TRAINED DOGS 265 



show judge, and also kept the best-known pointers. 

 It was with regret that we were forced to acknowledge 

 that the Scotch keeper is not, as a rule, a good dog- 

 trainer, and when birds are wild it is far preferable to 

 take the doo^s and leave him behind. 



The system Scotch keepers adopt all through the 

 season is one which I should never dream of using, 

 save when breaking in puppies, by firing a pistol and 

 shouting to them what they are expected to do. 

 When once they have been trained to work to hand 

 I never again make use of any sound. No whistle 

 or call of any kind is necessary, and when a dog 

 chances to become deaf he is still as good as ever. 

 In the case above quoted, the keeper, the head keeper 

 too, was making use of the very means most objection- 

 able even with a seven months' old puppy, with old, 

 trained dogs and wild birds. All day long it was 

 ' To ho !' ' Steady !' and the whistle going perpetually ; 

 the natural result being that the unfortunate dogs 

 were forced to content themselves with haunt-setting 

 the entire day. Birds got up hundreds of yards in 

 front of them, and such a miserable exhibition followed 

 that we were thoroughly glad when the day came to 

 an end. 



Trained dogs are a sine qua non if grouse-shooting 

 is to be a pleasure, and the best method of training 

 them is doubtless the silent one, and between the 

 latter and the ordinary noisy whistling and ' to ho-ing ' 

 there is no comparison. At the same time, I am 

 bound to confess to having failed in many instances 

 to get dogs to keep their attention fixed on the man 

 working them. I have always found It necessary to 

 procure the very best; dogs, and my experience goes 



