92 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



we assure them they will find this greatly to their advantage in both 

 breaking and subsequent working of their broken dogs. 



BREAKING OLD DOGS. 



It is seldom a paying matter to attempt breaking an adult dog 

 oh initio, because such have almost invariably such strength of will 

 and confirmed habits that it is very difficult to get them under 

 thorough control, and the work necessary to break an old dog is 

 much greater than that necessary for a young one, which when de- 

 veloped may easily be a better performer. Simply saying, then, 

 that the same system of instruction must be followed in all cases 

 irrespective of the age of the pupils, we shall confine ourselves to 

 directions for correcting faults in adult dogs resulting from imperfect 

 breaking or bad handling. Many dogs of naturally fine abilities 

 have, through the fault of their handlers, acquired bad habits, yet 

 are worth rebreaking, and must be rebroken when they pass into 

 the hands of men who appreciate fine work, and will not be satis- 

 fied with anything else, and it is to this class of cases that we shall 

 devote our present attention. 



WILDNESS OR LACK OF CONTROL. 



Dogs of this character must of course be taught to obey before 

 they are taken into the field, by the same course as that used with 

 younger ones, but it often happens that some will obey well out of 

 the field, yet under the gun are headstrong, disobedient, or beyond 

 control in their range, so that when taken into cover they cannot be 

 restrained within the limits necessary for effective cover work. Such 

 dogs need sharp correction, and for this purpose we use the spike- 

 collar and cord, compelling them to obey the " ho" and whistle 

 promptly, also to go slow at the command " steady." It is folly to 

 attempt shooting over such dogs till they are under good control, as 

 the breaker will have all he can do to make them mind, and if his 

 attention is given to anything else, they will take advantage of it to 

 act as they like. In using the spike-collar it will of course be 

 necessary to allow the cord to trail, so that it can be caught up at 



