146 BREAKING A BIRD DOG 
in the case of this type of customer when he raises 
a howl because you have not finished a gun-shy dog 
in two months, and made a perfect shooting dog of 
him in that time. They often expect you to do this 
even though it would be the work of a master to 
turn the dog out finished in seven months at the least. 
Speaking for myself, I know of a number 
of instances of deplorably unscrupulous 
owners. In one case a nice little bitch was 
sent for training. The trainer should have 
had her about six months, but was limited 
to sixty days. When she reached him the 
little bitch was found to be in season—surely 
not his fault. Yet she could not be worked 
during that period; and when the owner 
ordered her home for the shooting season 
she had not yet been steadied to game. The 
trainer justly asked for his pay before ship¬ 
ping the dog, and received a wire saying a 
check was in the mails. The dog was at 
once shipped—but the check never came to 
hand, and hasn't yet. 
If we owners would all only realize that 
dogs will get sick, and will die—for us as 
well as for trainers—I am sure we would 
have more sympathy and patience with 
