286 The Sporting Dog 



touched the ground before Tony was after it. He 

 jumped on it in a frenzy and began to crunch it. 

 All the trainer's " Halts " had no effect. The bird 

 was rescued in bad condition. ^ 



'*' I shouldn't have let him go, but I wanted you 

 to see how bad an eager dog, which naturally 

 retrieves, can be made by a man who is excited 

 about getting hold of every bird that falls. Some 

 dogs soon begin to think of retrieving and nothing 

 else. This is the worst I ever saw, but any high- 

 strung dog can be spoiled when young by too 

 much hurry in recovering birds." 



Next time a check-cord was snapped quietly 

 on Tony's collar when he pointed. And he did 

 point superbly, — perfect nose and immovable posi- 

 tion. The bird was flushed and killed. At the 

 instant of firing the trainer called, " Halt ! " Tony 

 heeded nothing but the bird. But when he 

 reached the length of the cord, he jerked himself 

 off his feet. " Halt ! " again rang out twice. 

 Tony came to his senses and stood ashamed. 

 There was no whipping. The dog was led 

 quietly to the bird, being compelled to stop three 

 or four times on the way. When he reached the 

 spot, he was still not allowed to pick up the bird, 

 but several times checked within a foot. Finally 

 the order to retrieve was given and sedately 

 executed. The lesson was repeated several times, 

 and in a half-hour Tony was, though not cheer- 



