Home 'framing for the Shooting Beagle 79 
reliable slow dog. It is a good practice when just 
such a dog is available, but as a rule, the beginner 
does not have such a dog at hand, hence he must 
rely entirely upon his own resources and upon the 
intelligence of his dog. 
Here is where the early yard lessons will show 
their value. Keep your puppy at heel until you 
come to the covert which you wish to hunt and 
then send him on, encourage him to quest in the 
likely places and always keep him out in front of 
vou. You may not get him in the least interested 
the first time, or perhaps the second, or the third, 
or the fifth, or the sixth, but as long as you 
can keep him out and working in front of you, 
you are making progress. There are some instances 
where a puppy will not leave your side under any 
circumstances, will take no interest in hunting, or 
will sit down or find a soft bed in the leaves and 
lie down. Such puppies are rare, but they are seen 
once in a while. After taking such a puppy out a 
dozen times and he shows no encouraging symp¬ 
toms, the best thing to do is to get rid of him and 
secure another from a strain that is more likely to 
bring results. Others, after they begin to hunt and 
actually run a trail, will never give tongue. This is 
not such a bad fault and may be corrected by run¬ 
ning them with an old dog that is free with his 
voice. Sometimes also, these mute puppies develop 
good voices of their own volition after they have 
more experience. 
The main issue during these early lessons is to 
create a desire within the puppy to go out and hunt. 
Eventually, the puppy, unless he is one of the hope- 
