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Feathering on game 
is coming into his own. Among 
shooting men he is becoming 
more popular every year. With the 
exception of retrieving a hare and 
jumping or climSing stone walls, he 
can do all that the larger breeds are 
capable of, his smaller size being often 
a positive advantage. For combing out 
the bottoms of ditches under thick 
hedges his diminutive stature helps him 
to push out game, which a larger dog 
(necessarily working from the top) of- 
ten misses; it cannot be denied that 
the cocker can work more rapidly in 
“tunnels” through very thick and 
thorny cover (and in doing so receives 
less punishment) than his larger cou- 
sins, consequently he should find more 
game in the terrain indicated. As re- 
gards “style” in work a good spaniel 
has the advantage, the merry action of 
his tail, and quick turns in quartering 
his ground indicate speed, and as the 
best are bred now, there can be little 
difference between cockers and spring- 
ers in point of actual pace. 
There are numbers of people who 
own spaniel puppies, who would like to 
train them for the gun, but are deterred 
from doing so because they have no 
shooting of their own. 
ale HERE is no doubt that the spaniel 
S° they leave the puppy, often a weil- 
bred one, severely alone, or content 
themselves with taking him out on lead 
for a “nice walk” along the roads, 
merely loosing him for a scamper at 
the first convenient open space. There 
are few sights at once so ludicrous, and 
yet so pathetic, as a man calling or 
whistling his dog, while the latter dis- 
ports himself afar without taking the 
slightest notice of the summons. Should 
he proceed on his way, he may or may 
not see fit to follow; should he attempt 
to pursue, the dog deems it a game, in 
which he not only can, but almost in- 
variably does win. With very little 
forethought and with the expenditure 
of very little time and trouble a con- 
stantly recurring and annoying contre- 
temps could have been averted. This 
is the aspect of lack of training from 
the owner’s point of view, but there 
is another side to the question, viz., as 
viewed from the dog’s stand- 
point. No puppy or dog re- 
spects such an owner as the 
one just described, because 
he has not been educated to 
do so: his own brain, how- 
ever, is naturally imbued 
with the desire to please, 
and even such a wayward 
example as the truant just 
mentioned will, when his 
gambols are over, come gal- 
loping back and endeavor to 
make a fuss, as much as to 
say, “I have had a good game, where 
do we go next?” The disciplined ani- 
mal appreciates his owner far better 
than the undisciplined, because he un- 
derstands more, and affection based on 
understanding is a long way ahead of 
doggy love for a human merely re- 
garded as a dispenser of food or exer- 
cise. It must also not be forgotten that 
a partially broken dog is pecuniarily 
worth more than an unbroken one, not 
very much more in point of actual cash, 
but still something more, and what is 
far more important, is much more read- 
ily salable. 
Whether a puppy will ever be actu- 
ally shot over or not does not matter— 
it should invariably be assumed that he 

Spaniel 
Puppies 
and 
Their Training 
Methods for Use on Cockers 
and Springers 
By CAPTAIN W. G. AMBROSE 
will have that good fortune—therefore, 
in any event he should receive the pre- 
liminary training, or “hand breaking,” 
as it is sometimes called, to the fullest 
extent possible, exactly as if he were 
going to be turned out a finished gun- 
dog. 
HE discipline is good for him, ren- 
ders him handier, develops his in- 
telligence and affection for his handler. 
So that every possessor of a spaniel 
puppy, whether he has ac- 
cess to shooting or not, no 
matter what its age, should 
begin to train it at once, as 
intensively as if he wished 
to run it in a Field Trial. 
A great deal can be done 
towards making a gundog 
in the absence of game; in 
fact, two-thirds of the work 
in training is frequently ef- 
fected by eminent handlers 
without the puppy ever see- 
ing fur or feather. This is 
rational, for it is unreasonable to ex- 
pect a puppy in the excitement of run- 
ning game for the first time to obey 
commands, many of which he has prob- 
ably never heard before; yet for gen- 
erations that was the way many pup- 
pies were broken. Their first lesson 
were frequently given by a keeper, gun 
in hand and whip in pocket; needless to 
say, only the hardiest survived the or- 
deal to become useful in the field. 
[XN the more modern system the whip 
has disappeared altogether in the 
preliminary training, and instead of 
telling the pupil when at fault to 
“ware” this and that, he is ordered to 
perform a certain action, which auto- 
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