July 20, 1901.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
49 
right to the water's edge, the rapids are frequent and pic- 
turesque, and it would be difficult indeed to imagine more 
enjoyable routes for a summer outing. 
From the north shore of the St. Lawrence and from 
Labrador it is learned that the salmon fishing is much 
better than it has been on the south shore. Over a hun- 
dred fish have been killed in the Trinity, which is a com- 
paratively small river. 
Mr. Hart, of Waterbury, will fish one of the Gaspe 
streams with a party of friends next week. The net fishing 
has been splendid of late in the Baie des Chaleurs, and 
good sport will probably be reported a little later from 
the anglers among the second run of salmon in the rivers 
flowing into the bay, 
E. T. D. Chambers. 
Quebec, Canada, July J8. 
The Tarpon Record. 
Kansas City, Mo., July 8. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The big tarpon now on exhibition at the store of Messrs. 
Wm. Mills & Son, 31 Park place, New York city, is 
claimed in your issue of July 6 to be the largest tarpon 
ever caught with rod and reel. 
This claim is not well founded, for my friend. Dr. H. 
VV. Howe, of Mexico City, Mex., in December, 1899, 
caught one just ten pounds heavier — ^viz,, 223 pounds. 
This fish was fully described in my paper on "Winter 
Fishing at Tampico," published in your issue of Aug. 4, 
1900. 
This fish was landed on a light Devine tarpon rod, a No. 
36 Empire City line that had been in constant use for more 
than two weeks, and one of Dr. Howe's reels. 
I hold in my office the original affidavit of Dr. Howe and 
two others who saw the fish landed and weighed, a copy of 
which was incorporated in the aforesaid paper of mine. 
The scale used for weighing the fish was one sold me by 
Mr. Ed. vom Hofe, and which was tested a short time 
before by weighing accurately two men. 
It is evident, therefore, that Dr. Howe still holds the 
championship. 
I note also in the same issue of your -paper that two 
tarpon fishermen in thirty-four days' fishing in Florida 
landed between them fifteen tarpon. In the same time 
at Tampico, Mex., they could certainly have landed over 
one hundred. As far as I have been able to learn, the 
winter and spring fishing along the Mexican coast is far 
superior to that along the Florida coast. 
J. A. L. Waddell. 
— ® — 
Fixiorcs. 
Sept. 2-5. — Toronto^ Can. — Dog show of the Toronto Industrial 
Exhibition. W. P. Fraser, Sec'y. and Supt. 
Training the Hunting Dog. 
By B. Waters* Author of "Fetch and Carrys A Treatise 
on Retrieving." 
M " ' ' 
XX. — The Tools of Training, 
The whip, whistle, spike collar and check cord are all 
the instruments the trainer needs to perfect the dog in 
his education for work to the gun. 
Both whip and spike collar have been denounced as 
cmfwyp cmfw wfmcyy cnifwy pu cmfwyp shrdl shrdimm 
they arc used. The cruelty therefore is in their applica- 
tion, which is a manifestation of the trainer's pruposes. 
If the trainer cannot use the spike collar without be- 
ing cruel, it is better for him to entirely forego its use, 
as it is better also to forego any attempts at training 
if he cannot control his temper. When properly ap- 
plied, the collar inflicts pain without mutilation. It 
serves a useful purpose, and its use can be justified on 
that score. Breaking the colt to harness, which at first 
hurts him, or breaking the ox to the yoke, inflicts cer- 
tain degrees of pain, yet if not carried to unnecessary 
degrees no one considers that cruelty is inflicted. One 
or two cuts from a heavy whalebone whip raises welts 
on the side of the roadster, and causes a greater intensity 
of pain than there would be occasion to inflict in all 
the lessons of the average retriever. 
Anger and violence result in cruelty. When they are 
exhibited, the trainer is such in name only. He then is 
unfit to teach, and he then incapacitates the pupil to 
learn. 
The best training collar, though called a spike collar, is 
a combination of hoth spike and choke collar. Its con- 
struction should be simple and its material of the best. 
The leather should be medium weight harness leather, 
without sponginess or flaws. For convenience in use, the 
collar is made in two parts. 
The longer part should be from 22 to 24 inches in length 
by lJ4 inches in width. An iron oblong, sufficiently large 
to allow the free end of the strap to play through it, is 
sewed in the other end of the strap. If a ring were used 
it would allow the strap to twist around the dog's neck; 
the oblong prevents it from doing so. The spikes, six in 
number, are screwed through steel plates on one side of 
the strap, two to a plate, and are secured by nuts screwed 
on them on the opposite side of the strap. The spikes 
to allow the free end of the strap to play through it, is 
should project inwardly, about 14 inch. The points 
should have a bevel of about 45 degrees, so that they will 
hurt, without cutting or puncturing the skin. The shorter 
strap. 2 or 3 inches in length, has a square buckle at one 
end to buckle free end of the collar, and a ring is at the 
other end in which to fasten the check cord. 
The whip is carried and used to punish the dog for any 
misbehavior in a general way. Its presence alone has a 
teneficient moral effect. While the dog enjoys the so- 
ciety of his master as a companion, he detests servitude, 
'vhich conflicts with his own spontaneous actions or pur- 
)os€;s. and he obeys many times for no other reason than 
hat obedience is compulsory. 
The presence of the whip and its significance do much to 
piaintajn discipline. For its rnora! effect, many trainers 
carr^ it fastened to ^he coat, \yh.ere it is in sight at s^H 
times, and where it is instantly available when needed. 
The majority of trainers and shooters, however, carry 
the whip in the pocket. Those most in favor, therefore, 
are flexible, so that they may be rolled up and stowed 
in a small compass. 
Whips heavily loaded with iron or lead should nveer be 
used, as they are unpleasant to carry, and as a slung shot 
are not at all needed in furtherance of the dog's edu- 
cation. 
A silk or linen cracker on the end of the whip adds 
to its effectiveness. It also preserves the lash from wear- 
ing out. An admonitory crack of it often serves to 
adjust the dog's efforts quite as well as a whipping 
does. 
The check cord serves a most useful purpose in keeping 
the dog under control at such times as he would misbe- 
have or interfere if left to his own will, or run away if 
he is displeased or afraid. It also comes efficietitty 
into use in many parts of the field and yard breaking. 
A braided cord is the best. It docs not require so much 
care in coiling it for the pocket, and it cannot untwist in 
the annoying manner peculiar to common rope. 
The cord used to connect windows with their counter- 
balance serves admirably the purposes of a check cord. 
A 34-hich line is quite large enough for all field pur- 
poses, although in the yard lessons a J/2-inch line, as be- 
ing easier on the hands, may be preferable. The check 
cord should be as short as is consistent with effecting the 
desired purpose. If used beyond a certain length, which 
is variable according to the special matter to be accom- 
plished, it is more or less cumbersome and unmanage- 
able. When not in use it should be coiled carefully so 
that when one end is fastened to the dog's collar it will 
play freely without tangling or kinking. 
The whistle serves as a great aid in hairdling the dog 
when he is seeking for prey. It should have a good tone 
of medium pitch. Metallic whistles have a tendency to 
make the mouth sore, and when full of frost in cold 
weather are painful to the teeth and lips. For use, it is 
best suspended from near the hunting coat collar in 
front by a string of sufficient length. 
The senseless and continuous whistling practiced by 
some trainers and shooters should be studiously avoided. 
To the dog, the blasts have a meaning only when they are 
associated with definite ideas, and such lie cannot have 
if they are continuous. 
If the whistle is carried habitually- in the mouth, there 
is a great temptation to blow it unnecessarily, therefore 
it is better to place it in the pocket until it is actually 
needed. Men who carry it in their moitths continuously 
are prone to acquire a drawn, anxious look, and are 
ever alert to blow it on the slightest pretext of setting 
the dog aright in his seeking. Probably nine out of ten of 
the blasts on the whistle are unnecessary, and therefore 
more or less harmful. Its only useful place in the man- 
agement of the dog at work is to turn him if taking a 
cast too wide ; to attract his attention to a signal of the 
hand, which the shooter desires him to see. and to make 
him cease work and come in. A different note is used 
for the respective purposes, and once the note is definitely 
fixed upon, it should always be used in its proper rela- 
tion and none other. 
The trainer can use any note or combination of notes 
which he pleases, there being nothing specially conven- 
tional in this respect, although in a general way a long 
and short note are used to make the dog turn, a succes- 
sion of short, sharp notes to attract his attention, and a 
prolonged whistling to make him come in. 
When trained for field trial purposes, some dogs are 
taught to work further out and go faster to blasts of the 
whistle, to the end that the whistling of the opposing 
handler may not check the dog's efforts. 
XXL— Field Trial Breaking and Handling. 
In field trial competition, a dog needs to do his best, 
and this he can do only when he has self confidence, 
proper schooling, good spirits, and stamina which comes 
from excellent physical condition. 
A dog, working alone in such manner as pleases him- 
self, and yet, perhaps, in a manner pleasing to the 
shooter, is then engaged quite differently from a mat- 
ter of competition. Allowed to take his own time and 
methods, he may do well; but in competition his per- 
formance is relative, and therefore inferior if some 
other dog does better. 
The field work of the dog. with its cramped sub.servi- 
ency to the interests of the gun, and the work of the 
dog in field trial competition, are distinct inasmuch as 
the pottering burdensom.eness of the shooter in actual 
work is largely eliminated. 
There are shooters who hold that a field trial should 
be an exhibition of high class field work as it is done 
in actual service to the gun afield. Such arguments are 
absurd. To hold a dog down to the restrictions imposed 
by actual work to the gtm would vitiate all competition. 
The purpose of the competition is to try out the dog's 
powers to the utmost, in the qualities which are essen- 
tial in actual field work, and in the approved manner of 
field work, free from the obstructiveness of the shooter 
whose dominant idea is the capture of the bird rather 
than the degree of his dog's natural qualities. The cap- 
ture of the bird, by the way, is a difficult idea to remove 
from the average shooter's field trial data. He cannot con- 
sider a race between two or more dogs without making 
the dead bird a standard of value. One season at field 
trials usually convinces the as-in-actual-field-work oracle 
that he is quite right and the field trial world is quite 
wrong; in the second season, he usually begins to learn 
something on the one hand and unlearn something on 
the other; and later on, if he have a reasonable degree 
of good sense, he learns to know that he did not know 
it all. 
The term, "natural qualities," is difficult to explain 
to the advocate of pure field work which is done in the 
interest of the gun, for the reason that it embodies a 
theory which runs counter to his prejudgments and 
prejudices. He generally attempts the reductio ad ab- 
surdum that "natural qualities" indicate an unbroken 
dog turned loose to run wild. As a matter of act, the 
field trial dog needs to be broken to a certain useful 
degree, and while he competes after the manner of actual 
'field work he is freed from its deadening burdens. The 
trotting horse is broken to harness and to obedience 
to voice and rein, yet he, in a race, is given the freest 
opportunity to display his natural qualities to their ut- 
most. Why not insist that he should race to a farm 
cart so that his natural qualities would thereby be dis- 
played "as in actual field work?" 
The manner in which the horse races is not the man- 
ner in which he is driven on the road; the manner in 
which he is trained on the track is not the manner in 
which he is trained for road work, yet the natural quali- 
ties, the speed, stamina, intelligence, gameness, disposi- 
tion, etc., which the horse displays in races are the 
qualities which are of service in actual road work, and 
when he is used in the latter service the manner of 
handling him is modified accordingly. 
No sane man would think of driving his horse on the 
road as if he were racing for a championship. Most 
men can talk sensibly in respect to the distinctions be- 
tween a race horse and a cart horse, yet a large percent- 
age of them would probably lose their good judgments 
when considering the differences between a field dog 
and a field trial dog, though the difference between 
either might be merely a matter of handling. Indeed, 
a dog might be both a field trial dog and a field dog, 
and not infrequently he is such. Few men can handle a 
race horse or field trial dog; not every man can handle 
the ordinary horse or dog, and some men cannot handle 
any kind of dog, for which they hold the dog blirnable. 
It is true that fast doj^s have bolted at field trials, and 
it also is true that race horses have rim away on the 
tracks when racing, but it would be erroneous to assume 
that such acts are considered standards of merit. And 
yet a dog of- high class natural qualities may commit a 
flagrant error and win a race, not by virtue of having 
committed such error, but by virtue of being a better 
performer than his competitors, error and all consid- 
ered. On the other hand, a dog may commit an error 
of such magnitude that it disqualifies him from furthtr 
competition in the race in which he is engaged. 
Field trials are conducted by intelligent, experienced 
gentlemen. They have all the experience and knowledge 
which come from "actual field work," with the added 
knowledge of what constitutes the principles of a compe- 
tition and the best manner of conducting it. 
In preparing a dog for a competition it therefore is 
better to' act on the theory that he will engage in a race, 
Metuories of what dear Star did on a memorable day 
when he made forty-nine or more points with birds to 
every point will not offset his inferior performance in 
competition. Not what he has done but what he does 
do is the only datum the judge considers. 
To perform at his best, a dog must be in fine physical 
condition. His muscles must be hard and strong; 
his feet tough; his body free from fat and surplus flesh, 
all resulting from sufficient exercise in the preliminary 
weeks, combined with proper feeding and general good 
care. Furthermore, he must have ample practice on 
birds, so that he will be able to perform quickly and 
skillfidly on them. Speedy work is essential, for one 
can easily understand that a dog which works on his 
birds sharply, accurately and intelligently will not give 
a slower dog any chance to score, however well the lat- 
ter may be able to work if given more time, No forcing 
process serves to fit the dog for a field trial. Over- 
exercising to reduce fat, whipping to correct errors, etc., 
do not condition the dog. Good, honest preparation and 
enough time are the essentials. Soft flesh, thick wind 
and unskillfulness are not corrected by hurry or pres- 
sure. 
Without the necessary preparation, no dog has other 
than an exceedingly remote chance in a field trial com- 
petition. Trusting to luck and to one's own ability to 
help the dog to win is trusting to a forlorn hope. 
The judges are quite alive to what work is done inde- 
pendently by the dog and what is done by the assistance 
of his handler. They wUl make their estimates accord- 
ingly. This does not imply that skill is not necessary in 
handling a dog in a field trial, but it notes a distinction 
between skillfully handling a dog which is able to make 
a good competition and on the other hand endeavoring 
to assist one which is unfit to compete. Handling and 
assisting are different matters. 
Sharp practice is now many years obsolete. Honesty 
and skillfulness are not in the least antagonistic. Any 
attempts at trickery are instantly detected by the mod- 
ern judge, and if the offending "handler escapes a repri- 
mand on the spot he does not escape close surveiUance 
thereafter and a disbelief in his honesty on the part of 
the judges, so that in a way he justly suffers a deprecia- 
tion of character from any attempts at triclcj' handling. 
The field trial dog is best developed by' permitting 
him to self hunt, or by conducting his training on a 
modification of it. In this manner, his self interest is 
stimulated to its utmost, consistent with a reasonable 
degree of work to the gun. . 
Most dogs work less keenly when restricted too closely 
in their work to the gun, and some dogs work in a 
slovenly, spiritless manner under such circumstances. 
The greater self-interest the trainer can evoke in the dog. 
the greater will be the dog"s effort to gratify it. This 
can be done and maintained only by kindne'ss and 
encouragement in the main. 
The chief considerations in a field trial are locating 
the birds, pointing them, backing the com_peting dog, 
steadiness to point, wing, and shot, and judgment in 
ranging. 
The general wisdom of the dog, as manifested by his 
practical acts, is expressed by the term "bird sense." 
Any training, over and above what brings out these quali- 
ties in a finished manner, is redundant, and. from, a com- 
petitive standpoint, tends toward harming the dog's 
chances rather than toward improving them. In seek- 
ing, finding, pointing, etc., the mind of the dog should 
be concentrated on the work which is recognized as 
competitive. If he makes his work secondary to the 
doings of his handler, he is thereby hampered with con- 
siderations which are not competitive, and his perform- 
ance as a contestant will be injured accordingly. In 
short, the field trial dog is trained specially to fit the 
conditions of a race. If he works out his ground with 
greater speed and more judgment, follows a trail with 
greater speed and precision, points his birds more truly 
than does his competitor, he will be doing practically all 
the work. His opponent then will seem to be doing noth- 
ing, for the work all being done before he can get to it, 
there is nothing for him to do. ' 
Contrary to the views held by some writers, great 
experience on game is no h.^^od^cap to the field trial 
