18 BREAKING A BIRD DOG 
believe in yard breaking a dog before taking 
him into the field. The answer is that it all 
depends. If the dog is unruly, you had bet¬ 
ter do it. Otherwise not. The less you have 
“monkeyed” with a young dog the more in¬ 
dependently he will hunt when first taken 
afield—and that, of course, is one of the 
things most to be desired. You are apt to 
restrict him too much if you attempt great 
restraint too early. I believe in letting 
things come naturally as much as possible. 
(See Mr. Robert Bruen’s letter published 
further along in this book.) 
One of the best things for a puppy before 
you start the actual lessons is that he may 
have been farm raised and by self-hunting 
start to acquire an amount of natural “bird 
sense.” 
