512 DOG-BREAKING. 



it into your hand or lay it at your feet. The former is 

 by far the better plan. If the dog has at one moment 

 to drop the bird at your will, he is likely to fancy him- 

 self privileged to drop it at another time for his own con 

 venience. In other respects, too, the former is the safest 

 method. I have a bitch now in my recollection, who 

 frequently lost her master slightly winged birdr ivhich 

 she had admirably recovered by dropping them too 

 soon on hearing the report of a gun, or coming on other 

 game for off they ran, and fairly escaped, it being im- 

 practicable, by any encouragement, to induce her to 

 seek for a bird she had once lifted. 



88. I observed it was something soft which you should 

 teach your dog to fetch. Probably you have seen a 

 retriever taught to seek and bring a stone, upon which, 

 in a delicate manner, the tutor has spit. Does it not 

 stand to reason that the stone must have tended to givo 

 his pupil a hard mouth ? And what may, later in life, 

 cause him much misery, in dashing at a bounding stone, 

 he may split a tooth. Dogs of an advanced age suffer 

 more in their mouths than most of us suspect. 



89. Should your pup be unwilling to enter water, on 

 no account push him in, under the mistaken idea that it 

 will reconcile him to the element it will but augment 

 his fears. Rather, on a warm day, throw some biscuit 

 for him, when he is hungry, close to the edge of the 

 bank, where it is so shallow as merely to require his 

 wading. Chuck the next piece a little further off, and, 

 by degrees, increase the distance until he gets beyond 



