148 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



plan at feeding -time to have the puppies together, 

 and put food outside an opening in their kennel ; 

 then to call out each puppy by name, and on no 

 account allow any other to come than the one 

 called. In a surprisingly short time it will be possible 

 to set open the door and call out each puppy by 

 name, without forcibly keeping back the uninvited. 

 In this way a good grounding might be given to the 

 favourite fox-terriers in obedience, of which so many 

 have not the slightest notion. 



* * * 



The power of scent varies much with different dogs : 

 usually a slow dog makes better use of its scenting 



nerves than the fast galloper. It is pretty 

 Nofes to watcn a good retriever following a wounded 



bird over ground alive with unwounded 

 game, yet never turning aside from the one trail. 

 A dog could hardly distinguish one partridge from 

 another probably it is by the scent of blood that 

 the one line can be followed so accurately. Sports- 

 men do not always give the dogs fair chances ; they 

 throw them cheese at lunch-time, or perhaps allow 

 bagged game or themselves to taint the wind, so 

 foiling other trails. In one case a sportsman blamed 

 a new retriever for not finding a bird which was 

 actually lying beneath his own boots. And even a 

 first -rate retriever will sometimes tread on the very 

 bird he is seeking, without finding it. 



