GUN-SHYNESS 
35 
made a bold dash for it and brought it back 
to me again to the same old tune of “Fetch,” 
and again she received my praise and my 
pats. From this start it was not a far cry to 
have her understand that when I said 
“Fetch” I meant for her to bring to me what¬ 
ever it was that might be indicated; and she 
also came to understand that as a result of 
the satisfactory doing of this thing she would 
receive my compliments and praise in no un¬ 
certain terms. It required, then, but a rea¬ 
sonable amount of practice until she took de¬ 
light in it and would bring to me whatever 
it was intended she should retrieve. We thus 
at one and the same time proved that she 
was not gun-shy and also gave her the first 
lessons in retrieving. It goes without saying 
that we were careful not to tire her, and 
stopped while Byrd was still keen for the 
game. This was important to results—is 
always important, in fact. 
I might say at this point that it would be 
well, when possible, to have a dog broken to 
retrieve by the force system. By the plan I 
pursued with Byrd you have no way to com¬ 
pel them to obey your command if they do 
