612 DOG-BREAKING. 



pupil's recollection of them, when he hears the crack ol 

 the whip, will prevent the necessity of their frequent 

 repetition. 



243. I knew of a young fellow's purchasing a pointer 

 of an excellent breed from a gamekeeper for a few shil- 

 lings merely, as the animal had become so timid from 

 over-chastisement, that she not only blinked her game, 

 but seldom quitted the man's heels. The lad had the 

 good sense to treat the bitch, at all times, with the 

 greatest kindness: and in order to induce her to hunt, he 

 used to break off the feet of every bird he killed, and 

 give them to her to eat along with the sinews. The 

 plan succeeded so well that she eventually became an 

 unusually keen and fast ranger. This would be a 

 hazardous step to take with a dog wanted to retrieve. 

 There are few, if any dogs who may not be tempted 

 by hunger to eat game. A gentleman told me, that, 

 to his great astonishment, he one day saw an olo 

 tender-mouthed retriever, that he had possessed for 

 years, deliberately swallow a partridge. Before he 

 could get up to the dog even the tail-feathers had 

 disappeared. On inquiry it turned out that, through 

 some neglect, the animal had not been fed. 



244. Some argue that blinking arises from a defective 

 nose, not from punishment; but surely it is the injudi- 

 cious chastisement following the blunders caused by a 

 bad nose that makes a dog, through fear, go to " heel " 

 when he winds birds. A bad nose may lead to a 

 ilog's running up birds from not noticing them, but it 



