LESSONS IN "FETCHING." 525 



greatest olfactory powers, but a short trial tells him 

 which of his retrievers has the finest nose. 



107. Making a first-rate retriever is a work of time, 

 but his being thoroughly grounded in the required 

 initiatory lessons facilitates matters surprisingly. Indeed 

 after having been taught the "drop" 22, 24, 25, to 

 "fetch" 92 to 94 and "seek dead" in the precise 

 direction he is ordered xi of 119, almost any kind of 

 dog can be made to retrieve. The better his nose is, the 

 better of course he will retrieve. Sagacity, good tem- 

 per, quickness of comprehension, a teachable disposition^ 

 and all cultivated qualities are almost as visibly trans- 

 mitted to offspring as shape and action ; therefore the 

 tronger a dog's hereditary instincts lead him to retrieve, 

 the less will be the instructor's trouble ; and the more 

 obedient he is made to the signals of the hand, the more 

 readily will he be put upon a scent. Dogs that are by 

 nature quick rangers do not take instinctively to retriev- 

 ing. They have not naturally sufficient patience to work 

 out a feeble scent. They are apt to overrun it. A really 

 good retriever will pursue a wounded bird or hare as 

 accurately as a bloodhound will a deer or man ; and if 

 he is put on a false scent, I mean a scent of uninjured 

 flick or feather, he will not follow it beyond a few steps 

 experience will have shown him the inutility of so 

 doing. (297.) 



108. Avail yourself of the first opportunity to make 

 a young retriever lift a woodcock, lest in after life, from 

 novel scent, h decline touching it, as many dogs have 



