead, 

 dead." Do this several times, chucking it into different 

 parts of the room, and let him eat what he finds. Then 

 throw a piece, always as you do so saying, " Dead," and 

 the moment he gets close to it, check him by jerking 

 the cord, at the same time saying, "Toho," and lifting 

 up your right arm almost perpendicularly. By pressing 

 on the cord with your foot, you can restrain him as long 

 as you please. Do not let him take what you have thrown 

 until you give him the encouraging word, " On," accom- 

 panied by a forward movement of the right arm and 

 hand, somewhat similar to the swing of an under-hand 

 feowler at cricket. 



19. Let all your commands be given in a low voice. 

 Consider that in the field, where you are anxious not to . 

 alarm the birds unnecessarily, your words must reach 

 your dogs' ears more or less softened by distance, and, 

 if their influence depends on loudness, they will have the 



