66 LAND RETRIEVER. [en. iv. 



better to employ another person to turn it out. Keep 

 clear of woods for some time : the cross scents would 

 puzzle him. If by any chance you have a winged 

 pheasant or partridge, let him retrieve it. You will 

 not, I presume, at the commencement select a morning 

 when there is a dry cold wind from the north-east, but 

 probably you will wish to conclude his initiatory lessons 

 on days which you judge to possess least scent. The 

 more he has been practised as described in 43, the 

 better will he work ; for he cannot keep his nose too 

 perse veringly close to the ground. With reference to 

 the instructions in that paragraph I will here remark, 

 that before you let the dog stoop to hunt, you should 

 have placed him by signal (35) near the spot from which 

 you had begun dragging the bread. In paragraph 277 

 an instance is given of the manner in which a dog who 

 retrieves should be put upon a scent ; and why that 

 mode is adopted is explained in 271. 



113. It is quite astonishing how well an old dog that 

 retrieves knows when a bird is struck. He instantly 

 detects any hesitation or uncertainty of movement, and 

 for a length of time will watch its flight with the 

 utmost eagerness, and, steadily keeping his eye on it, 

 will, as surely as yourself, mark its fall. To induce a 

 young dog to become thus observant, always let him 

 perceive that you watch a wounded bird with great 

 eagerness ; his imitative instinct will soon lead him to 

 do the same. This faculty of observation is particularly 

 serviceable in a water retriever. It enables him to 

 swim direct to the crippled bird, and, besides the saving 

 of time, the less he is in the water in severe weather, 

 the less likely is he to suffer from rheumatism. 



114. As an initiatory lesson in making him observant 

 of the flight and fall of birds, place a few pigeons (or 



