BREAKING TO RETRIEVE. 303 
remedied by constantly keeping in the dog by the whistle and 
hand; and if he has been properly taught to range at command, 
little trouble is required in making him change from the wide beat, 
necessary in countries where game is scarce, to the confined and 
limited range of sixty yards, which is best where it is thick on the 
ground. 
Chasing fur and also running in to dead birds are often most 
unmanageable vices; but either can generally be cured by patience 
and severe treatment, aided if necessary by the check-cord, or in 
very bad cases by the spike-collar in addition. When these are 
used it is only necessary to work the dog with them on, the cord 
either trailing loosely on the ground or held in an assistant’s hand. 
Then, the moment the dog runs in, check him severely, and if he 
is not very bold, the plain collar will suffice, as it may be made by 
a sharp jerk to throw him back, to his great annoyance; but the 
spike-collar punishes far more, and if it is used will soon give the 
dog cause to leave off his malpractices. 
BREAKING TO RETRIEVE. 
Retrieving, in my opinion, should be invariably committed toa 
dog specially kept for that purpose; but as this is not the uni- 
versal practice, it will be necessary to say a few words on this 
subject. When pointers or setters are broken to retrieve, in 
addition to those qualities peculiar to them they should always be 
so much under command as to wait “‘down charge,” until they are 
ordered on by the words “Seek dead,” when they at once go up 
to the place where they saw their game drop, and taking up‘the 
scent, foot it till they find it. Some breeds have no nose for a foot- 
scent, and if ordered to “Seek dead,” will beat for the body-scent 
as they would for a single bird; and when they come upon the lost 
bird, they “peg” it with a steady point in the same way. This 
does not injure the dog nearly so much as the working out a runner 
by the foot-scent; but a retrieving pointer of this kind is of little 
use for any but a badly wounded bird which has not run far. Few 
pointers and setters will carry game far, nor indeed is it worth 
while to spend much time in teaching them to do so; and when 
they are set to retrieve, it is better to follow them, and help them 
