UPLAND SHOOTING. 
361 
done by the gentleman sportsman, and indeed I should hardly 
recommend the attempt. 
For a novice to attempt it, would be an act of stark mad¬ 
ness. Still, however, it is necessary to know something of the 
theory of the science, otherwise it will be impossible to keep 
the animal, after being thoroughly trained, perfect in his prac¬ 
tice ; and again, it is well that the rules should be laid down 
distinctly, as very many professed breakers fail in their art from 
want not of perseverance, but of knowledge. 
First of all, it must be remembered, that although to point 
was once a taught quality, it is now, in the pure high-bred 
Pointer and Setter an inherited, if not natural, instinct, and in 
the veiy purest caste of Pointers to back, the point of their fel¬ 
lows, is also now hereditary. I have seen half-a-dozen Pointer 
puppies, not above six weeks old, crawling about the yard, 
pointing the Pigeons and fowls, and backing one another, as 
steadily as old dogs in the field; and I hardly consider any dog, 
Pointer or Setter, as worth the trouble and expense of breaking, 
unless he points the first game bird he ever scents, even if he 
have not seen it. 
The first step I therefore would take with a young dog, 
is to find out whether he has got a nose or not, and whether he 
is worth breaking ; this I should do by taking a walk with him, 
and without a gun, where game abounded, and observing his 
actions and movements. If he have a good nose, and be highly 
bred, he will undoubtedly point on the first occasion of his 
crossing the scent of Quail, Grouse, Snipe, or Woodcock. 
This point once established, the sooner he is carried home 
the better, and he is, on no account whatever, to be taken out 
again, or to see game again, until he is perfectly house-broke. 
It is to the vicious plan of attempting to break dogs in the 
field , and in the face of game , that the number of wild, worth¬ 
less, irreclaimable brutes, is to be attributed. 
The first step in breaking, is to teach the dog to “ down,” or 
“ charge,” wherever he is. He is taught to do this in the com¬ 
mencement, by means of a cord fastened to his collar, and by 
