114 Modern Breaking 



The system here offered will enable any per- 

 son with a reasonable amount of patience and 

 firmness to compel a dog to retrieve; it will 

 bring a stubborn dog to terms and will not 

 cow the most timid. It has been in use for 

 years by some of the best professional breakers, 

 but has never before been given to the public. 

 Some dogs get the idea very quickly and with 

 a little encouragement learn very rapidly; oth- 

 ers will test the breaker's patience and temper. 

 In the system here outlined, instead of using 

 a spike collar, the dog's attention to the sub- 

 ject in hand is held and punishment applied 

 by pinching the ear, the breaker using the 

 thumb and finger-nail for that purpose. It is 

 in every way an improvement upon the spike 

 collar, as the severity of the punishment can be 

 more delicately regulated, there is nothing for 

 the dog to get frightened at, and the means 

 of forcing obedience are alwa}'S at hand. The 

 breaker must understand that the dog's ear 

 must never be pulled or jerked. It should 

 simply be pinched hard enough to cause the dog 

 to good-naturedly open his mouth and hold au 

 object placed there. 



In teaching a dog to retrieve, it is always 

 best to have a dog well along in his training, 

 so as to avoid any danger of cowing him, but 

 in this as in all things, the dog's disposition 

 must be studied. A good plan to follow in 



