152 POINT TOO NEAR GAME. [CH. ix. 



might, as naturally as any other, put upon your rating 

 him at the spot where he flushed them), you are 

 displeased with him for not having pointed at them 

 steadily the moment he became sensible of their 

 presence. This is what you wish him to under- 

 stand, and this you can only teach him by dragging 

 him, as has been so often said, to the spot at which he 

 ought to have " toho-ed " them. Your object is to give 

 the young dog by instruction, the caution that most old 

 dogs have acquired by experience. Doubtless experi- 

 ence would in time convince him of the necessity of 

 this caution ; but you wish to save time, to anticipate 

 that experience ; and by a judicious education impart 

 to him knowledge which it would take him years to 

 acquire otherwise. What a dog gains by experience is 

 not what you teach him, but what he teaches himself. 



262. Many carelessly-taught dogs will on first recog- 

 nising a scent make a momentary point, and then slowly 

 crawl on until they get within a few yards of the game, 

 if it be sufficiently complaisant to allow of such a 

 near approach, and there " set " as steady as a rock by 

 the hour together. Supposing, however, that the birds 

 are in an unfriendly distant mood, and not willing to 

 remain on these neighbourly terms, " your game is up," 

 both literally and metaphorically, you have no chance 

 of getting a shot. This is a common fault among dogs 

 hastily broken in the spring. 



I speak feelingly on the subject from a still unpleasant recollec- 

 tion of my extreme vexation on a certain 20th of August,* when 

 shooting over a young pointer-bitch of excellent natural capabilities, 

 but who had been injudiciously allowed, during her tuition in the 

 spring, to stand too close to her birds. She was a quick ranger, 

 carried a high diligent nose, had much endurance, and procured 

 me several shots at young black game, but not one, if I remember 



* The first day for killing black-cock. 



