' 3 26 BREAKING AND ENTERING. 



at " the point " is attained, as there are few old dogs which will 

 beat their ground properly long together when they find that 

 they are worked with a young one which is constantly flushing 

 his birds or committing some other faux pas. For these reasons 

 it is better to work the young ones at first singly, that is, as 

 soon as they will work ; and then, after they range freely and 

 work to the hand and whistle, turning to the right or left, 

 forwards or backwards, at the slightest wave of the hand, and 

 when they also begin to point, it is time enough to " hunt them 

 double." 



, In order to complete the education of the pointer in ranging 

 or beating his ground, it is not only necessary that he should 

 " quarter " it, as it is called, according to the method inculcated 

 at page 3 2 3 et seq., but that he should do it with every advantage 

 of the wind, and also without losing time by dwelling on a false 

 scent, and, above all, avoiding such careless work as to put up 

 game without standing to a point at all. I have before explained 

 the principle upon which a field is to be " quartered," and, de- 

 scribed the way in which the dog is to be set to do his work, 

 by the hand and voice, aided by the whistle. As a general rule, 

 pointers find their game by the scent being blown to them 

 from the body, constituting what is called a " body-scent," 

 and not from that left by the foot on the ground, which is 

 called a " foot-scent." Hence it is desirable in all cases to 

 give the dog the wind, that is to say, to beat up towards 

 the wind's eye ; and therefore the breaker will put his dogs 

 to work in that direction ; and then, though they do not always 

 beat directly towards the wind, yet they have it blowing from 

 the game towards them in each of their crossings. (See diagram 

 on page 324.) But suppose, as it sometimes happens, that the 

 sportsman cannot well do this, as when birds are likely to be 



