BREAKING. 85 



in the opposite direction, as far on the other side of our original line 

 of advance as he has come on this. When this style of range 

 becomes confirmed, we can walk down the centre of a field, and the 

 dog will cross us right and left, going from fence to fence on either 

 side. 



To beat ground in straight lines, he must be taught to stay in 

 the cover and to move forward. To this end we take the dog to 

 such ground, say, " in there" with a wave of the hand, and when 

 he gets in stop him, and wave the hand in the direction he must go, 

 sending him back if he comes out of cover, and calling him by 

 whistle if he goes too deep into the thicket. These two lessons 

 will call for considerable practice, but when fully taught, the dog 

 will have a system in his work which will insure him against 

 missing any game on the ground gone over. Quartering is highly 

 prized in field trials, and is certainly effective with dogs of average 

 noses, but some dogs of very keen scenting powers display a natural 

 instinct for keeping to the leeward of the ground, and thus catching 

 the scent borne on the wind, by which they are led straight to the 

 birds. Such work, though less showy, is fully as effective, and is not 

 as hard upon the dog as systematic quartering, because it involves 

 less labor. Dogs capable of it are comparatively rare, but when 

 found and proved to be good game-finders, we would strongly urge 

 our readers " to let well enough alone," for they certainly cannot 

 improve upon their dogs, and may only injure them by attempting 

 to control intelligence by rigid rules for its display. 



In this lesson, and also when the dog is at exercise, it is well to 

 allow him to trail a light cord, fifteen or twenty yards long, as it 

 may be needed when he comes to field work, and by accustoming 

 him to its drag at this time it will not distract his attention later if 

 it has to be used. 



FIELD-BREAKING. 



Having perfected the dog in all preliminaries, we come now to 

 the practical application of these in the field, and the first step is the 

 introduction to game, which should be effected without the gun, 

 as excitement will make the dog somewhat heedless of orders, and 



