THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
landrails with them in the summer, as they are then under your observa- 
tion. You can make them do exactly as you wish, which is not so easy 
in a thick covert full of ground game. 
Beyond what may be called, for want of a better term, physical dog- 
training, those of us who have spent our lives among dogs have come in 
contact, though we may not all have realized it, with a peculiar influence, 
which may be called “ telepathy,” “ animal magnetism,” or anything 
else, but there it is. As in human beings, one mind often has a governing 
influence upon another. Considering the amount of thought and mental 
energy applied by a trainer to his dog, is there any reason to marvel that 
the impressionable brain of the animal can, to a certain extent, be domi- 
nated by the stronger will of his master ? The dashing young setter, two 
hundred yards off, makes a move to chase a hare, stops, looks back at 
his handler (who has not made a sound or moved, merely thinking his 
charge will not commit himself, and thinking it very earnestly) and drops. 
Most people who have broken many dogs have seen something like this. 
In careful hands pointers and setters, if of a good strain, vary compara- 
tively little as to their inclination to absorb knowledge. Nothing is more 
miserable than a fine August day, and the dogs tired by lunch time. This 
is quite avoidable. All setters and pointers should do four hours three 
times a week on the road for six weeks before the Twelfth. In handling 
dogs the mistake is often made of being afraid of their doing wrong; 
better to keep cool, and trust that the time spent on their education has 
not been thrown away; if the worst happens, a chase after a flying and 
unwounded pheasant is futile, and no one finds it out quicker than the 
dog himself. 
WALTER BAXENDALE. 
280 
