Concerning Field Trials and Training Sh 
have a little field trial of their own. It is surprising 
to note what a benefit this is to the puppies. They 
will overcome any tendency to stage fright and will 
soon learn to feel at home in any company. In this 
connection it might be well to observe, also, that 
the puppies should be accustomed to all the various 
conditions that are likely to befall them in going to 
a field trial. For instance, taking* them back and 
forth in wagons or automobiles in their crates, ship¬ 
ping them in baggage cars, even if it is only up and 
down the road for short distances, and also allowing 
them to run in regular heats with an audience behind 
them. There is never any trouble to secure the 
audience, rather, sometimes it is difficult to keep 
spectators away during the early training when the 
lessons should be conducted only in presence of one 
or at most, two trainers. 
By derby dog is meant one that is under two 
years old, or rather, to be more explicit, a dog that 
is whelped on or after the first of January of any 
given year is a derby for the fall of the succeeding 
year. In other words, puppies whelped on or after 
January i, 1923, will derbys in the fall of 1924. 
Naturally the dogs that compete in these stakes, 
say in October are still very young, for not many 
of them are whelped in January or February, as a 
matter of fact, some of them are June or even July 
puppies, consequently they are but little more than a 
year old at the time of the early trials. The duration 
of a field trial heat is supposed to be thirty minutes 
in the first series, hence it will be seen at a glance 
that the young dog must begin doing his best at 
once. The dog that is quick to get down to hunting 
