34 BREAKING A BIRD DOG 
brought it to me—clearly indicating that she 
wanted me to aid her in keeping it from 
Vance who was trying to take it from her. 
That gave me the looked-for and longed-for 
opportunity. I patted her and praised her so 
that she understood I was pleased with what 
she had done in bringing the pigeon to me. 
Furthermore, the minute I saw her headed 
in my direction with it, I began to say 
“Fetch” encouragingly, and kept repeating 
this so that as she approached she would as¬ 
sociate this word with the bringing of the 
pigeon to me, and the subsequent receiving 
of my compliments. 
When I took the pigeon from her and she 
saw that she had thus kept it from Vance, 
she was delighted with the game. The next 
thing on the program was to repeat the 
proposition and have her again get it away 
from Vance and bring it to me. We took the 
pigeon to the pasture gate and threw it over 
into the pasture. I told her to go “Fetch,” 
but she had not yet made up her mind that 
she would do this unless the game were 
being played. Yet, the minute Ray started 
to open the gate and go for the pigeon, she 
