188 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



for should you show too much eagerness, it will make your 

 Dogs impetuous also, and the least staunch Dog will cer- 

 tainly rush in and spoil your shot. Besides producing a 

 habit of impatience in the Dog, it unfits the sportsman for 

 that deliberation necessary to success. At every fire, the 

 master's first care should be to observe his Dog, and rather 

 lose the bird than, by any neglect, injure the Dog. There- 

 fore, immediately after shooting, tlie Dog should be called 

 in, and made to lie at your feet, by using those expressive 

 words, as, "down," "close," or '■'■ down charge," and not 

 in any wise, be suffered to leave you, or chase the bird, until 

 you are prepared for the game which may spring up around 

 you. Then give a sign of your readiness, as hold off. 

 The sportsman who will observe this rule strictly, cannot 

 fail to have fine shooting, whenever he gets his birds into 

 good cover. I have seen Dogs possessing every desirable 

 quality but this, so spoil the sport on the first covey of birds, 

 as to dampen the pleasure of a whole day's excursion; 

 therefore, too much care cannot be observed in this point 

 of training. 



A man should study well, and become perfectly acquaint- 

 ed with the disposition of the animal he attempts to educate 

 — on this depends in a great measure his success in training, 

 for the dispositions of Dogs vary like those of men. Some- 

 times it is improper to hunt a high spirited young Dog in 

 company with an old well broken Dog, as it frequently hap- 

 pens tliat the latter will excite the jealousy and impetuosity 

 of the former, which, in his ambition to excel, will com- 

 mit many errors, that he would not if hunted alone, and 

 draw on himself, the undeserved displeasure of his master. 

 Again, other joung Dogs, are mere imitators, and will only 

 follow the wake of an old Dog during the whole day, in- 

 stead of hunting seperately and independently — while some 

 will bear the most severe chastisement, and others frighten- 

 ed at merely the sight of a whip — of this the sportsman 

 must judge and act according to these varieties. 



During the process of training a Dog, the whip will cer- 

 tainly be a necessary auxiliary, but much judgment is ne- 

 cessary to use it properly, which can only be done by 

 knowing the disposition of the Dog ; — every error should 

 be punished, but according to its demerit, and a regular sys- 

 tem of training must be commenced and continued, without 

 relaxing the least in discipline, for the Dog will take advan- 

 tage of every oversight of yours to his faults, and lenience, 

 in case of necessary chastisement, will injure him more 

 than undeserved punishment ; and being educated with this 

 discipline he will always expect fromyour hands some notice 

 of his errors, whether accidental or intentional, and punish- 

 ment should be meted out commensurate with his deserts, 

 from an angrily spoken word, to the severity of the whip. 

 Another rule from which the sportsman should never 



deviate, is, always to make your Dog come to you, to be 

 chastised *this is an important point to obtain — as in this 

 case, he will on every erior, no matter how trivial, come to 

 you for correction, and crouch at your feet, when he 

 must always be noticed — but, should the opposite plan 

 be adopted by a sportsman, of running up to his Dog to flog 

 him, he, after the first severe chastisement, will run from and 

 avoid you, and on every offence, will, upon your scolding 

 him, most likely lie down in the field — but the greatest dis- 

 advantage is, that, when a dog may be hunting in a swamp 

 or difficult place, and commits error, harsh words will have 

 the tendency to keephimoutofsight, and no persuasion what- 

 ever will bring him to you ; you tlien, cannot get to him, and 

 he will not come to you ; he will therefore, be worse than 

 useless. Consequently, habituate him to come to you for 

 chastisement, in the early stage of training, and before you 

 take him to the field, and you will soon discover the impor- 

 tance of this lesson. 



A Dog should be broken with as few words and little 

 noise as possible,and with thesewords should be used signs, as 

 moving the hand right, left, forward, and toward you, accord- 

 ing to to the direction you wish the Dog to go — he will soon 

 learn these signs, and his obedience to them will prevent 

 far ranging — a Dog may be learned to quarter a field hand- 

 somely, in this way, if while waving, the master will also 

 walk the direction — the whistle is recommended and used 

 by many sportsmen ; but I never could sec much advantage 

 arising from its use ; they who choose can adopt it if they 

 think proper. 



The plan recommended by some writers, never to suffer 

 your Dog to break field, is nothing more than a reiterationof 

 the old English rule, and enjoined, because others have 

 adopted it, without any good reasons given, why it should 

 be enforced, is in my view, altogether useless. In a coun- 

 try like ours, where it sometimes occurs you are hunting 

 in fields of but few acres, this rule could not be enforced 

 without detriment to the Dog, or injury to your own com- 

 fort. Being frequently surrounded by fields, in each of 

 which you may probably find a cove)', you are left uncertain 

 of the fact until your Dog has faithfully hunted the first field 

 you enter, and he discovers by their trail, they are in the adjoin- 

 ing field, and crosses the fence, to draw upon the game; now is 

 it not better that the Dog should keep his point, than that 

 he should be called back to the original field, because affect- 

 ed etiquette says, you and he must leave together ? The 

 plan may answer, where you find fields containing from 

 thirty to one hundred acres, and you in danger of losing 



* When chastising a Dog, you should avoiJ, liicliing him in Ihe sides, striking 

 him over the head, punching liim with the butt of vourgiui, pulling him by the ears, 

 or throwing any missiles at him; a training whip should be provided, and alwayj 

 used 



