256 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



him distinguishes our modern Retriever. 

 He knows his duty, and is intensely eager 

 to perform it, but he no longer rushes off 

 unbidden at the firing of the gun. He 

 has learned to remain at heel until he is 

 ordered by word or gesture from his master, 

 upon whom he relies as his friend and 

 director, and " who to him is instead of a 

 god." 



It would be idle to expect that the off- 

 spring of unbroken sire and dam can be as 



MR. H. REGINALD COOKE'S CH. WORSLEY BESS. 



FROM THE PAINTING BY MAUD EARL. 



easily educated as a Retriever whose parents 

 before him have been properly trained. In- 

 herited qualities count for a great deal in 

 the adaptability of all sporting dogs, and 

 the reason why one meets with so many 

 Retrievers that are incapable or disobedient 

 or gun-shy is simply that their preliminary 

 education has been neglected the edu- 

 cation which should begin when the dog is 

 very young. 



In his earliest youth he should be trained 

 to prompt obedience to a given word or a 

 wave of the hand. It is well to teach 



him very early to enter water, or he may 

 be found wanting when you require him 

 to fetch a bird from river or lake. Lessons 

 in retrieving ought to be a part of his daily 

 routine. Equally necessary is it to break 

 him in to the knowledge that sheep and 

 lambs are not game to be chased, and that 

 rabbits and hares are to be discriminated 

 from feathered game. Mr. Blagg trains his 

 Retrievers to steadiness with " fur " by 

 schooling them to harmless companionship 



with tame rab- 

 bits. 



Gun - shyness 

 is often sup- 

 posed to be 

 hereditary ; but 

 it is not so. Any 

 puppy can be 

 cured of gun- 

 shyness in half 

 a dozen short 

 lessons. Sir 

 Henry Smith's 

 advice is to get 

 your puppy ac- 

 customed to the 

 sound and sight 

 of a gun being 

 fired, first at a 

 distance and 

 gradually nearer 

 and nearer, until 

 he knows that 

 no harm will 

 come to him. 

 Associate the 

 gun-firing in his 



mind with something pleasant as a sign that 

 it is feeding time, or time for a free romp in 

 the paddock. There is no more reason that 

 a dog should fear a gun than that he should 

 fear the cracking of a whip. Companionship 

 and sympathy between dog and master is 

 the beginning and end of the whole business, 

 and there is a moral obligation between 

 them which ought never to be strained. 



No breed of sporting dog has gained more 

 than the Retriever from the institution of 

 that admirable organisation the Game- 

 keepers' Association, and from the well- 



