178 
MAKING OK BREAKING. 
Now, the question is, are we making this goddess of science attrac¬ 
tive to her votaries, or are we making her a sort of i( Obi ”—a terror 
to her novitiates, an unhallowed joy to her high priests ? 
When we commence the education of a retriever, we do not start by 
firing a gun in his face and giving him a thrashing ; nor is there any 
reason to believe that the fact of subsequently giving him a larger 
feed than that apportioned to the other dogs would have any effect in 
preventing him from being’ gun-shy. With a young retriever we 
exercise the greatest care. His alarm at the sound of a gun is les¬ 
sened by firing it first at some distance from him, and by degrees, he 
learns to connect the horrid noise with the fall of the bird which it is 
his great joy to bring, with loving care, to the hand of his master. 
Wild as a hawk he probably will be at first; but, if his master be 
wise, he will see in his wide-ranging, the promise of a hard-working 
untiring dog, who in good time will learn to husband his energy, 
power, and speed, to use these qualities to the best advantage and to 
show his superiority to the pottering brute who never would have the 
pluck to risk a thrashing. Nor, when he is following at heel, would 
his master, did he know dog language, dream of hurting his feelings 
by drawing invidious comparisons between him and the graceful setters 
flying over the heather, till, as they wind the birds, they become motion¬ 
less, one dog backing the other, and showing the perfection of fire 
discipline that has been attained. 
The birds are flushed and fired at, and now the retriever’s turn has 
come. At a wave of his master’s hand he bounds forward and, scien¬ 
tifically quartering his ground, picks up and brings back a dead bird. 
In following up the scent of a runner he shows the skill and persever¬ 
ance innate in his breed, but brought to perfection by kind and careful 
training. Who shall say that the retriever is less useful than the 
setter ? We hear every now and then of a retrieving pointer—we 
constantly see retrievers ruined by being used to find game and to 
“ put out ” rabbits, but are these jacks-of-all-trades ever really success¬ 
ful ? Most men who take a pride in their dogs will answer this question 
with an emphatic negative. 
The simile may be clumsy, but let us try and apply it. The free 
gallop of the setter, checked in a moment—the marvellous drill of his 
companion, who becomes motionless in the fraction of a second to 
back his comrade’s point—may perhaps find a parallel in the tradi¬ 
tional “ Halt, Action Front!”, the speedy and accurate movements of 
the mounted branch; while the keen, skilful, highly-trained retriever 
may be likened to the Garrison gunner biding his time, but, like his 
brother, reflecting the highest credit on his trainer. Both are neces¬ 
sary—each has his respective role ; there are good and bad dogs of 
either breed, but to say that one is better than the other is illogical. 
It is with the training of the young retriever, the Garrison gunner, 
that we are mainly concerned, let us see how this had best be accom¬ 
plished. 
The material, as it comes into our hands, may be described as hetero¬ 
geneous, but it is practically divisible into two classes, the characteristics 
of which are tolerably well marked. 
