SETTER TO RETRIEVE. 651 



place on the hearth-rug ? It is the want of sufficient heat 

 in the kennels, and good drying and brushing after hard 

 work, that makes sporting dogs, particularly if they are 

 long-coated ones, suffer from rheumatism, blear eyes, 

 and many ills that generally, but not necessarily, attend 

 them in old age. 



CONCLUSION. 



311. GENTLE Reader, according to the courteous 

 phraseology of old novels, though most probably I ought 

 to say Brother Sportsman ; If you have had the 

 patience to attend me, through the preceding pages, 

 while I have been describing the educational course of 

 a dog from almost his infancy, up to maturity, I will 

 hope that I may construe that patience into an evidence 

 that they have afforded you some amusement, and per- 

 haps, some useful instruction. 



312. Though I may have failed in persuading you to 

 undertake the instruction of your dogs yourself, yet I 

 trust I have shown you how they ought to be broken 

 in : and if you are a novice in the field, I hope I have 

 clearly explained to you in what manner they ought to 

 be shot over a knowledge which no one can possess by 

 intuition, and which you will find nearly as essential to 



1 the preservation of the good qualities of well-tutored 

 dogs as to the education of uninformed ones. 



313. I believe that all I have said is perfectly true, 

 and, as the system which I have described advocates 

 kind treatment of man's most faithful companion, and 



