126 BREAKING A BIRD DOG 
enough just as they are without the impos¬ 
sible being expected of them. 
In teaching a dog to do anything what¬ 
soever, I have always got the best results 
by carrying on the training in connection 
with the actual need. Of course this method 
presupposes that you already have your dog 
in control and amenable to your wishes; and 
on a sufficiently friendly basis with you so 
that the understanding of the thing you de¬ 
sire is not an impossible matter. I have 
never been a very good advocate of teaching 
a dog to do something just to be doing it. I 
have an idea that a good dog realizes that 
such training is very largely a mere matter 
of horseplay—he doesn’t get the reason for it 
—and I think he doesn’t enter into it quite 
as satisfactorily as if conditions are such that 
he naturally can understand that there is a 
very definite and reasonable object in what 
you ask him to do. Now don’t all laugh at 
once. I know that a great many readers 
will say that this is giving the dog credit 
for more wisdom than he really has. The 
only thing I can say is that those of you who 
laugh, had better laugh at long range—for 
