CHAPTER VI. 



BREAKING. 



REARING a dog is not, as many persons 

 suppose, necessarily the work of a profes- 

 sional. There are many amateur breakers 

 in the country whose dogs will compare 

 favorably with those of any professional, 

 and the number of such increases with 

 every year, as experience demonstrates the 

 with which the work can be accom- 

 plished. Any man capable of handling a broken dog well in the 

 field is competent to break one. To hunt a dog well means some- 

 thing more than mere following one about, depending upon the in- 

 fluence of past instruction to keep him under control and up to his 

 work. Dogs are as cunning and wilful as other animals, and need 

 as constant restraint. The best broken ones will try to get their 

 own way, and if they find their masters do not appreciate and cor- 

 rect their wrong actions, they quickly come to despise the authority 

 which is not enforced, and apparently forget all that their breakers 

 have taught them. To hunt a dog properly implies, then, knowing 

 what he should do and making him do it, and when the ability for 

 this is present, the man is capable of breaking for himself. 



In their first field essays men will of course know no more of 

 working than of breaking dogs, but if such will go out a few times 

 with experienced friends, watch how they work their dogs, and then 

 getting a well-bred, promising puppy, apply their observations to 

 his instruction, they will be surprised at their own improvement in 



knowledge and their success in teaching their pupils. We do not 

 72 



