NATURAL HIST.'RY OF THE DOG. 117 



rendering their possessor quite unfit to enter cover, and 

 ready, if he could speak, to curse the maudlin sentimentality 

 ,o which he owed the annoyance. 



CROPPING AND TAILING. 



Some persons like to crop the ears of a terrier ; others like 

 them to be left in their natural condition. Mr. Youatt ob- 

 jects to cropping : so do many. I say nothing either for or 

 against ; but if you be resolved on cropping, do it humanely ; 

 let three cuts suffice. Draw the ears over the head until the 

 points meet ; with a very sharp pair of scissors, cut both 

 points off to the length you desire ; then with a single cut to 

 each, from below upwards, cut away the hinder portion of 

 the flaps of the ears up to the point. 



In a week the ears will be well ; and I have never known 

 deafness or any other of the bad effects prognosticated by Mr, 

 Youatt, to result from the operation. As I have already 

 stated, however, I am not advocating the practice ; I merely 

 give instructions as to how it should be done in the most mer- 

 ciful manner. The tail of a well-bred pup should never be 

 meddled with ; and if the dog be badly bred, and his tail, 

 consequently, coarse, he is not worth keeping. 



In training your dogs, keep your temper / never correct the 

 dog in vengeance for your own irritation ; gentleness does far 

 more than violence will ever effect ; and a dog that requires 

 the latter treatment had better be got rid of; he will ever be 

 a nuisance. 



In proof of my assertion I adduce the following most inte- 

 resting account of the performances of two dogs, exhibited 

 some time ago in London. The account was published in the 

 "Lancet." 



" Two fine dogs, of the Spanish breed, were introduced by 

 M Leonard, with the customary French politesse the largest, 

 by the name of M. Philax ; the other, as M. Brae, (or Spot.). 

 The former had been in training three the latter, two years. 

 They were in vigorous health, and, having bowed very grace- 

 fully, seated themselves on the hearth-rug side by side. M. 

 Leonard then gave a lively description of the means he had 

 employed to envelope the cerebral system in these animals ; 

 how, from having been fond of the chase, and ambitious of 

 possessing the best-trained dogs, he had employed the usual 

 course of training how the conviction had been impressed on 

 bis mind, that by gentle usage, and steady perseverance in 



