50 BREAKING A BIRD DOG 
get very hungry. Then give her a good dinner of 
food that she particularly craves, and very uncon¬ 
cernedly shoot a little 22 rifle at sparrows or other 
birds which may be about. You might start with 
just beebee caps and then work up to shorts and 
finally to longs. It will be a tedious job, but to 
cure Belle will be well worth while. 
Another plan, particularly after you have made 
some attempts with a 22 rifle, will be to take Belle 
with you to some trap-shooting event and just keep 
her on lead while the guns roar. You pay abso¬ 
lutely no attention to her and take all the interest 
you want in watching the shooting at the clay birds. 
Just let Belle lunge and pull and jerk and jump until 
she wears herself out, and still you must not appear 
to notice it at all. Your apparent unconcern during 
such a trial as this may accomplish the purpose. The 
more natural you make your ignoring of her the 
better it will be. 
By all means do not let any of your friends, or 
other persons, appear to notice the dog’s fright any 
more than you do. The principal thing is not to 
expect to accomplish a cure too quickly and do not 
become impatient at lack of prompt results. 
A friend was telling me not long ago of a gun- 
shy dog for which he cared enough to go to any 
pains to cure, and he said that every day he took that 
dog with him to an old barn and started by using 
