190 PART GOOD FRIENDS* [CH. XL 



upon the idea, and on the next occasion will far too soon 

 anticipate yours. And do not send him off, until he has 

 given some evidence of having forgiven you, and of his 

 desire to be reconciled, by crawling towards you, for 

 instance, or wagging his tail. On no occasion under 

 circumstances of ever such great provocation be so 

 weak or irritable (but I hope you do not need the 

 warning) as to give him a kick or a blow when he is 

 going off. He ought to have stood with reassured con- 

 fidence alongside of you, for perhaps a minute or so, 

 before you sanctioned his departure ; and the severer 

 his punishment the longer should have been the deten- 

 tion. You are always to part tolerable friends, while he 

 feels perfectly convinced that his chastisement is over. 

 If you do not, you may find it rather difficult to catch 

 him when he commits another fault. It will be owing 

 to your own injudiciousness if he ever become afraid of 

 approaching you after making a blunder. Should he be 

 so, sit down. He will gradually draw near you ; then 

 quietly put your hand on his collar. 



325. If a man cannot readily get hold of any dog 

 under his tuition whom he desires to rate or punish, 

 you may be certain that he fails either in temper or 

 judgment ; perhaps in both. He may be an excellent 

 man, but he cannot be a good dog-breaker. There are 

 men who get quite enraged at a dog's not coming in- 

 stantly to " heel " on being called. When at length the 

 poor brute does come within reach, he gets a blow, per- 

 haps a licking a blow or licking, he has the sense to 

 see he should have longer avoided had he stayed longer 

 away. Thus the punishment increases instead of reme- 

 dying the evil. 



326. Never correct or even rate a dog, in the mere 

 "belief that he is in error ; be first convinced of his guilt. 



