162 



THE CABINET OP NATURAL HISTORY. 



tise him. This can be done if the tutor will be patient. 

 Chastisement will di.spirit and frighten a young Dog, when 

 the oppo.site treatment will make him love and obey you. 

 The disposition in children to learn, has frequently been 

 checked, if not destroyed, by severity; and disgust to the 

 book and school excited by harshness on the part of the 

 master; therefore, when you give your young Dog meat, 

 make him halt at the word " toho," before he is suffered to 

 eat it, and a very few lessons, in this way, will so habituate 

 him to that expression, that, so soon as he, in the field, sees 

 another Dog standing at game, will understand the word 

 when you remind him of it. The capacity of a young Dog 

 will admit of much instruction, but if you wish your instruc- 

 tion to be effective, in things pertaining to the field, you 

 should give him tuition at home and before he has hunted in 

 company with another Dog. Many persons condemn this 

 plan, as being different altogether from the duties of the 

 field, but the same reasons may be urged against the neces- 

 sity of training our military in the streets, as being unlike 

 the field of war; but does not the soldier often call into exer- 

 cise, in the field of battle, those tactics he learned at home? 

 It is in consequence of many persons, neglect of, or preju- 

 dice against, this early instruction, that many Dogs are only 

 half what they might have been. 



We now suppose your Dog to be nine months old; he is 

 then strong and has attained nearly his full size, and at the 

 proper age to commence training in the field. He should 

 then be taken, (if possible,) in company with an old, well- 

 broken Dog, without the gun, until he acquires the habit of 

 ranging pretty well; and to make him spirited, he should 

 be suflered to chase the birds as they rise. This will excite 

 much keenness and love for hunting, as well as a disposition 

 to range well. It is all important, that a Dog should pos- 

 sess great spirit; for an animal of this kind can be trained 

 with less difficulty and more satisfaction, than one of the 

 contrary disposition. It is much easier to check an impe- 

 tuous Dog, than give spirit to one deficient of this principle. 

 When you find that your young Dog is sufficiently keen 

 after game, you, moderately and by gradual means, 

 should check him, and then you maj^ hunt him with a gun; 

 and as this is, perhaps, the first time he has seen or heard a 

 gun discharged, it may have the effect of frightening him 

 from you, and making him return home. This sometimes 

 proves to be an unpleasant and unfortunate circumstance, as 

 it may be found difficult to get him to follow you to the 

 field again, should you have a gun in your hand. In this 

 case, I would advise, that he be frequently taken to the 

 field, and tied to some stake or tree, and having provided a 

 pistol, commence firing at some distance from him, gradually 

 approaching the Dog at every few discharges, until you 

 think firing immediately over him will not materially affect 

 him. It is proper, also, to take some meat, and, at every 



few discharges, pause, feed, and caress him. At first, 

 in all probability, he will make several efforts to escape, but 

 finding them unavailing, he will lie down in a sullen mood, 

 until, by a number of discharges, he becomes regardless of 

 the gun. 



This plan I have followed successfully, and have known 

 others to do so too; but the best and most natural plan, 

 however, is, to hunt the young Dog in company with seve- 

 ral others, and not separately, and the carelessness of 

 these Dogs to the report of the gun, will give him confi- 

 dence also; and a few hours shooting will entirely divest 

 him of all fear of the gun. 



The sportsman should not fail to caress him at every fire, 

 and if he entertains doubts of his stability, he should pro- 

 vide a small quantity of meat to be given him. This will 

 gain his confidence, when all other means prove fruitless, 

 and by giving him the birds to smell and mouth, he will 

 get an insight into the object of your pursuit, and make him 

 familiar to the scent of the game also. This is an impor- 

 tant period with the Dog, and the master should by no 

 means leave it unimproved; for, half a day followed up 

 strictly on this principle, will excite spirit, and his fear 

 being overcome, he will take pleasure in ranging out freely 

 with the other Dogs. Many young Dogs, at this time, are 

 ruined, because the fear which takes hold of a Dog sinks 

 him spiritless to the ground, or deranges him for the time, 

 when anger or impatience in the sportsman causes him to 

 treat the frightened animal with undue severity, discour- 

 ages him from further hunting, and is useless ever after. 



When you have hunted your Dog several days, the style 

 of his hunting should be strictly regarded by you, as of the 

 next importance. If he ranges with his head high and nose 

 well up, there will be no difficulty in breaking him to your 

 mind; but if, on the contrary, he should hunt with his nose 

 to the ground, in a manner as if trailing game, the sports- 

 man will have many difficulties to surmount before he can 

 break him of this habit. Every effort, however, should be 

 made to correct it; for a Dog of this kind will frequently 

 flush game before he can possibly scent it, owing to the cir- 

 cumstance of his nose being confined in the grass and stub- 

 ble, and following the trail of the birds. Game always 

 become restless, and will generally take wing, if an object 

 which pursues them follows directly in their wake; and 

 this is the case with all Dogs which hunt nose down. 



But it is different with a Dog that ranges with a high 

 head, as birds, when they find a Dog pass backwards and 

 forwai'ds promiscuously, will either rest quiet or merely 

 endeavour to avoid them by running, and do not appear 

 alarmed so long as the Dog will keep from trailing them. 

 Beside, it gives this Dog a greater superiority over the 

 other, for the reason that all effluvium ascends and is scat- 

 tered more or less, according to the temperature of the 



