240 BREAKING AND ENTERING. 



that a runner is sometimes lost by the delay of a few jeoonds while 

 the discharged barrel is reloaded ; but in the long ru/i, the shooter 

 who keeps his dog down until he has loaded, will bag the most 

 game. 



The faults which chiefly require correction at this stage are : 

 blinking, shying the gun, pottering at the hedges, hunting too 

 wide, and chasing fur. The vice of blinking has been caused by 

 over-severity in punishment for chasing poultry, etc., and takes a 

 great deal of time to remove. Indeed, until the dog sees game 

 killed, he seldom loses the fear which has produced it. It is there- 

 fore frequently useless to continue the breaking, in the spring, 

 although such a dog sometimes becomes very useful by careful 

 management in the shooting season. Generally speaking, it is 

 occasioned by undue severity, either applied for chasing cats or 

 poultry, or for chasing game when first hunted. The former kind 

 of castigation, should bo cautiously applied, as the puppy is very 

 apt to associate the punishment given for the chasing of game 

 with that due to the destruction of poultry or cats ; and as he has 

 been compelled to leave the latter by the use of the whip, and has 

 been afterwards kept " at heel," so he thinks he must do so now, 

 and in fear he comes there, and consequently " blinks his birds." 

 This defect is only to be remedied by instilling confidence, and by 

 avoiding punishment; but it is often one which gives great trouble 

 before it is got over. It is not so bad as the obstinately refusing to 

 work at all, but is only next to it. Both occur in dogs which are 

 deficient in courage, and both require the most delicate and en- 

 couraging treatment to remove them. Let such dogs run " riot," 

 and commit any fault they like, without fear for a time ; then after- 

 wards, that is, when they begin to be quite bold, and are full of 

 zest for game, begin very cautiously to steady them, and some- 

 thing may yet be done. In very bad cases, all attempts at break- 

 ing must be given up at "pairing time," and the gun must be 

 relied on as a last resource, the killing of game having sometimes 

 a wonderful effect in giving courage to a dog which has been de- 

 pressed by undue correction. Punishment is not to be condemned 

 altogether, for m some breeds and individuals without the whip. 



