1 64 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER 



attention is taken up by the scent, and ' pointing' 

 the birds. For instance, we will suppose that 

 a young dog has a staunch ' point 5 at his birds ; 

 two gentlemen walk up towards him, and, 

 when they have got within ten yards or so, a 

 covey of birds rise. Bang, bang, go their guns, 

 just over the animal's head, and away he runs, 

 trembling, and frightened out of his wits. 

 Nothing will now induce him to come up to you, 

 or do any more work, he slinks after you, a 

 field behind, for the rest of the day. I have 

 seen this happen more than once, and almost 

 for a certainty that dog is spoilt, through no 

 fault of his own ; many a time a dog is made 

 ' gun-shy ' and called a cur, through mismanage- 

 ment of this kind. Put yourself in the dog's 

 place ; you could not stand four or five guns 

 banging off unexpectedly over your head, when 

 your attention was firmly fixed elsewhere, the 

 noise would sound all day in your eais, and you 

 would be either deaf or half crazy. 



When a dog is once made gun-shy in the way 

 I have described, the only remedy is to hunt 

 him with a lot of rabbit dogs ; in chasing the 



