POINTERS AND SETTERS. 233 



should be used to cheer the dog when he dwells on the scent too 

 long, or carries his nose too low. " Hold up !" may be cried in a 

 cheering way, and the dog encouraged with the hand waved for- 

 ward as well. Colonel Hutchinson recommends the previous in., 

 culcation of the perception of hight, in fact, to make the dog un- 

 darstand that you mean, when you use the word "Up," that he 

 should raise his head. But this is a refinement in dog-breaking 

 which possibly may be carried out, yet which, I confess, I think 

 practically inoperative. Few of us would like to teach our hacks 

 to lift their knees, by giving them to understand the nature of 

 hight, and then telling them to lift them. We should certainly 

 find it much more simple to select hacks with good action, or to 

 breed them even, rather than to convert our colt-breakers into cir- 

 cus-men. If there is no other method of attaining the object, 

 by all means adopt it ; but, when a far easier one is at hand, I 

 should certainly select it in preference. Nevertheless, it may serve 

 to prove the teachableness of the dog ; and, knowing the extent to 

 which his education may be carried by patience and preseverance, 

 I have no doubt that Colonel Hutchinson's plan is capable of exe- 

 cution, if the time and trouble necessary for it are properly re- 

 munerated. But we must now proceed to the second fault, which 

 consists in ranging too far from the breaker. This may readily be 

 cured, either by compelling attention to the hand and voice, with 

 the aid of the whip in bad cases ; or by attaching to the dog's col- 

 lar a long cord, which is then suffered to trail on the ground, or is 

 held in the hand of the breaker, when the dog is very wild. 

 Twenty, thirty, or at most forty, yards of a small box-cord will 

 suffice for this purpose, and will soon tire down the strongest and 

 most unruly dog. Indeed, an application of it for a short time will 

 make many dogs give in entirely ; but some high-couraged ones, 

 and setters especially, will persevere with it on until they are fairly 

 exhausted. This " check-cord," as it is called, is also necessary in 

 some dogs, to perfect their education in other respects, and, indeed, 

 is chiefly wanted at a later penod of breaking, not being often re- 

 quired at this stage. 

 Having described the mode of teaching pointers and setters to 



