340 
FOREST AND STREAM 
gun at or near the muzzle and pull it toward 
you. In standing the gun in the house, try and 
have it in a corner; if in the woods, let it 
rest so there will be no danger of its being knock¬ 
ed over. Guns resting against tree trunks have 
fallen over from the swaying of the trunk or 
have been knocked over by a dog running past 
and too close to it. Always remove the car¬ 
tridges. 
By following these simple rules and keeping 
free from abnormal excitement, the sports of 
the field may be followed as freely without dan¬ 
ger or accident as any other of our sports, al¬ 
ways with profit and pleasure-profit because of 
being health-giving; pleasure because of being 
afield partaking of the grandest sport of all when 
shooting over well-trained dogs. I may proper¬ 
ly add: Do not shoot in company with a care¬ 
less person; you may be careful and yet suffer 
from the heedlessness of such a person. 
As a rule, however, the more a man engages 
in field shooting the more careful he becomes as 
to how he handles his gun and the more consid¬ 
erate he becomes for the safety, pleasure and 
rights of his shooting companions. 
Referring to the courtesies and behavior to 
one another afield, it should be remembered that 
if you are out shooting with a gentleman over 
his dogs, you must on no account speak to them 
(unless they know you and you have aroused 
them), but leave it to your companion to handle 
them. It is bad form and very annoying to have 
one’s dog commanded to do or not to do, by a 
person strange to him. It tends somewhat to 
confuse him, and at times causes unsteadiness, 
particularly with young dogs. Dogs have their 
ways and peculiarities; and if well-trained are 
expected to do a number of things in the field 
and do them well to insure good sport and a 
satisfactory day. Dogs have their individual pe¬ 
culiarities, likes and dislikes, all of which must 
be studied and understood by the person hand¬ 
ling them, until, at last, master and dog work 
together in perfect unison. 
The impatient and irrascible man will never be 
successful in dog training and handling. The 
chances are greatly that he will ruin the most 
promising animal. The impatient man, as a rule, 
imagines, or expects the animal must, in the be¬ 
ginning, because he is a bird dog, understand his 
commands and signals, and after failing a num¬ 
ber of times to exact obedience to do things, 
the dog does not know how to do, because the 
man has not gone at it right at the start to 
teach him; he will probably whip the dog in 
the vain hope that by this means he will cor¬ 
rect the fault. Then, there is the man who is 
loud-voiced, yells at his dog to do this or that 
thing—all unnecessary—for dogs can be and are 
trained by those who understand the art, with 
soft voice of command, assisted by the whistle 
and motion of the arms. 
The best, in fact, the only course to pursue, 
where a man does not understand training, is to 
send his dogs to a professional, and, on the com¬ 
pletion of the animals’ education, shoot over 
him in company with the professional, learning 
all the commands and signals by which the dog 
works, and, when the dog is sent home, they 
understand one another, get better acquainted 
and work together in harmony. If, on the 
other hand, for any reason the owner cannot see 
his dog afield under the hands of the trainer, 
then the latter should furnish a list of the com¬ 
mands and signals with explanations to guide the 
owner in handling his dog. There should be al¬ 
so notes on any peculiarities the dog develops. 
A dog may be ever so well trained and work 
splendidly for the shooter he knows and under¬ 
stands, and yet perform very indifferently and 
unsatisfactorily for the man who is in ignorance 
of the method under which he was trained. 
These brief notes on the dog and his work 
are more for the edification of the young shoot¬ 
er and beginner than the old and experienced 
sportsman. The latter knows and understands 
it all. He knows, too, that dogs working satis¬ 
factorily is fifty per cent of the sport irrespective 
of the size of the bag. It is a most beautiful 
sight to see -a pair of well-trained dogs work, 
and to a sportsman it is a sight that never grows 
old, never loses its attractiveness. The person 
who first beholds this work, is filled with amaze¬ 
ment that the dogs find a single kind of a 
bevy; pointing to the exact spot, one dog point¬ 
ing, his companion “backing,” and then, if the 
bird or birds are killed on the rise to wing, re¬ 
trieves the dead bird without mouthing it. 
Amazed? yes! because they had no idea that 
any animal on earth could do such a thing, if 
previously they had ever given it a thought. I 
know of three gentlemen who were so captivated 
on first seeing the dogs work that they straight¬ 
away joined the ranks of sportsmen. 
To the younger shooter and to the older man 
who is having his first experience afield I would 
call attention to the words “sportsman” and 
“sporting.” Their meaning is widely different, 
and for the honor of the craft the one should 
not be confounded with the other. There are 
readers now young and old who may be inter¬ 
ested in the definition of the terms “sportsman” 
and “sporting,” from the writer’s point of view, 
and find in it, he hopes, an incentive to assist in 
keeping clean and pure true sportsmanship, 
bearing in mind that shooting afield properly 
conducted and engaged in is a gentleman’s sport 
and he, who, by unworthy acts debases it, has no 
claim to be called a sportsman or is entitled to 
be in the society of gentlemen. 
The word “sport” has been more abused, ill- 
treated and misapplied than any other word in 
our language, perhaps. Of a high, noble and 
keen signification, it has often been misapplied 
and debased to unworthy objects; of a restricted 
and refined significance, it has been extended 
to a mass of improper matters, and from its na¬ 
tural and elegant appropriateness it has been de¬ 
graded to vulgar and dishonest associations. The 
creature who lives upon the most contemptible 
pastimes and with practised skill cheats all who 
may come his way, be they knaves or honest 
men, winning by unfair means and rules in so- 
called games of chance and converting that 
chance into a certainty, calls himself a “sport¬ 
ing” man and should not be mentioned as a 
sportsman. There is as much difference between 
the sportsman and “sporting” man as between 
the brightest day and darkest night. The man 
who loves the woods, waters, mountains and 
deep forests; whose whole being is in sympathy 
with nature and her works, who loves the dog 
used for sport, who pursues game for pleasure 
and recreation and not for profit, and shoots on 
the wing, taking in moderation the game that 
Nature offers, thankful to be afield in fair weath¬ 
er or foul; such a man is a “sportsman.” 
In conclusion, I would say, let us continually 
strive to elevate and keep pure the craft of the 
sportsman, and eliminate from it anything that 
will detract from its usefulness and ennobling 
aims. 
FETCH AND CARRY—B. Waters. Tells minutely 
of the methods by which a dog, young or old, willing 
or unwilling, may be taught to retrieve either by the 
force or “natural” system. Cloth, illus., 124 pages. 
Postpaid, $1.00. 
FIRST LESSONS IN DOG TRAINING—S. T. 
Hammond. The first two chapters of Training vs 
Breaking with points and standards of all breeds of 
dogs. Paper. Postpaid, 50 cents. 
