148 The Dog Book 
brilliant parents all too frequently have children in no ways their equals, 
so also well-built parents do not always have equally symmetrical children, 
though that is the case much more so than in dogs as a rule. 
Presuming that the would-be trainer is about selecting a puppy upon 
which to try his skill, and the breeding of a certain litter or dog suits him, 
as promising good results, then let him satisfy himself that the dog is shaped 
so that he can gallop with ease and freedom, if of an age to run at speed; 
or if too young for that, see that he stands straight in front, has good bone, 
a short back and is well crooked in hind legs. A dog straight behind is 
almost invariably wrong in shoulders, and anyway if he cannot reach well 
forward with his hind legs he will prove a poor gallopper. Stress is laid 
upon formation, because no matter if one sees field trials winners in all 
sorts of shapes, that is no argument that they do better than if they were 
better made, or as well. There are plenty of well-made dogs incapable of 
doing good work in the field just as we find many strong, muscular men 
quite incapable of continued exertion or of standing severe punishment. 
We know that certain conformations are not conducive to speed in animals 
and there is little use selecting a puppy with radical faults in: that respect 
when there are plenty of others in the market. Good health is another 
necessity, and it will be well to find out that the parents are strong consti- 
tutioned dogs, vigorous and healthy. A bad constitutjoned dog eats poorly 
and works poorly and should be left alone. 
In some works on training the first lessons are devoted to a good many 
simple things which are just as much associated with field work as is the 
a, b,c a hand-book for a college course. If the setter or pointer has 
not before he is six or eight months old been taught to come at call or become 
accustomed to the collar and chain, we may well ask what the dog’s owner 
has been thinking about. “Here, puppy; come, puppy” was the first 
start in the education of the field dog, just as a-b, ab was the start of the 
college graduate’s education. Training simply consists in the dog doing 
what he has been ordered to do, the recognition of the man as the director 
of his ways and one that must be obeyed. Not only must the puppy come 
promptly to his master when called, but he must get in the habit of obeying 
him in ways that are not quite as much to his liking, such as being taken 
for a walk and then ordered home, going to his kennel when so ordered, and 
all in obedience to order and long before any course of training is taken up. 
Wearing a collar and leading on chain are plain dog education and not 
