172 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



" Well," you may ask, " How are you going 

 to manage a young retriever, without putting 

 your stick across his ribs when he won't obey 

 you ? " For one thing, my friend, if you can't 

 manage him without that you can't manage 

 him with it, that's quite certain ; he will never 

 be made what a good retriever should be by 

 laying your stick across his ribs when he is a 

 puppy. That may be necessary after he is 

 full grown, sometimes, if he wilfully disobeys 

 you and sets you at defiance ; when you do, it 

 is better to give him five or six sharp strokes 

 than to thrash him for an hour, but you should 

 always beat him until he submits, whether it be 

 a matter of five strokes or five and twenty. 

 The moment he does submit throw down your 

 stick and talk very seriously to him for five 

 minutes, until he begs pardon and licks your 

 hand, then pat him up kindly, and he will tell 

 you he is really very sorry for what he did. 



This is a very important crisis for both you 

 and the dog, for on his behaviour after his first 

 thrashing, and your own towards him, will 

 chiefly depend what sort of a dog he turns 



