130 BREAKING A BIRD DOG 
didn’t even attempt to leave her place until I 
was through with what I had to say and 
gave her permission to do so. Since that 
time I have had a number of occasions when 
I have had to ask Byrd to wait some place 
for me—and not once has she failed. 
It is my belief that I was benefited in giv¬ 
ing these instructions by the fact that the 
need for her to do as I told her was manifest. 
The results, as secured, would seem to jus¬ 
tify my belief—because, with but very little 
effort, I have accomplished more than most 
people are ever able to do as a result of al¬ 
most constant effort to keep their dogs up 
to the mark. I might have asked Byrd to 
do these things innumerable times for “prac¬ 
tice”—but the trouble with so much mere 
practice is that the dog is apt to regard it 
pretty much as poppycock and not take it so 
seriously as if you handle such situations as 
I tried to do. Just let it be remembered, 
however, that what I have accomplished 
must not be considered as rather extem¬ 
poraneous any more than any fundamen¬ 
tally good speech is ever extemporaneous. 
The foundation had already been laid and 
