BECKFORD. ST. JOHN. CONDITION. INOCULATION. VACCINATION.
CONCLUSION 307
POSTSCRIPT: MR. L----G'S LETTER 322
APPENDIX:
COVERS, SHOOTING, LOADING 328
TRAPPING.--OWL AS DECOY.--HEN HARRIER.--KEEPER'S
VERMIN-DOGS.--STOATS 331
REARING PHEASANTS.--CANTELO.--PHEASANTRIES.--MR. KNOX 335
SETTERS.--POACHERS.--KEEPERS.--NETTING PARTRIDGES.
--BLOODHOUNDS.--NIGHT-DOGS 344
INDEX, _in which the figures refer to the numbers of the
paragraphs, and not to the pages_ 349
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
VARIOUS RETRIEVERS _Frontispiece._
SCENE NEAR WALTHAM ABBEY, _1st Sept. 1847_ _Title-page._
OLD-FASHIONED ENGLISH SETTER,--RETRIEVERS, ONE A CROSS
WITH BLOODHOUND. (Lesson VIII. Par. 141) _Page_ 25
THE CHECK--'HOLD HARD!' 30
A FOUR-LEGGED WHIPPER-IN 33
CLUMBERS. (Lesson III. Par. 141) 43
WILD SPANIELS. (Lesson XII. Par. 141) 47
IRISH WATER SPANIEL. (Lesson I. Par. 141) 53
INCLINED TO 'RAT' 77
BROACHING A BARREL 84
DEAF TO THE VOICE OF PERSUASION 90
A SOLICITOR 91
REPLETE WITH GOOD THINGS 95
BACKING THE GUN AGAINST THE BIRD 117
SAFELY MOORED, 'STEM' AND 'STERN' 121
"STIFF BY THE TAINTED GALE WITH OPEN NOSE
OUTSTRETCHED AND FINELY SENSIBLE" 124
A DOG-FISH 125
"SMALL, ACTIVE POINTER." (Lesson IX. Par. 141) 131
"SHORT-LEGGED STRONG-LOINED SUSSEX SPANIEL." (Lesson
XV. Par. 141) 137
"DUKE OF GORDON'S BLACK AND TAN SETTERS." (Lesson
XIV. Par. 141) 141
LARGE HEAVY POINTER. (Lesson X. Pars. 141 and 266) 157
CARRYING A POINT, AND CARRYING A POINTER 173
THE FIRST COURSE 197
FASHIONABLE (ENGLISH) SETTER, AND OLD-FASHIONED POINTER.
(Lesson XIII. Par. 141) 215
IRISH RED SETTER. (Lesson II. Par. 141) 221
SCENE FROM 'CRIPPLE-GAIT.'--'GAME' TO THE LAST 237
DOMINI AND 'DOMINOS' 245
THE MIGHTY KING 254
COOL AS A CUCUMBER 255
A REGULAR BORE 259
THERE ARE BOUNDS TO SPORT 263
WARM GREETING OF A GREAT 'BORE' 266
INVITATION TO A 'WHITE-BAIT' DINNER 267
BRINGING HOME THE BRUSH 269
SCENE ON THE 'THLEW-ĔE-CHŌH-DEZETH' 272
RUSSIAN SETTER. (Lesson XI. Pars. 141 and 266) 275
TELL ME MY HEART (HART) IF THIS BE LOVE 283
DIVISION OF PROPERTY 297
"EXAMPLE BETTER THAN PRECEPT" 303
PORTRAIT OF BRISK 321
'FOUL' FEEDING 336
A WELL-TRAINED BLOODHOUND 345
*+*_The Frontispiece, Vignette Title, and the Lessons, are designed and
drawn on Wood by_ F. W. KEYL. _See 4th Preface._
DOG-BREAKING.
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. QUALIFICATIONS, IN BREAKER,--IN DOG.
1. Dog-breaking an Art easily acquired.--2. Most expeditious Mode
of imparting every Degree of Education. Time bestowed determines
Grade of Education. In note, Col. Hawker's opinion.--3. Sportsmen
recommended to break in their own Dogs.--4. Men of property too
easily satisfied with badly broken Dogs. Keepers have no Excuse for
Dogs being badly broken.--5. Great Experience in Dog-breaking, or
Excellence in Shooting, not necessary. Dispositions of Dogs vary.--6.
What is required in an Instructor.--7. Early in a Season any Dog will
answer, a good one necessary afterwards. Hallooing, rating Dogs,
and loud whistling spoil Sport. In note, Age and choice of birds.
Several shots fired from Stooks at Grouse without alarming them.
American Partridges and our Pheasants killed while at roost.--8. What
a well broken Dog ought to do.--9. Severity reprobated.--10. Astley's
Method of teaching his Horses.--11. Franconi's _Cirque National de
Paris_.--12. _Initiatory_ Lessons recommended--to be given when alone
with Dog--given fasting.--13. Success promised if rules be followed.
Advantages of an expeditious Education. September shooting not
sacrificed.
[Page Header: ART EASILY ACQUIRED.]
1. Dog-breaking, so far from being a mystery, is an art easily acquired
when it is commenced and continued on rational principles.
2. I think you will be convinced of this if you will have the patience
to follow me, whilst I endeavour to explain what, I am satisfied, is
the most certain and rapid method of breaking in your dogs, whether
you require great proficiency in them, or are contented with an
inferior education. No quicker system has yet been devised, however
humble the education may be. The education in fact, of the peasant,
and that of the future double-first collegian, begins and proceeds on
the same principle. You know your own circumstances, and you must
yourself determine what time you choose to devote to tuition; and, as a
consequence, the degree of excellence to which you aspire. I can only
assure you of my firm conviction, that no other means will enable you
to gain your object so quickly; and I speak with a confidence derived
from long experience in many parts of the world, on a subject that was,
for several years, my great hobby.[1]
3. Every writer is presumed to take some interest in his reader; I
therefore feel privileged to address you as a friend, and will commence
my lecture by strongly recommending, that, if your occupations will
allow it, you take earnestly and heartily to educating your dogs
yourself. If you possess temper and some judgment, and will implicitly
attend to my advice, I will go bail for your success; and much as you
may now love shooting, you will then like it infinitely more. Try the
plan I recommend, and I will guarantee that the Pointer or Setter pup
which I will, for example sake, suppose to be now in your kennel, shall
be a better dog by the end of next season (I mean a more killing dog)
than probably any you ever yet shot over.
4. Possibly, you will urge, that you are unable to spare the time which
I consider necessary for giving him a high education, (brief as that
time is, compared with the many, many months wasted in the tedious
methods usually employed), and that you must, perforce, content
yourself with humbler qualifications. Be it so. I can only condole with
you, for in your case this may be partly true; mind I only say _partly_
true. But how a man of property, who keeps a regular gamekeeper, can
be satisfied with the disorderly, disobedient troop, to which he often
shoots, I cannot understand. Where the gamekeeper is permitted to
accompany his master in the field, and hunt the dogs himself, there
can be no valid excuse for the deficiency in their education. The
deficiency must arise either from the incapacity, or from the idleness
of the keeper.
5. Unlike most other arts, dog-breaking does not require much
experience; but such a knowledge of dogs, as will enable you to
discriminate between their different tempers and dispositions (I had
almost said characters)--and they vary greatly--is very advantageous.
Some require constant encouragement; some you must never beat;
whilst, to gain the required ascendancy over others, the whip must be
occasionally employed. Nor is it necessary that the instructor should
be a very good shot; which probably is a more fortunate circumstance
for me than for you. It should even be received as a principle that
birds ought to be now and then missed to young dogs, lest some day,
if your nerves happen to be out of order, or a cockney companion be
harmlessly blazing away, your dog take it into his head and heels to
run home in disgust, as I have seen a bitch, called Countess, do more
than once, in Haddingtonshire.
[Page Header: REQUISITES IN AN INSTRUCTOR.]
6. The chief requisites in a breaker are:--Firstly, command of temper,
that he may never be betrayed into giving one unnecessary blow, for,
with dogs as with horses, no work is so well done as that which is
done cheerfully; secondly, consistency, that in the exhilaration of
his spirits, or in his eagerness to secure a bird, he may not permit
a fault to pass unreproved (I do not say _unpunished_) which at a
less exciting moment he would have noticed--and that, on the other
hand, he may not correct a dog the more harshly, because the shot has
been missed, or the game lost; and lastly, the exercise of a little
reflection, to enable him to judge what meaning an unreasoning animal
is likely to attach to every word and sign, nay to every look.
[Page Header: HALLOING SPOILS SPORT.]
7. With the coarsest tackle, and worst flies, trout can be taken in
unflogged waters, while it requires much science, and the finest gut,
to kill persecuted fish. It is the same in shooting. With almost any
sporting dog, game can be killed early in the season, when the birds
lie like stones, and the dog can get within a few yards of them; but
you will require one highly broken, to obtain many shots when they are
wild. Then any incautious approach of the dog, or any noise, would
flush the game, and your own experience will tell you that nothing so
soon puts birds on the run, and makes them so ready to take flight,
as the sound of the human voice, especially now-a-days, when farmers
generally prefer the scythe to the sickle, and clean husbandry, large
fields, and trim narrow hedges, (affording no shelter from wet) have
forced the partridge--a _short-winged_[2] bird--unwillingly to seek
protection (when arrived at maturity) in ready flight rather than in
concealment. Even the report of a gun does not so much alarm them as
the command, "Toho," or "Down charge,"[3] usually, too, as if to make
matters worse, hallooed to the extent of the breaker's lungs. There
are anglers who recommend silence as conducive to success, and there
are no experienced sportsmen who do not acknowledge its great value
in shooting. Rate or beat a dog at one end of a field, and the birds
at the other will lift their heads, become uneasy, and be ready to
take wing the moment you get near them. "Penn," in his clever maxims
on Angling and Chess, observes to this effect, "if you wish to see
the fish, do not let him see you;" and with respect to shooting, we
may as truly say, "if you wish birds to hear your gun, do not let
them hear your voice." Even a loud whistle disturbs them. Mr. O----t
of C----e says, a gamekeeper's motto ought to be,--"No whistling--no
whipping--no noise, when master goes out for sport."
[Page Header: WHAT A DOG OUGHT TO DO.]
8. These observations lead unavoidably to the inference, that no dog
can be considered perfectly broken, that does not make his point when
first he feels assured of the presence of game, and remain stationary
_where he makes it_, until urged on by you to draw nearer--that does
not, as a matter of course, lie down without any word of command the
moment you have fired, and afterwards perseveringly seek for the dead
bird in the direction you may point out,--and all this without your
once having occasion to speak, more than to say in a low voice, "Find,"
when he gets near the dead bird, as will be hereafter explained.
Moreover, it must be obvious that he risks leaving game behind him
if he does not hunt every part of a field, and, on the other hand,
that he wastes your time and his strength, if he travel twice over
the same ground, nay, over any ground which his powers of scent have
already reached. Of course, I am now speaking of a dog hunted without a
companion to share his labours.
9. You may say, "How is all this, which sounds so well in theory, to be
obtained in practice without great severity?" Believe me, with severity
it never can be attained. If flogging would make a dog perfect, few
would be found unbroken in England or Scotland, and scarcely one in
Ireland.
10. Astley's method was to give each horse his preparatory lessons
alone, and when there was no noise or anything to divert his attention
from his instructor. If the horse was interrupted during the lesson, or
his attention in any way withdrawn, he was dismissed for that day. When
perfect in certain lessons by himself, he was associated with other
horses, whose education was further advanced. And it was the practice
of that great master to reward his horses with slices of carrot or
apple when they performed well.
[Page Header: ASTLEY AND FRANCONI.]
11. Mons. A. Franconi in a similar manner rewards his horses. One
evening I was in such a position, at a performance of the _Cirque
National de Paris_, that I could clearly see, during the _Lutte des
Voltigeurs_, that the broad-backed horse held for the men to jump
over was continually coaxed with small slices of carrots to remain
stationary, whilst receiving their hard thumps as they sprang upon him.
I could not make out why the horse was sniffing and apparently nibbling
at the chest of the man standing in front of him with a rein in each
hand to keep his tail towards the spring-board, until I remarked that a
second man, placed in the rear of the other, every now and then, slily
passed his hand under his neighbour's arm to give the horse a small
piece of carrot.
12. Astley may give us a useful hint in our far easier task of
dog-breaking. We see that he endeavoured by kindness and patience to
make the horse thoroughly comprehend the meaning of certain words and
signals before he allowed him any companion. So ought you, by what
may be termed "initiatory lessons," to make your young dog perfectly
understand the meaning of certain words and signs, before you hunt him
in the company of another dog--nay, before you hunt him at all; and, in
pursuance of Astley's plan, you ought to give these lessons when you
are alone with the dog, and his attention is not likely to be withdrawn
to other matters. Give them, also, when he is fasting, as his faculties
will then be clearer, and he will be more eager to obtain any rewards
of biscuit or other food.
[Page Header: QUICK TRAINING.]
13. Be assured, that by a consistent adherence to the simple rules
which I will explain, you can obtain the perfection I have described,
(8) with more ease and expedition than you probably imagine to be
practicable; and, if you will zealously follow my advice, I promise,
that, instead of having to give up your shooting in September, (for
I am supposing you to be in England) while you break in your pup, you
shall then be able to take him into the field, provided he is tolerably
well-bred and well disposed, perfectly obedient, and, except that he
will not have a well-confirmed, judicious range, almost perfectly
made; at least so far made, that he will only commit such faults, as
naturally arise from want of experience. Let me remind you also, that
the keep of dogs is expensive, and supplies an argument for making them
earn their bread by hunting to a _useful_ purpose, as soon as they are
of an age to work without injury to their constitution. Time, moreover,
is valuable to us all, or most of us fancy it is. Surely, then, that
system of education is best which imparts the most expeditiously the
required degree of knowledge.
CHAPTER II.
INITIATORY LESSONS WITHIN DOORS. SHOOTING PONIES.
14. One Instructor better than two.--15. Age at which Education
commences.--In-door breaking for hours, better than Out-door for
weeks.--16. To obey all necessary Words of Command and all Signals
before shown Game.--17. Unreasonableness of not always giving
Initiatory Lessons--leads to Punishment--thence to Blinking.--18.
Dog to be _your_ constant Companion, not another's.--19, 21, 22.
Instruct when alone with him. Initiatory Lessons in his Whistle--in
"Dead"--"Toho"--"On"--20. All Commands and Whistling to be given in a
low Tone.--23 to 26. Lessons in "Drop"--Head between fore-legs--Setters
crouch more than Pointers.--24. Slovenly to employ right arm both
for "Drop" and "Toho."--27. Lessons in "Down charge"--Taught at
Pigeon-match--Rewards taken from Hand.--28. Cavalry Horses fed at
discharge of Pistol--Same plan pursued with Dogs.--29. Dog unusually
timid to be coupled to another.--30. Lessons at Feeding Time, with
Checkcords.--31. Obedience of Hounds contrasted with that of most
Pointers and Setters.--32. Shooting Ponies--how broken in.--33. Horse's
rushing at his Fences cured--Pony anchored.
14. It is seldom of any advantage to a dog to have more than one
instructor. The methods of teaching may be the same; but there will be
a difference in the tone of voice and in the manner, that will more or
less puzzle the learner, and retard rather than advance his education.
If, therefore, you resolve to break in your dog, do it entirely
yourself: let no one interfere with you.
15. As a general rule, let his education begin when he is about six
or seven months old,[4] (although I allow that some dogs are more
precocious than others, and bitches always more forward than dogs,)
but it ought to be nearly completed before he is shown a bird (132).
A quarter of an hour's daily in-door training--called by the Germans
"house-breaking"--for three or four weeks will effect more than a
month's constant hunting without preliminary tuition.
[Page Header: USE OF INITIATORY LESSONS.]
16. Never take your young dog out of doors for instruction, until he
has learned to know and obey the several words of command which you
intend to give him in the field, and is well acquainted with all the
signs which you will have occasion to make to him with your arms. These
are what may be called the initiatory lessons.
17. Think a moment, and you will see the importance of this preliminary
instruction, though rarely imparted. Why should it be imagined, that
at the precise moment when a young dog is enraptured with the first
sniff of game, he is, by some mysterious unaccountable instinct, to
understand the meaning of the word "Toho?" Why should he not conceive
it to be a word of encouragement to rush in upon the game, as he
probably longs to do; especially if it should be a partridge fluttering
before him, in the sagacious endeavour to lure him from her brood, or a
hare enticingly cantering off from under his nose? There are breakers
who would correct him for not intuitively comprehending and obeying
the "Toho," roared out with stentorian lungs; though, it is obvious,
the youngster, from having had no previous instruction, could have no
better reason for understanding its import, than the watch-dog chained
up in yonder farm-yard. Again he hears the word "Toho"--again followed
by another licking, accompanied perhaps by the long lecture, "'Ware
springing birds, will you?" The word "Toho" then begins to assume a
most awful character; he naturally connects it with the finding of
game, and not understanding a syllable of the lecture, lest he should
a third time hear it, and get a third drubbing, he judges it most
prudent, (unless he is a dog of very high courage) when next aware of
the presence of birds, to come in to heel; and thus he commences to be
a blinker, thanks to the sagacity and intelligence of his tutor. I do
not speak of all professional dog-breakers, far from it. Many are fully
sensible that comprehension of orders must necessarily precede all but
accidental obedience. I am only thinking of some whom it has been my
misfortune to see, and who have many a time made my blood boil at their
brutal usage of a fine high-couraged young dog. Men who had a strong
arm and hard heart to punish,--but no temper and no head to instruct.
[Page Header: DOG YOUR COMPANION.]
18. So long as you are a bachelor, you can make a companion of your
dog, without incurring the danger of his being spoiled by your wife
and children; (the more, by-the-bye, he is your own companion and no
other person's the better) and it is a fact, though you may smile at
the assertion, that all the initiatory lessons can be, and can best be,
inculcated in your own breakfast-room.
[Page Header: "LEAD."--"TOHO."--"ON."]
19. Follow Astley's plan. Let no one be present to distract the dog's
attention. Call him to you by the whistle you propose always using in
the field. Tie a slight cord a few yards long to his collar. Throw him
a small piece of toast or meat, saying, at the time, "Dead, dead."
Do this several times, chucking it into different parts of the room,
and let him eat what he finds. Then throw a piece (always as you do
so saying, "Dead"), and the moment he gets close to it, check him by
jerking the cord, at the same time saying, "Toho," and lifting up your
right arm almost perpendicularly. By pressing on the cord with your
foot, you can restrain him as long as you please. Do not let him take
what you have thrown, until you give him the encouraging word, "On,"
accompanied by a forward movement of the right arm and hand, somewhat
similar to the swing of an underhand bowler at cricket.
20. Let all your commands be given in a low voice. Consider that in the
field, where you are anxious not to alarm the birds unnecessarily, your
words must reach your dogs' ears more or less softened by distance,
and, if their influence depends on loudness, they will have the least
effect at the very moment when you wish them to have the most. For
the same reason, in the initiatory lessons, be careful not to whistle
loudly.[5]
21. After a few trials with the checkcord, you will find yourself
enabled, without touching it, and merely by using the word "Toho," to
prevent his seizing the toast (or meat), until you say "On," or give
him the forward signal. When he gets yet more perfect in his lesson,
raising your right arm only, without employing your voice, will be
sufficient, especially if you have gradually accustomed him to hear
you speak less and less loudly. If he draw towards the bread before he
has obtained leave, jerk the cord, and _drag him back to the spot from
which he stirred_. He is not to quit it until you order him, occupy
yourself as you may. Move about, and occasionally go from him, as far
as you can, before you give the command "On." This will make him less
unwilling hereafter to continue steady at his point while you are
taking a circuit to head him, and so get wild birds between him and
your gun, (265, 284.) The signal for his advancing, when you are facing
him, is the "beckon" (see 37).
22. At odd times let him take the bread the moment you throw it, that
his eagerness to rush forward to seize it may be continued, only to be
instantly restrained at your command.
[Page Header: "DROP."--"DOWN CHARGE."]
23. Your _left_ arm raised perpendicularly, in a similar manner,
should make the young dog lie down. Call out "Drop," when so holding
up the left hand, and press him down with the other until he assumes
a crouching position. If you study beauty of attitude, his fore-legs
ought to be extended, and his head rest between them. Make him lie well
down, occasionally walking round and round him, gradually increasing
the size of the circle--your eyes on his. Do not let him raise himself
to a sitting posture. If you do, he will have the greater inclination
hereafter to move about: _especially when you want to catch him, in
order to chide or correct him_. A halt is all you require for the
"Toho," and you would prefer his standing to his point, rather than his
lying down,[6] as you then would run less risk of losing sight of him
in cover, heather, or high turnips, &c. Setters, however, naturally
crouch so much more than Pointers, that you will often not be able to
prevent their "falling" when they are close to game. Indeed, I have
heard some sportsmen argue in favour of a dog's dropping, "that it
rested him." An advantage, in my opinion, in no way commensurate with
the inconvenience that often attends the practice.
24. If you are satisfied with teaching him in a slovenly manner, you
can employ your right arm both for the "Toho" and "Drop;" but that is
not quite correct, for the former is a natural stop, (being the pause
to determine exactly where the game is lying, preparatory to rushing in
to seize it,) which you prolong by art,[7] whilst the other is wholly
opposed to nature. The one affords him great delight, especially when,
from experience, he has well learned its object: the latter is always
irksome. Nevertheless, it must be firmly established. It is the triumph
of your art. It insures future obedience. But it cannot be effectually
taught without creating more or less awe, and it should create awe.
It is obvious, therefore, that it must be advantageous to make a
distinction between the two signals,--especially with a timid dog,--for
he will not then be so likely to blink on seeing you raise your right
hand, when he is drawing upon game. Nevertheless, there are breakers
so unreasonable as not only to make that one signal, but the one word
"Drop" (or rather "Down") answer both for the order to point, and the
order to crouch! How can such tuition serve to enlarge a dog's ideas?
[Page Header: USE OF CHECKCORD.]
25. To perfect him in the "Down," that difficult part of his
education,--difficult, because it is unnatural,--practise it in your
walks. At very uncertain, unexpected times catch his eye, (having
previously stealthily taken hold of the checkcord--a long, light one,)
or whistle to call his attention, and then hold up your left arm. If
he does not _instantly_ drop, jerk the checkcord violently, and, as
before, drag him back to the exact spot where he should have crouched
down. Admit of no compromise. You must have _implicit, unhesitating,
instant_, obedience. When you quit him, he must not be allowed to
crawl _an inch_ after you. If he attempt it, drive a spike into the
ground, and attach the end of the checkcord to it, allowing the line
to be slack; then leave him quickly, and on his running after you he
will be brought up with a sudden jerk. So much the better: it will
slightly alarm him. As before, take him back to the precise place he
quitted,--do this invariably, though he may have scarcely moved. There
make him again "Drop"--always observing to jerk the cord at the moment
you give the command. After a few trials of this tethering, (say less
than a dozen) he will be certain to lie down steadily, until you give
the proper order or a signal (21), let you run away, or do what you
may to excite him to move. One great advantage of frequently repeating
this lesson, and thus teaching it _thoroughly_, is, that your dog will
hereafter always feel, more or less, in subjection, whenever the cord
is fastened to his collar. He must be brought to instantly obey the
signal, even at the extreme limit of his beat.
26. Most probably he will not at first rise when he is desired. There
is no harm in that,--a due sense of the inutility of non-compliance
with the order to "Drop," and a wholesome dread of the attendant
penalty, will be advantageous. Go up to him,--pat him,--and lead him
for some paces, "making much of him," as they say in the cavalry. Dogs
which are over-headstrong and resolute, can only be brought under
satisfactory command by this lesson being indelibly implanted,--and
I think a master before he allows the keeper to take a pup into the
field to show him game, should insist upon having ocular demonstration
that he is perfect in the "Drop."
[Page Header: PUPPIES AT PIGEON MATCH.]
27. When he is well confirmed in this all-important lesson, obeying
implicitly, yet cheerfully, you may, whilst he is lying down, (in order
to teach him the "down charge,") go through the motions of loading,
on no account permitting him to stir until you give him the forward
signal, or say "On." After a few times you may fire off a copper cap,
and then a little powder, but be very careful not to alarm him. Until
your dog is quite reconciled to the report of a gun, never take him up
to any one who may be firing. I have, however, known of puppies being
familiarized to the sound, by being at first kept at a considerable
distance from the party firing, and then gradually, and by slow degrees
brought nearer. This can easily be managed at a rifle or pigeon match,
and the companionship of a made-dog would much expedite matters.
Whenever, in the lessons, your young dog has behaved steadily and well,
give him a reward. Do not throw it to him; let him take it from your
hands. It will assist in making him tender-mouthed, and in attaching
him to you.
[Page Header: LESSONS AT FEEDING TIME.]
28. In some cavalry regiments in India, the feeding-time is denoted by
the firing off of a pistol. This soon changes a young horse's first
dread of the report into eager, joyous, expectation. You might, if you
did not dislike the trouble, in a similar manner, soon make your pup
regard the report of a gun as the gratifying summons to his dinner, but
coupled with the understanding that, as a preliminary step, he is to
crouch the instant he hears the sound. After a little perseverance you
would so well succeed, that you would not be obliged even to raise your
hand. If habituated to wait patiently at the "drop," however hungry he
may be, before he is permitted to taste his food, it is reasonable to
think he will remain at the "down charge," yet more patiently before he
is allowed to "seek dead."
29. If your pupil be unusually timid, and you cannot banish his alarm
on hearing the gun, couple him to another dog which has no such foolish
fears, and will steadily "down charge." The confidence of the one, will
impart confidence to the other. Fear and joy are feelings yet more
contagious in animals than in man. It is the visible, joyous animation
of the old horses, that so quickly reconciles the cavalry colt to the
sound of the "feeding-pistol."
30. A keeper who had several dogs to break, would find the advantage
of pursuing the cavalry plan just noticed. Indeed, he might extend it
still further, by having his principal in-door drill at feeding-time,
and by enforcing, but in minuter details, that kennel discipline which
has brought many a pack of hounds to marvellous obedience.[8] He
should place the food in different parts of the yard. He should have
a short checkcord on all his pupils; and, after going slowly through
the motions of loading, (the dogs having regularly "down charged"
on the report of the gun,) he should call each separately by name,
and by signals of the hand send them successively to different, but
designated feeding-troughs. He might then call a dog to him, which
had commenced eating, and, after a short abstinence, make him go to
another trough. He might bring two to his heels and make them change
troughs, and so vary the lesson, that, in a short time, with the aid
of the checkcords, he would have them under such complete command,
that they would afterwards give him comparatively but little trouble
in the field. As they became more and more submissive, he would
gradually retire further and further, so as, at length, to have his
orders obeyed, when at a considerable distance from his pupils. The
small portion of time these lessons would occupy, compared with their
valuable results, should warn him most forcibly not to neglect them.
31. All keepers will acknowledge that, excepting a systematic beat,
there is nothing more difficult to teach a Pointer or Setter than
to refrain from "pursuing Hare." They will concede that there is a
natural tendency in the breed to stand at game; and, as a necessary
consequence, they must admit that they would have far more trouble in
weaning a young fox-hound from the habit, whose every instinct urges
him to chase. And yet these keepers may daily see not merely one hound,
but a whole pack in the highest condition, full of energy and spirits,
drawing a cover alive with Hares, not one of which a single dog will
even look at. Should not this fact convince a keeper, that if he is
often obliged to speak loudly to the brace of dogs _he calls_ broken,
there must be something radically wrong in his management? Is he
satisfied that he began their education sufficiently early, and that he
has been uniformly consistent since its commencement?
[Page Header: SHOOTING PONIES.]
32. If you have to break in a shooting pony, you must adopt some such
plan as that named in 27 and 28 to make him steady. Your object will be
never to alarm him, and gradually to render him fond of the sound of
the gun. To effect this, you will keep the pistol, or whatever arms you
use, for a long time out of his sight. Commence by burning but little
powder, and fire[9] at some distance from him. Always give him a slice
of carrot or apple immediately after he hears the report, and, if you
act judiciously and patiently, he will soon love the sound. You may
then fire in his presence (_turning your back upon him, as if he were
not a party in any way concerned_), and, by degrees, approach nearer
and nearer; but do not go quite into his stall,--that would make him
shrink or start, and you wish to banish all nervousness; the least
precipitation would undo you; therefore begin in the stable, with only
using a copper cap. Need I caution you against firing if near any straw?
[Page Header: RUSHING AT FENCES.]
33. Confidence being fully established, pursue the same plan when
you ride the pony. Again commence with a copper cap, only by slow
degrees coming to the full charge. As before, always reward him after
every discharge, and also at the moment when you pull up and throw the
reins on his neck. If he finds he gets slices of carrot when he stands
stock-still, he will soon become so anxious to be stationary that you
will have to ride with spurs to keep him to his work. By such means you
could get him to lead over fences and stand on the other side until you
remount. Many years ago I had in Ireland a chestnut which did not belie
his colour, for I purchased him far below his value on account of his
great impetuosity with hounds. He had a sad habit of rushing at his
leaps, but riding him in a smooth snaffle, and often giving him slices
of carrot, gradually cured his impatience, and he ultimately became
very gentle and pleasant. A naval officer, well known to a friend of
mine, finding he could not by other means make his pony stand when
the dogs pointed, used, sailor like, to anchor the animal by "heaving
overboard" (as he expressed it) a heavy weight to which a line from the
curb-bit was attached. The weight was carried in one of the holster
pipes,--in the other was invariably stowed away a liberal allowance of
"Grog and Prog."
CHAPTER III.
INITIATORY LESSONS CONTINUED. SPANIELS.
34, 35. Initiatory Lessons in "Dead" and "Seek," continued.--36.
In Signals to hunt to the "right"--"left"--"forward."--37. In the
"Beckon." Woodcock Shooting in America.--38. In looking to you for
instructions.--39. In "Care."--40. Always give a reward.--41. In
"Up."--saves using Puzzle-peg.--42. Dog to carry Nose high.--43.
Initiatory Lesson in "Footing" a Scent.--44. In "Heel."--45. In "Gone"
or "Away."--46. In "Fence" or "Ware fence."--47. "No" a better word
than "Ware."--48. Accustomed to couples.--49. Initiatory Lessons
in-doors with a Companion--when one "drops" the other to "drop."--50.
Makes "Backing" quickly understood.--51. Initiatory Lessons with a
Companion in the Fields.--52. Initiatory Lessons save Time--make
Dogs fond of hunting.--53. Checkcord described. Wildest Dogs possess
most energy.--54. Advantages of Checkcord explained--Spaniels
broken in by it.--55. Lad to act as Whipper-in.--56. Retriever that
acted as Whipper-in.--57. Jealousy made him act the part. Might
be taught to Retriever.--58. Instead of "down charge" coming to
"heel."--59. As Puppies kept close to you, not to "self-hunt"--"broke"
from hare.--60. Blacksmith straps Horse's Leg above Hock--Dog's
similarly confined--Shot-belt round the necks of wildest.--61.
Hunted in Gorse.--62. Age when shown Game. Example of good Spaniels
advantageous.--63. Perfected in "Drop"--taught to "seek dead"--to
"fetch"--entered at Hedge-rows and lightest Covers. Bells to
Collars.--64. To hunt further side of Hedge.--65. How Sportsmen may
aid Keeper. In note, Covers for Pheasants. Hints to Tyros on Shooting
and Loading (See _Appendix_).--66. Experienced Spaniels slacken
Pace on Game.--67. Difficult to work young ones in Silence.--68.
Spaniels that Pointed.--69. Game first accustomed to, most liked.--70.
Principal requisites in Spaniels.--71. The signal "to point with
finger."--72. Following Cockers a Young Man's work.--73. Education
differs in different Teams.--74. One and a half couple of large
Spaniels sufficient. One of the Team to retrieve.--75. Clumbers
procuring more Shots in Turnips than Pointers.--76. Lord P----n's
highly broken Team.--77. Of small Cockers three couple a Team. What
constitutes Perfection.--78. Retriever with Team. Duke of Newcastle's
Keepers.--79. Some Teams allowed to hunt Flick.--80. Rabbits shot to
a Team in Gorse. Shooting to Beagles described--81. Markers necessary
with wild Spaniels.--82. Cover beat with wildest Dogs before shot in.
Woodcocks.--83. Old Sportsmen prefer mute Spaniels.--84. Babblers best
in some Countries. Cock-shooting in Albania.--85. Hog and deer in
ditto.--86. Glorious month's sport in the Morea.--87. Handy old Setters
capital in light cover. Attention necessary when first entered.--88.
C----e's Pointers as good in cover as on the stubble.--89. Pointer that
ran to opposite side of Thicket to flush Game towards Gun.--90. Water
Spaniels, how broken.--91. Shepherd's Forward Signal best for Water
Retrievers.--92. Wildfowl reconnoitred with Telescope.--93. Qualities
required in Water Retriever. In note, Poachers in Snow. Beast or man
of one uniform colour easily detected.--94. Ducks emit a tolerable
scent--"Flint" and Mr. C----e's Setter.--95. Steady Spaniels in Rice
Lakes.
[Page Header: "DEAD."--"SEEK."--SIGNALS.]
34. When your young dog is tolerably well advanced in the lessons
which you have been advised to practise, hide a piece of bread or
biscuit. Say "Dead, dead." Call him to you. (44.) Let him remain by
you for nearly a minute or two. Then say "Find," or "Seek." Accompany
him in his search. By your actions and gestures make him fancy you are
yourself looking about for something, for dogs are observing, one might
say, imitative, creatures.[10] Stoop and move your right hand to and
fro near the ground. Contrive that he shall come upon the bread, and
reward him by permitting him to eat it.
35. After a little time (a few days I mean), he will show the greatest
eagerness on your saying, at any unexpected moment, "Dead." He will
connect the word with the idea that there is something very desirable
concealed near him, and he will be all impatience to be off and find
it; _but make him first come to you_, (for reason, see 269.)--Keep him
half a minute.--Then say "Find," and, without your accompanying him,
he will search for what you have previously hidden. Always let him be
encouraged to perseverance by discovering something acceptable.
36. Unseen by him, place the rewards (one at a time), in different
parts of the room,--under the rug or carpet, and more frequently on a
chair, a table, or a low shelf. He will be at a loss in what part of
the room to search. Assist him by a motion of your arm and hand. A wave
of the right arm and hand to the right, will soon show him that he is
to hunt to the right, as he will find there. The corresponding wave of
the left hand and arm to the left, will explain to him, that he is to
make a cast to the left. The underhand bowler's swing of the right
hand and arm, will show that he is to hunt in a forward direction.[11]
Your occasionally throwing the delicacy (in the direction you wish him
to take), whilst waving your hand, will aid in making him comprehend
the signal. You may have noticed how well, by watching the action of
a boy's arm, his little cur judges towards what point to run for the
expected stone.
37. When the hidden object is near you, but between you and the dog,
make him come towards you to seek for it, beckoning him with your right
hand. When he is at a distance at the "Drop," if you are accustomed to
recompense him for good behaviour, you can employ this signal to make
him rise and run towards you for his reward, (and, according to my
judgment, he should always join you after the "down charge," 271). By
these means you will thus familiarise him with a very useful signal;
for that signal will cause him to approach you in the field, when you
have made a circuit to head him at his point (knowing that birds will
then be lying somewhere between you and him), and want him to draw
nearer to the birds and you, to show you exactly where they are. This
some may call a superfluous refinement, but I hope _you_ will consider
it a very killing accomplishment, and being easily taught, it were a
pity to neglect it. When a Setter is employed in cock-shooting, the
advantage of using this signal is very apparent. While the dog is
steadily pointing, it enables the sportsman to look for a favourable
opening, and, when he has posted himself to his satisfaction, to sign
to the Setter (or if out of sight tell him), to advance and flush
the bird: when, should the sportsman have selected his position with
judgment, he will generally get a shot. I have seen this method very
successfully adopted in America, where the forests are usually so dense
that cocks are only found on the outskirts in the underwood.
[Page Header: LOOKING FOR INSTRUCTIONS.]
38. After a little time he will regularly look to you for directions.
Encourage him to do so; it will make him hereafter, when he is in the
field, desirous of hunting under your eye, and induce him to look to
you, in a similar manner, for instructions in what direction he is to
search for game. Observe how a child watches its mother's eye; so will
a dog watch yours, when he becomes interested in your movements, and
finds that you frequently notice him.
[Page Header: BECKON.--"CARE."]
39. Occasionally, when he approaches any of the spots where the bread
lies hidden, say "Care," and slightly raise your right hand. He will
quickly consider this word, or signal, as an intimation that he is near
the object of his search.
40. Never deceive him in any of these words and signs, and never
disappoint him of the expected reward. Praise and caress him for good
conduct; rate him for bad. Make it a rule throughout the whole course
of his education, out of doors as fully as within, to act upon this
system. You will find that caresses and substantial rewards are far
greater incentives to exertion than any fears of punishment.
41. Your pup having become a tolerable proficient in these lessons, you
may beneficially extend them by employing the word "Up," as a command
that he is to sniff high in the air to find the hidden bread or meat,
lying, say on a shelf, or on the back of a sofa. He will, comparatively
speaking, be some time in acquiring a knowledge of the meaning of the
word, and many would probably term it an over-refinement in canine
education; but I must own I think you will act judiciously, if you
teach it perfectly in the initiatory lessons; for the word "Up," if
well understood, will frequently save your putting on the puzzle-peg.
For this you would be obliged to employ, should your dog prove
disobedient and be acquiring the execrable habit of "raking" as it is
termed, instead of searching for the delicious effluvia with his nose
carried high in the air. Colonel Hawker much recommends the puzzle-peg,
but I confess I would not fetter the dog by using it, unless compelled
by his hereditary propensity to hunt-foot.
[Page Header: "UP." --NOSE CARRIED HIGH.]
42. Whenever birds can be sought for in the wind, the dog should thus
hunt the field (and the higher he carries his nose the better), for,
independently of the far greater chance of finding them, they will
allow the dog to come much nearer, than when he approaches them by the
foot: but of this more anon. (185, 186.)
43. Setters and Pointers naturally hunt with their noses sufficiently
close to the ground,--they want elevating rather than depressing.
Notwithstanding, you will do well to show your pupil a few times
out of doors, how to work out a scent, by dragging a piece of bread
unperceived by him _down wind_ through grass, and then letting him
"foot" it out. Try him for a few yards at first; you can gradually
increase the length of the drag. You must not, however, practise this
initiatory lesson too frequently, lest you give him the wretched custom
of pottering.
[Illustration: OLD-FASHIONED ENGLISH SETTER,--RETRIEVERS, ONE A CROSS
WITH BLOODHOUND.
HEEL.--"A backward low wave of the right hand."--Par. 44.]
[Page Header: "HEEL."--"GONE."]
44. The word "Heel," and a backward low wave of the right hand and arm
to the rear, (the reverse of the underhand cricket-bowler's swing,)
will, after a few times, bring the dog close behind you. Keep him there
a while and pat him, but do not otherwise reward him. The object of
the order was to make him instantly give up hunting, and come to your
heels. This signal cannot be substituted for the "beckon." The one
is an order always obeyed with reluctance (being a command to leave
off hunting), whereas the "beckon" is merely an instruction in what
direction to beat, and will be attended to with delight. The signal
"heel," however, when given immediately after loading, is an exception;
for the instructions about "Dead," in XI. of paragraph 141, will show
that without your speaking, it may be made to impart the gratifying
intelligence of your having killed. See also 277.
45. To teach him to attach a meaning to the word "Gone," or "Away,"
or "Flown,"[12] (select which you will, but do not ring the changes,)
you may now rub a piece of meat (if you have no one but your servant
to scold you) in some place where the dog is accustomed frequently to
find, and when he is sniffing at the place say "Gone," or "Away." This
he will, after some trials, perceive to be an intimation that it is of
no use to continue hunting for it.
46. You will greatly facilitate his acquiring the meaning of the
command "Fence," or "Ware fence," if, from time to time, as he is
quitting the room through the open door or garden window, you restrain
him by calling out that word.
[Page Header: "WARE FENCE."]
47. Whenever, indeed, you wish him to desist from doing anything, call
out "Ware," (pronounced "War"), as it will expedite his hereafter
understanding the terms, "Ware sheep," "Ware chase," and "Ware lark."
The last expression to be used when he is wasting his time upon the
scent of anything but game--a fault best cured by plenty of birds being
killed to him. However, the simple word "No," omitting "Chase" or
"Fence," might be substituted advantageously for "Ware." All you want
him to do is to desist from a wrong action. That sharp sound,--and when
necessary it can be clearly thundered out,--cannot be misunderstood.
[Page Header: ACCUSTOMED TO COUPLES.]
48. That your young dog may not hereafter resist the couples, yoke him
occasionally to a stronger dog, and for the sake of peace, and in the
name of all that is gallant, let it be to the one of the other sex who
appears to be the greatest favourite.
49. When he is thus far advanced in his education, and tolerably
obedient, which he will soon become if you are consistent, and
_patient, yet strict_, you can, in further pursuance of Astley's plan,
associate him in his lessons with a companion. Should you be breaking
in another youngster, (though one at a time you will probably find
quite enough, especially if it be your laudable wish to give him
hereafter a well-confirmed scientific range,) they can now be brought
together for instruction. You must expect to witness the same jealousy
which they would exhibit on the stubble. Both will be anxious to hunt
for the bread, and in restraining them alternately from so doing, you
exact the obedience which you will require hereafter in the field, when
in their natural eagerness they will endeavour, unless you properly
control them, to take the point of birds from one another; or, in their
rivalry, run over the taint of a wounded bird, instead of collectedly
and perseveringly working out the scent. You can throw a bit of toast
and make them "Toho" it, and then let the dog you name take it. In the
same way you can let each alternately search for a hidden piece, after
both have come up to you, on your saying "Dead." I would also advise
you to accustom each dog to "drop," without any command from you, the
moment he sees that the other is down.
50. Those lessons will almost ensure their hereafter instantly obeying,
and nearly instantly comprehending the object of the signal to "back"
any dog which may be pointing game.
51. When you take out two youngsters for exercise, while they are
romping about, suddenly call one into "heel." After a time again send
him off on his gambols. Whistle to catch the eye of the other, and
signal to him to join you. By working them thus alternately, while they
are fresh and full of spirits, you will habituate them to implicit
obedience. When the birds are wild, and you are anxious to send a
basket of game to a friend, it is very satisfactory to be able merely
by a sign, without uttering a word, to bring the other dogs into
"heel," leaving the ground to the careful favourite. Teach the present
lesson well, and you go far towards attaining the desired result.
52. I trust you will not object to the minutiæ of these initiatory
lessons, and fancy you have not time to attend to them. By teaching
them well, you will gain time,--much time,--and the time that is of
most value to you as a sportsman; for when your dog is regularly
hunting to your gun, his every faculty ought to be solely devoted to
finding birds, and his undisturbed intellects exclusively given to
aid you in bagging them, instead of being bewildered by an endeavour
to comprehend novel signals or words of command. I put it to you as
a sportsman, whether he will not have the more delight and ardour in
hunting, the more he feels that he understands your instructions? and,
further, I ask you, whether he will not be the more sensitively alive
to the faintest indication of a haunt, and more readily follow it up
to a sure find, if he be unembarrassed by any anxiety to make out what
you mean, and be in no way alarmed at the consequences of not almost
instinctively understanding your wishes?
[Illustration: THE CHECK--'HOLD HARD!']
[Page Header: CHECKCORD DESCRIBED.]
53. In all these lessons, and those which follow in the field, the
checkcord will wonderfully assist you. Indeed, it may be regarded as
the instructor's right hand. It can be employed so mildly as not to
intimidate the most gentle, and it can, without the aid of any whip,
be used with such severity, or, I should rather say, perseverance,
as to conquer the most wild and headstrong, and these are sure to be
dogs of the greatest travel and endurance. The cord may be from ten
to twenty-five[13] yards long, according to the animal's disposition,
and may be gradually shortened as he gets more and more under command.
Even when it is first employed you can put on a shorter cord, if you
perceive that he is becoming tired. In thick stubble, especially if cut
with a sickle, the drag will be greater, far greater than when the cord
glides over heather. The cord may be of the thickness of what some call
strong lay-cord, but made of twelve threads. Sailors would know it by
the name of log-line or cod-line. To save the end from fraying it can
be whipped with thread, which is better than tying a knot because it is
thus less likely to become entangled.
[Page Header: SPANIELS BROKEN IN.]
54. Hunted with such a cord, the most indomitable dog, when he is
_perfectly obedient to the_ "_drop_," is nearly as amenable to command,
as if the end of the line were in the breaker's hand. By no other means
can
SPANIELS
be _quickly_ broken in. The general object of the trainer is to
restrain them from ranging at a distance likely to spring game out
of gun-shot, and to make them perfect to the "down charge." If one
of these high-spirited animals will not range close when called to
by whistle or name, the breaker gets hold of the cord and jerks it;
this makes the dog come in a few paces; another jerk or two makes him
approach closer, and then the breaker, by himself retiring with his
face towards the spaniel, calling out his name (or whistling), and
occasionally jerking the cord, makes him quite submissive, and more
disposed to obey on future occasions.
55. In training a large team it is of much advantage to the keeper to
have a lad to rate, and, when necessary, give the skirters a taste of
the lash, in short, to act as whipper-in. The keeper need not then
carry a whip, or at least often use it, which will make his spaniels
all the more willing to hunt close to him.
[Illustration:
J. M.
A FOUR-LEGGED WHIPPER-IN.--Par. 56.]
[Page Header: FOUR-LEGGED WHIPPER-IN.]
56. Lord A----r's head gamekeeper was singularly aided:--he possessed
a four-legged whipper-in. A few years ago while Mr. D----s (M.P. for a
South Eastern County) was with a shooting party at his Lordship's, the
keeper brought into the field a brace of powerful retrievers, and a
team of spaniels, among which were two that had never been shot over.
On the first pheasant being killed, all the old spaniels dropped to
shot, but one of the young ones rushed forward and mouthed the bird.
The person who had fired ran on to save it, but the keeper called
aloud, and requested him not to move. The man then made a signal to one
of the retrievers to go. He did so instantly, but, instead of meddling
with the bird, he seized the spaniel, lifted him up, and shook him
well. The moment the pup could escape, he came howling to the "heels"
of the keeper, and lay down among his companions. The keeper then
confessed that a couple of the spaniels had never been shot to,--but
he confidently assured the sportsmen, they would see before the day
was over, that the pups behaved fully as steadily as the old dogs, and
explained to the party, how the retriever did all the disagreeable
work, and indeed, nearly relieved him of every trouble in breaking in
the youngsters. On the next few shots this novel schoolmaster was again
deputed to show his pupils that he would not allow his special duties
as a retriever to be interfered with. Both the young dogs, having been
thus well chastised, became more careful,--made only partial rushes
to the front, when a recollection of their punishment, and a dread
of their four-footed tutor brought them slinking back to their older
companions. As the keeper had averred, they soon learned their lesson
completely,--gave up all thoughts of chasing after shot, and quietly
crouched down with the other dogs.
[Page Header: RETRIEVER MADE BREAKER.]
57. I can easily imagine that it was a feeling of jealousy, which first
prompted the retriever to thrash some spaniel who was endeavouring to
carry off a bird, and that the clever keeper encouraged him in doing
so, instantly perceiving the value of such assistance. It is worth a
consideration whether it would not be advisable to train the retriever
employed with a team to give this assistance. A dog of a quarrelsome
disposition could be taught, by your urging him, to seize any spaniel
who might be mouthing a bird, in the same manner you would set on a
young terrier to fly at a rat.
58. Doubtless it is the _highest_ training to teach a team to
"down charge," but most breakers make their spaniels come into "heel,"
or rather gather close around them, (by the word "round") whenever
a gun is discharged. This plan, though so injudicious in the case
of pointers or setters, is but little objectionable in the case of
spaniels, for spaniels in their small sweep inwards, are not likely
to spring game while the guns are unloaded. It certainly possesses
this merit, that it is readily taught to puppies, (with the aid of
a whipper-in) by the trainer's giving them some delicacy on their
rejoining him. It may be urged, too, that the method much removes any
necessity for noise in calling to a dog,--whereas, with a team trained
to the "down charge," however highly broken, it will occasionally
happen that the keeper (or assistant) has to rate some excited skirter
for not instantly "dropping." Moreover, in thick cover an infraction
of the irksome rule to "down charge" may sometimes escape detection,
which might lead to future acts of insubordination. The lamented Prince
Albert's team of Clumbers "down charge," but the greatest attention
could be given, and was given to them. They were admirably broken, and
I might add, were shot over by a first-rate hand.
[Page Header: SPANIELS BROKEN IN.]
59. When exercising young spaniels it is a good plan to habituate them,
even as puppies, never to stray further from you than about twenty
yards. With them, even more than with other kinds of dogs trained
for the gun, great pains should be taken to prevent their having the
opportunity of "self-hunting." If it is wished to break from hare, the
method to be followed is mentioned in 334, &c., for with spaniels as
with setters (or pointers) it is always advisable to drag them back to
the spot from which they started in pursuit.
60. Occasionally you may see a country blacksmith, when preparing to
shoe the hind-legs of a cart-horse that appears disposed to make a
disagreeable use of his heels, twist the long hair at the end of his
tail,--raise the foot that is to be shod,--pass the twisted hair round
the leg immediately above the hock, and by these means press the tendon
close to the bone. The tail assists in retaining the leg in position,
and thus for the time the limb is rendered powerless. Acting much upon
this coercive principle, but discarding the aid of the tail, some
breakers _slightly_ confine a hind-leg of their most unruly spaniels
with a soft bandage, shifting it from one leg to the other about every
hour. Possibly a loop of vulcanized india-rubber, being elastic, would
best answer the purpose. Restrained in this manner a dog is less likely
to tumble about, and become injured, than if one of his fore-legs
had been passed through his collar. Other breakers when hunting many
couples together, fasten a belt with a few pounds of shot round the
necks of the wildest. But the sooner such adjuncts to discipline can
be safely discarded the better; for "brushing" a close cover is severe
work. Gorse is the most trying. Its prickles are so numerous and fine,
that the ears and eyes of every spaniel hunted in it ought to be
separately examined on returning home, and well bathed in warm water.
Their eyes are peculiarly liable to be injured by dust and gravel from
their hunting so close to the ground.
[Page Header: HUNTED IN GORSE.]
61. To give young spaniels sufficient courage to face the most
entangled cover, a judicious trainer will occasionally introduce them
to thick brakes, or gorse, early in the morning, or in the evening,
when the noise of his approach will have made the pheasants feeding in
the neighbourhood, run far into it for shelter. The effluvia of the
birds will then so excite the young dogs, especially if cheered with
good companionship, (which always creates emulation,) that they will
utterly disregard the pricks and scratches of the strongest furze.
62. If the time of year will permit it, they should be shown game when
about nine or ten months old. At a more advanced age they would be
less amenable to control. Happily the example of a riotous pup will
not be so detrimental to the discipline of the rest of the team, as
the example of an ill-conducted companion would be to a pointer (or
setter), for the influence of thoroughly steady spaniels makes the pup
curtail his range sooner than might be expected. Finding that he is not
followed by his associates he soon rejoins them.
63. A judicious breaker will regard perfection in the "drop" (23 to
26) as the main-spring of his educational system. He will teach his
young spaniels to "seek dead," (34, 35, 43) where directed by signs of
the hand. He will instruct them in "fetching," (109, 107, &c.) with
the view to some of them hereafter retrieving. He will accustom them
to hunt hedge-rows, and light open copses,--because always under his
eye,--before taking them into closer cover. Nor until they are under
some command, and well weaned from noticing vermin and small birds,
will he allow them to enter gorse or strong thickets,--and then he will
never neglect (though probably he will have used them before) to attach
bells of _different sounds_ to the collars of his several pupils (one
to each), so that his ear may at all times detect any truant straying
beyond bounds, and thus enable him to rate the delinquent by name. In
this manner, he establishes the useful feeling elsewhere spoken of
(383), that whether he be within or out of sight, he is equally aware
of every impropriety that is committed.
64. Young spaniels, when they have been steadily broken in not to hunt
too far ahead on the instructor's side of the hedge, may be permitted
to beat on the other;--and this when only one person is shooting, is
generally their most useful position, for they are thus more likely to
drive the game towards the gun.
65. If a keeper is hunting the team, while you and a friend are beating
narrow belts or strips of wood,[14] should you and he be placed, as
is usual, on the outside, a little ahead of the keeper (one to his
right, the other to his left), you would much aid him in preventing the
young spaniels from ranging wildly, were you to turn your face towards
him whenever you saw any of them getting too far in advance, for they
will watch the guns as much as they will him. They should never range
further than thirty yards from the gun.
[Page Header: EXPERIENCED SPANIELS.]
66. Among spaniels the great advantage of age and experience is more
apparent than in partridge-dogs. A young spaniel cannot keep to a
pheasant's tail like an old one. He may push the bird for forty or
fifty yards if judiciously managed. After that he is almost sure
from impatience, either to lose it, or rush in and flush out of
shot, whereas an old cocker, who has had much game shot over him, is
frequently knowing enough to slacken his pace, instead of increasing
it, when he first touches on birds, apparently quite sensible that he
ought to give the gun time to approach, before he presses to a flush.
[Page Header: DIFFICULT TO BREAK.]
67. Even good spaniels, however well-bred, if they have not had great
experience, generally road too fast. Undeniably they are difficult
animals to educate, and it requires much watchfulness, perseverance,
and attention at an early age, so to break in a team of young ones
that they shall keep within gun range, without your being compelled to
halloo or whistle to them. But some few are yet more highly trained.
68. Mr. N----n, when in France, had a lively, intelligent, liver and
white cocker, which would work busily all day long within gun-shot; and
which possessed the singular accomplishment of steadily pointing all
game that lay well, and of not rushing in until the sportsman had come
close to him. But this is a case of high breaking more curious than
useful, for spaniels are essentially _springers_, not _pointers_, and
the little animal must frequently have been lost sight of in cover. The
Messrs. W----e, alluded to in 551, had also a cocker that regularly
pointed. Our grandfathers used to apply the term springers solely to
large spaniels,--never to the Duke of Marlborough's small breed, which
was greatly prized.
[Page Header: TRUE NOSES.--COVER SHOOTING.]
69. A dog is generally most attached to that description of sport, and
soonest recognises the scent of that game, to which he has principally
been accustomed in youth. He will through life hunt most diligently
where he first had the delight of often finding. The utility therefore
is obvious of introducing spaniels at an early age to close covers and
hedge-rows, and setters and pointers to heather and stubble.
70. In spaniels, feathered sterns and long ears are much admired,
but obviously the latter must suffer in thick underwood. The chief
requisite in all kinds of spaniels, is, that they be good finders,
and have noses so true that they will never overrun a scent. Should
they do so when footing an old cock-pheasant, the chances are, that he
will double back on the exact line by which he came. They should be
high-mettled,--as regardless of the severest weather as of the most
punishing cover, and ever ready to spring into the closest thicket the
moment a pointed finger gives the command.
71. A comprehension of the signal made by the finger, (which is far
neater than the raising of the hand described in 34, but not so quickly
understood) might with advantage be imparted to all dogs trained for
the gun, in order to make them hunt close _exactly_ where directed. It
is usually taught by pointing with the fore-finger of the right hand to
pieces of biscuit, previously concealed, near easily recognised tufts
of grass, weeds, &c. It is beautiful to see how correctly, promptly,
yet quietly, some spaniels will work in every direction thus indicated.
[Page Header: COVER SHOOTING.]
72. Breasting a strong cover with cockers, is more suited to young,
than to old men. The gun must follow rapidly, and stick close when a
dog is on the road of feather. A shot will then infallibly be obtained,
if a good dog be at work; for the more closely a bird is pressed, the
hotter gets the scent. If a pheasant found in thick cover on marshy
ground near water,--a locality they much like in hot weather,--is not
closely pushed, he will so twist, and turn, and double upon old tracks,
that none but the most experienced dogs will be able to stick to him.
73. The preceding observations respecting spaniels apply to all
descriptions employed on land-service, whether of the strong kind,
the Sussex breed and the Clumber, or the smallest cockers, Blenheims
and King Charles'.[15] But whether they are to be trained not to hunt
flick,[16] (the most difficult part of their tuition, and in which
there is generally most failure), and whether they shall be bred to
give tongue, or run mute, will depend much upon the nature of the
country to be hunted, and yet more upon the taste of the proprietor.
No fixed rules can be given for a sport that varies so much as
cover shooting.
[Page Header: BELLS IN COVER.]
74. Of the large kind, most sportsmen will think a couple and a half
a sufficient number to hunt at a time. Certainly one of them should
retrieve: and they ought to be well broken in not to notice flick.
These dogs are most esteemed when they run mute. If they do, they
must be hunted with bells in very thick cover; but the less bells are
employed the better, for the tinkling sound, in a greater or smaller
degree, annoys all game. Such dogs, when good, are very valuable.
75. I once shot over a team of Clumber spaniels belonging to Mr.
D----z. The breed (the Duke of Newcastle's, taking their name from one
of his seats), are mostly white with a little lemon colour, have large
sensible heads, thick, short legs, silky coats, carry their sterns low,
and hunt perfectly mute. The team kept within twenty or twenty-five
yards of the keeper, were trained to acknowledge Rabbits, as well as
all kinds of game; and in the country Mr. D----z was then shooting over
afforded capital sport. One of the spaniels was taught to retrieve. He
would follow to any distance, and seldom failed to bring. A regular
retriever was, however, generally taken out with them. Mr. D----z told
me that they required very judicious management, and encouragement
rather than severity, as undue whipping soon made them timid. They are
of a delicate constitution. He rather surprised me by saying that his
spaniels from working quietly and ranging close, (therefore, alarming
the birds less,) procured him far more shots in turnips than his
pointers; and he had three that looked of the right sort. He explained
matters, however, by telling me, that it was his practice to make a
circuit round the outskirts of a turnip or potato field before hunting
the inner parts. This of course greatly tended to prevent the birds
breaking (401). A juvenile sportsman would rejoice in the services of
the spaniels, for many a rabbit would they procure for him without the
aid of powder and shot.
[Illustration: CLUMBERS.
"All the Clumbers dropped instantly."--Par. 76.]
76. When Colonel M----, who died in Syria, was stationed with his troop
of Horse Artillery at Pontefract, he was asked to shoot partridges at
Lord P----n's seat in Yorkshire. On meeting the gamekeeper, according
to appointment, he found him surrounded by a team of Clumber spaniels.
Colonel M----, in some surprise at seeing no setters or pointers,
remarked that he had expected some _partridge_ shooting. "I know it,"
answered the man, "and I hope to show you some sport." To the inquiry
why one of the spaniels was muzzled, the keeper said that his master
had threatened to shoot it should it again give tongue, and, as it
possessed a particularly fine nose, he (the keeper) was anxious not
to lose it. They walked on, and soon the man told M---- to be prepared,
as the spaniels were feathering. A covey rose. The Colonel, who was a
good shot, killed right and left. All the Clumbers dropped instantly.
When he was reloading, the keeper begged him to say which of the dogs
should retrieve the game. M---- pointed to a broad-headed dog lying in
the middle, when the keeper directed by name the spaniel so favoured
to be off. It quickly fetched one of the birds. The keeper then asked
M---- to choose some other dog to bring the remaining bird--a runner.
He did so, and the animal he selected to act as retriever, performed
the duty very cleverly; the rest of the team remaining quite still,
until its return.
The Colonel had capital sport, killing nearly twenty brace, and the
dogs behaved beautifully throughout the day. When afterwards relating
the circumstances, he observed that, although an old sportsman, he had
seldom been so gratified, as it was a novel scene to him, who had not
been accustomed to shoot over spaniels.
[Page Header: TEAM OF COCKERS.]
77. Of small cockers, three couples appear ample to form a team. Some
teams of small springers greatly exceed this number, and many sportsmen
shoot over more than a couple and a half of the larger spaniels; but
it is a question whether, in the generality of cases, the gun would
not benefit by the number being diminished rather than increased. The
smaller in number the team, the greater is the necessity that none of
them should stick too close to "heel." The difficulty is to make them
hunt far enough, and yet not too far. At least one of the number should
retrieve well. If they give tongue, it ought to be in an intelligible
manner; softly, when they first come on the haunt of a cock, but making
the cover ring again with their joyous melody, when once the bird is
flushed. A first-rate cocker will never deceive by opening upon an old
haunt, nor yet find the gun unprepared by delaying to give due warning
before he flushes the bird. When cocks are abundant, some teams are
broken, not only to avoid flick, but actually not to notice a pheasant,
or anything beside woodcock. Hardly any price would tempt a real lover
of cock-shooting, in a cocking country, to part with such a team.
Hawker terms the sport, "the fox-hunting of shooting." Some sportsmen
kill water-hens to young spaniels to practise them in forcing their way
through entangled covers, and get them well in hand and steady against
the all-important cocking season.
[Page Header: STRENGTH OF TEAM.]
78. When a regular retriever can be constantly employed with spaniels,
of course it will be unnecessary to make any of them fetch game,
(certainly never to lift anything which falls out of bounds), though
all the team should be taught to "seek dead." This is the plan pursued
by the Duke of Newcastle's keepers, and obviously it is the soundest
and easiest practice, for it must always be more or less difficult
to make a spaniel keep within his usual hunting limits, who is
occasionally encouraged to pursue wounded game, at his best pace, to a
considerable distance.
79. Other teams are broken no more than to keep within range, being
allowed to hunt all kinds of game, and also rabbits; they, however,
are restricted from pursuing wounded flick further than fifty or sixty
yards. Where rabbits are abundant, and outlying, a team thus broken
affords lively sport,--nothing escapes them.
80. In the large woods that traverse parts of Kent and Sussex, a
kind of hunting-shooting is followed, that affords more fun, where
there are plenty of rabbits and but few burrows, than might at first
be imagined. The dogs employed are the smallest beagles that can be
obtained. The little creatures stick to a hare, rabbit, or wounded
pheasant with greater pertinacity than most spaniels, probably because
they (the beagles) are slower, and hunt so low. Three or four couples
make most animating music in the woodlands, and procure many shots,
but they awfully disturb game. Mr. D----z has gorse covers through
which openings or rides are cut. He shoots rabbits in them to a team
of beagles trained not to notice hare. The burrows are ferreted the
preceding day, and regularly stopped. The sport is excellent and most
animating. Plenty of snap shots. An old buck rabbit once or twice
hunted becomes extremely cunning. He is soon on the move, and will work
round beyond the dogs, so as to double back upon the ground already
hunted.
[Illustration: WILD SPANIELS.--Par. 81.]
[Page Header: HUNTING-SHOOTING.]
81. Wild spaniels, though they may show you most cock, will get you
fewest shots, unless you have well-placed markers. There are sportsmen
who like to take out one steady dog to range close to them, and a
couple of wild ones to hunt on the flanks, one on each side, expressly
that the latter may put up birds for the markers to take note of.
82. Mr. O----n, who is devoted to shooting, acts upon this system,
but upon a more enlarged scale. Having previously posted his markers,
he has each cover, immediately before he shoots it, well hunted by
the wildest of the dogs: he then takes a steady animal to the several
spots pointed out, and is thus enabled to kill annually thrice as many
cock as any other man in the country. The aptness of this bird, when a
second time flushed, to return (397) to its old haunt, and when again
put up to take wing in the direction of its first flight, much tends to
its destruction.
83. An old sportsman knows _mute_ spaniels to be most killing; a young
one may prefer those which give tongue, (if true from the beginning
owning nothing but game,) because, though undeniably greater disturbers
of a cover, they are more cheerful and animating. The superiority of
the former is, however, apparent on a still calm day, when the least
noise will make the game steal away long before the gun gets within
shot. But it is not so in all countries.
84. Wild as is the woodcock with us after it has recovered from its
fatiguing migratory flight, and been a few times disturbed, there is
not, perhaps, naturally, so tame a game-bird, and one more difficult to
flush in close cover where rarely alarmed. Officers quartered at Corfu
frequently cross in the morning to the Albanian coast,--a two hours'
sail or pull,--and return the same evening, having bagged from fifty
to sixty couples to half-a-dozen good guns. Their boat is directed to
meet them at some head-land, towards which they shoot. An attendant to
carry the game, and a relay of ammunition, &c., is told off to each
sportsman, and _he_ of the party who best knows the country, is chosen
captain for the day, and walks in the centre of the line, the rest
conforming to his movements. There is generally an agreement to halt
for a minute, but not a second more, to allow a man to look for any
cock he may have knocked over; therefore the possessor of a first-rate
retriever is an envied character. The strength and density of the
bush occasionally there encountered, is more than we in England can
imagine: and in such situations, experience has shown the sportsmen
the superiority of spaniels which give tongue. On hearing the warning
cheerful music, the line halts for a few seconds, as, notwithstanding
all the noise, some little time may pass before the cock is sprung, for
he is frequently so protected by a wall of impervious thicket, (though
sure to have a clear opening overhead for unimpeded flight) that the
keenest dogs cannot immediately get at him.
85. Although the country abounds with deer and boar, it is almost
needless to observe, that the cock-shooters are too noisy a party often
to bag such noble game, unless some ambitious and bold man (for being
alone he risks having a long barrel covertly pointed at him) take up
a favourable position far in advance. Captain Best, a fellow-student
of mine, about a dozen years ago, gives a spirited account of this
shooting, in his entertaining book, entitled "Excursions in Albania."
86. In the northern part of the Morea, about twenty-five miles from
Patras (near Ali Tchelepi, a dilapidated monastery inhabited by
only three monks--near Monolada, and Pera Metochi), Mr. O----n and
Captain B----y, between the 14th of January, 1843, and the 11th of the
following month (both days inclusive), killed 862 woodcocks, 11 hares,
11 duck, and 11 snipe. Not bad sport!
[Page Header: COVERS.]
87. In very thick covers it is obvious, the height of setters being
greatly against them, that spaniels are far preferable: but in light
covers, and when the leaves are off the trees, _handy_ old setters
(if white, all the better) that will readily confine themselves to
a restricted range, and will flush their game when ordered (IV. and
VII. of 141 and 284) afford quite as much sport, if not more. Setters
do not, to the same degree, alarm birds; and there is, also, this
advantage, that they can be employed on _all_ occasions, excepting
in low gorse or the closest thickets, whereas spaniels, from their
contracted "beat," are nearly useless in the open when game is scarce.
You will be prepared, when first you hunt a setter in cover, to
sacrifice much of your sport. There must be noise; for it is essential
to make him at once thoroughly understand the very different "beat"
required of him, and this can only be effected by constantly checking
and rating him, whenever he ranges beyond the prescribed limits. He
should hunt slowly and carefully to the right and left, and never
be much in advance of the guns. In a short time he will comprehend
matters, if you are so forbearing and judicious as invariably to call
him away from every point made the least out of bounds. A less severe
test of your consistency will not suffice. The few first days will
either make or mar him as a cover-dog. You must naturally expect that
hunting him much in cover, will injure his range in the open, and make
him too fond of hedge-rows.
88. But there is a man in Yorkshire, who will not willingly admit this.
C----e, Sir George A----e's gamekeeper,--and a good one he is,--for he
has a particularly difficult country to protect, one intersected with
"rights of way" in every direction,--makes his pointers as freely hunt
the cover as the open. You never lose them, for they are sure to make
their appearance when they think they have given you ample time to go
to them if you choose. This cover work does not the least unsteady
them, but it is right to state, that C---- is an unusually good
breaker, and works his dogs with singular temper and patience. They are
very attached to him, and appear to listen anxiously to what he says
when he talks to them,--which, I own, he does more than I recommend.
89. Pointers, however, are manifestly out of place in strong cover,
though an unusually high-couraged one may occasionally be found, who
will dash forward in defiance of pricks and scratches; but it is not
fair to expect it. In a very light cover I have often shot over one
belonging to a relation of mine, which was so clever, that when I came
close to her as she was pointing, she would frequently run round to the
other side of the thicket, and then rush in to drive the game towards
me. This killing plan had in no way been taught her; she adopted it
solely of her own sagacity. Having been much hunted in cover when
young, she was so fond of it (69) as to be, comparatively speaking,
quite unserviceable on the stubbles.
[Page Header: WATER SPANIELS.]
WATER SPANIELS, (OR WATER RETRIEVERS.)
90. A young water spaniel might, with advantage, occasionally be
indulged with a duck-hunt in warm weather. It would tend to make
him quick in the water, and observant. The finishing lessons might
conclude with your shooting the bird and obliging him to retrieve it.
He should be made handy to your signals (IV. to VII. and X. of 141), so
as to hunt the fens and marshes, and "seek dead" exactly where you may
wish.
91. This obedience to the hand is particularly required; for when the
spaniel is swimming he is on a level with the bird, and therefore
is not so likely to see it,--especially if there is a ripple on the
water,--as you are, who probably may be standing many feet above him on
the shore. As you may frequently, while he is retrieving, have occasion
to direct his movements when at a considerable distance from him, you
probably would find it more advantageous to teach him the forward
signal used by shepherds (143), than the one described in IV. of 141.
92. A water spaniel should also be taught to fetch (96, 98, 106 to
109),--be accustomed to follow quietly close to your heels,--be broken
in, not to the "down charge" (27), but to the "drop" (23 to 26), the
instant you signal to him, while you are noiselessly stalking the
wild-fowl previously reconnoitered, with the aid of your Dollond, from
some neighbouring height; nor should he stir a limb, however long he
and you may have to await, ensconced behind a favouring bush, the right
moment for the destructive raking discharge of your first barrel, to
be followed by the less murderous, but still effective flying shot. On
hearing the report, it is his duty to dash instantly into the water,
and secure the slain as rapidly as possible.
[Illustration: IRISH WATER SPANIEL.
"Our good Irish friend."--Par. 95.]
93. A really good water retriever is a scarce and valuable animal.
He should be neither white nor black, because the colours are too
conspicuous, especially the former, (a hint by-the-bye for your own
costume);[17] he should be perfectly mute; of a patient disposition,
though active in the pursuit of birds; of so hardy a constitution as
not to mind the severest cold,--therefore no coddling while he is
young near a fire,--and possess what many are deficient in, viz.,
a good nose: consequently, a cross that will improve his nose, yet
not decrease his steadiness, is the great desideratum in breeding.
He should swim rapidly, for wild-fowl that are only winged, will
frequently escape from the quickest dog, if they have plenty of
sea-room and deep water. (See also 113, 553, 567.)
[Page Header: DUCK SHOOTING.]
94. Wildfowl emit a stronger scent than is, I believe, generally
supposed. At Mr. G----r's, in Surrey, Mr. L----g was shooting one day
last season, when his pointer "Flint" drew for some time towards the
river, and brought the sportsmen to the stump of an old tree. They
could see nothing, and thought the dog must be standing at a moorhen;
but on one of the beaters trying with a stick, out flew a mallard like
a shot from a gun. As Mr. L----g levelled his tubes, it is unnecessary
to observe that it fell; but probably it would have been lost had not
"Flint," when encouraged, jumped into the water and brought the bird to
land. A Mr. C----e, living near Edinburgh, whom I have the pleasure of
knowing, has a white setter that is a capital hand at finding ducks,
and sets them steadily.
[Page Header: WILD-RICE LAKES.]
95. In the wild-_rice_ lakes, as they are commonly called, of America,
a brace of highly-trained spaniels will sometimes, on a windy day,
afford you magnificent sport. The cover is so good that, if it is not
often beaten, the birds will frequently get up singly, or only a couple
at a time. The dogs should keep swimming about within gun-shot, while
you are slowly and silently paddling, or probably poling your canoe
through the most likely spots. Relays of spaniels are requisite, for it
is fatiguing work. If, by any rare chance, you are situated where you
can get much of this delightful shooting, and _you are an enthusiast in
training_, it may be worth your while to consider whether there would
not be an advantage in making the dogs perfect in the "down charge,"
as they would then cease swimming the instant you fired. But this
long digression about spaniels has led us away from your pup, which
we assumed (3) to be a pointer or setter, very unlike our good Irish
friend, well represented in the last engraving.
CHAPTER IV.
LESSONS IN "FETCHING."--RETRIEVERS.
96. Lessons in "fetching" recommended.--97. Dog not taught to retrieve
bringing dead Bird he had found.--98. Taught to deliver into your
hand; never pick up a Bird yourself; Dog which often lost winged Birds
she had lifted.--99. Colonel T----y.--100. Retriever killing one Bird
in order to carry two.--101. "Fan's" sagaciously bringing to firm
ground Bird that had fallen in a swamp.--102. "Dove's" _spontaneously_
fetching one from River, though not accustomed to retrieve.--103.
Retrievers taught to carry something soft; injudiciousness of employing
a stone.--104. How encouraged to plunge into Water; evil of deceiving
a Dog instanced.--105. Diving, how taught.--106. "Fetching" taught
with a Pincushion: with a Bunch of Keys.--107. Made to deliver
instantly.--108. Practised to carry things of the size and weight of
a Hare.--109. "Fetching," how taught at commencement.--110. Brace
of Setters taught with an old bone.--111. "Fetching" often taught
unskilfully.--112. Regular Retrievers taught to fetch Birds: to
"foot" Rabbits and Winged Game.--113. Retriever observes when a Bird
is struck: a quality particularly useful in a Water Retriever.--114.
Pigeons and small Birds shot to Retrievers.--115. Injudiciousness
of aiding a young Dog when Retrieving; makes him rely on Gun rather
than his own Nose.--116. Fatigue of carrying Hare tempts young
Retriever to drop it; taught to deliver quickly by rewards of hard
boiled liver.--117. If he taste blood, put on Wire Snaffle; how
made.--118. Retriever how taught to pursue faster; should commence
to "road" slowly, but "follow up" rapidly.--119. Why Land Retrievers
should "down charge."--120. Some Retrievers may "run on shot," but
those for sale should "down charge."--121. Fine retrieving instanced
in "Ben."--122. Anecdote showing his great sagacity.--123. Benefit
derived from a Seton; another instance of "Ben's" superior retrieving
qualities.--124. With "Ben's" good nose, certain advantage of "down
charge."--125. Retrievers not to be of a heavy build, yet strong and
thick-coated.--126. Cross between a Newfoundland and Setter makes best
Retriever; the real Newfoundland described.--127. Cross from heavy
Setter best Retriever.--128. Most Dogs can be taught more or less to
Retrieve.--129. Young Retriever to lift Woodcock and Landrail.--130.
Retrievers never to kill Rats; lift vermin, or wounded Herons, &c.
[Page Header: DOG FETCHING BIRD.]
96. Though you may not wish your young pointer (or setter) to perform
the duties of a regular retriever, (536) still you would do well to
teach him, whilst he is a puppy, to fetch and deliver into your hand
anything soft you may occasionally throw for him, or leave behind you
in some place where he will have observed you deposit it, while he
is following at your heels. In a little time you can drop something
_without_ letting him see you, and afterwards send him back for it. A
dog thus made, who is your intimate companion, becomes so conversant
with every article of your apparel, and with whatever you usually carry
about you, that, should you accidentally drop anything, the observant
animal will be almost certain to recover it. On receiving your order to
be "off and find" he will accurately retrace your footsteps for miles
and miles, diligently hunting every yard of the ground. Of course, the
distances to which you at first send your dog will be inconsiderable,
and you should carefully avoid persevering too long at a time, lest he
get sick of the lesson. Indeed, in all his lessons,--as well in-doors
as out,--but particularly in this, let it be your aim to leave off at
a moment when he has performed entirely to your satisfaction; that you
may part the best of friends, and that the last impression made by the
lesson may be pleasing as well as correct, from a grateful recollection
of the caresses which he has received. In wild-duck shooting you may
be in situations where you would be very glad if the dog would bring
your bird; and when it is an active runner in cover, I fear you will
be more anxious than I could wish (322) that the dog should "fetch."
It is probable that he will thus assist you if he be practised as I
have just advised; and such instruction may lead, years hence, to his
occasionally bringing you some dead bird which he may come across, and
which you otherwise might have imagined you had missed, for its scent
might be too cold, and consequently too changed, for the dog to have
thought of regularly pointing it.
97. When I was a boy, I recollect seeing such an instance in Kent. As a
great treat, I was permitted (but merely as a spectator) to accompany
a first-rate shot, Mr. C----h, who was trying a gun he thought of
purchasing for his keeper. The dogs soon came upon a covey. He killed
with his first barrel, but apparently missed with his second. He found
fault with the gun for not shooting strongly; and I well remember
impertinently fancying,--but I dared not say so,--that perhaps he was
as much to blame as the gun. Soon afterwards, to our mutual surprise,
we saw one of the dogs trotting up with a bird, still warm, in its
mouth; thus tacitly reproving me for not having done justice to Mr.
C----h's unerring eye and steady hand.
[Page Header: DELIVER INTO HAND.]
98. Mark my having said, "deliver into your hand," that your young
dog may not be satisfied with only dropping, within your sight, any
bird he may lift, and so, perhaps, leave it on the other side of a
trout stream, as I have seen dogs do more than once, in spite of every
persuasion and entreaty. With a young dog, who retrieves, never pick
up a bird yourself, however close it may fall to you. Invariably, make
him either deliver it into your hand or lay it at your feet. The former
is by far the better plan. If the dog has at one moment to drop the
bird at _your_ will, he is likely to fancy himself privileged to drop
it at another time for his _own_ convenience. In other respects, too,
the former is the safest method. I have a bitch now in my recollection,
who frequently lost her master slightly winged birds, (which she had
admirably recovered) by dropping them too soon on hearing the report of
a gun, or coming on other game,--for off they ran, and fairly escaped,
it being impracticable, by any encouragement, to induce her to seek for
a bird she had once lifted.
99. This error, I mean that of allowing a wounded bird to regain its
liberty, was once beautifully avoided by a pretty black retriever,
belonging to Colonel T----y, a good sportsman and pleasant companion,
who, not long since, told me the circumstance; and I am glad to be
able, on such authority, to relate an anecdote evincing so much
reflection and judgment, for I know not by what other terms to
characterise the dog's sagacity.
[Page Header: COLONEL T----Y'S VENUS.--FAN.]
100. Colonel T----y's avocations constantly take him from his neat
bachelor's cottage in Kent, to travel abroad. Shooting in Hungary
he once knocked down two partridges at a shot,--one was killed
outright, the other only slightly wounded. "Venus" soon hit off the
trail of the latter,--quickly overtook it, and, while carrying it to
her master, came upon the dead bird. She stopped, evidently greatly
puzzled; and, after one or two trials, finding she could not take it
up without permitting the escape of the winged bird, she considered a
moment,--then, deliberately murdered it, by giving it a severe crunch,
and afterwards brought away both together. It is due to the lady to
observe that she is naturally as tender-mouthed as her name would imply
her to be tender-hearted, and that this is the only known instance of
her ever having wilfully injured any game.
101. Sometimes a dog's sagacity will induce him, _however little
taught_, to assist you in your hour of need; but you must not trust
to this. An intimate friend of mine, shooting in Ireland to a
pointer bitch that was totally unaccustomed to fetch and carry, but
well instructed to seek for a dead bird, killed a snipe. It fell in
soft, boggy ground, where he could not get at it to pick it up. After
some vain efforts to approach it, he hied on the bitch, who was still
steadily "pointing dead," with "Fetch it, Fan; fetch it." The bitch
seemed for a moment puzzled at such an unusual proceeding, and looked
round, inquisitively, once or twice, as if to say, "What can you mean?"
Suddenly, my friend's dilemma seemed to flash upon her. She walked on,
took the bird, quite gently, in her mouth, and carried it to where
the ground was firm; but not one inch further would she bring it,
despite all the encouragement of her master, who now wished to make her
constantly retrieve. This was the first and last bird she ever lifted.
102. "Dove," a white setter, belonging to a near relation of mine,
(the left-hand dog in the engraving illustrating 540, is considered
extremely like her,) did, spontaneously, that which "Fan" only
consented to do after much entreaty. My relation, shooting on the banks
of the Forth, killed a partridge that was flying across the river. As
he had no retriever with him he almost regretted having fired; but,
to his surprise, "Dove" volunteered jumping into the water; made her
way to the bird with a sort of steamboat paddle action,--for I verily
believe it was the first time she had attempted to swim,--seized
it, and, returning with it to the shore, deposited it safely on the
bank. She never had retrieved before, and is not particularly good at
"seeking dead."
103. I observed it was something soft which you should teach your dog
to fetch. Probably you have seen a retriever taught to seek and bring
a stone, upon which, in a delicate manner, the tutor has spit. Does it
not stand to reason that the stone must have tended to give his pupil
a hard mouth? And what may, later in life, cause him much misery in
dashing at a bounding stone, he may split a tooth. Dogs of an advanced
age suffer more in their mouths than most of us suspect.
104. Should your pup be unwilling to enter water, on no account push
him in, under the mistaken idea that it will reconcile him to the
element,--it will but augment his fears (320). Rather, on a warm day,
throw some biscuit for him, when he is hungry, close to the edge of
the bank, where it is so shallow as merely to require his wading.
Chuck the next piece a little further off, and, by degrees, increase
the distance until he gets beyond his depth, and finds that nature has
given him useful swimming powers. On no occasion will the example of
another dog more assist you. Your youngster's diving can never be of
service; therefore throw in only what will float. Otherwise he might
have a plunge for nothing, and so be discouraged; and evidently it
should be your constant aim to avoid doing anything likely to shake his
confidence in the judiciousness of your orders.
A person I know, taught a dog many good tricks,--among others, to
extinguish the papers thrown upon the ground that had served to light
cigars. A booby of a fellow, very wittily, took in the dog, _once_, by
chucking a red-hot coal to him. "A burnt child," says the old adage,
"dreads the fire:" so does a burnt dog: and, of course, no subsequent
encouragement would induce him, ever again, to approach a lighted paper.
[Page Header: TAUGHT TO "FETCH."]
105. If you ever have occasion to teach a dog to dive and retrieve,
first accustom him, on land, to fetch something heavy, of a conspicuous
colour. When he brings it eagerly, commence your diving lesson by
throwing it into the shallowest parts of the stream. Only by slow
degrees get to deep water, and let your lessons be very short. Never
chuck in a stone. The chances are twenty to one that there are several
at the bottom not very dissimilar, and the young dog ought not to be
subjected to the temptation of picking up one of them in lieu of that
he was sent for. Should he on any occasion do so, neither scold nor
caress him; quietly take what he brings, lay it at your feet, to show
him that you want it not, and endeavour to make him renew his search
for what you threw in; do this by signs, and by encouragement with your
voice, rather than by chucking stones in the right direction, lest he
should seek for them instead of searching for what you originally sent
him.
106. Some teachers make a young dog fetch a round pin-cushion, or a
cork ball, in which needles are judiciously buried; nor is it a bad
plan, and there need be no cruelty in it, if well managed. At least
it can only be cruel once, for a dog's recollection of his sufferings
will prevent his picking up the offending object a second time. Others,
after he is well drilled into "fetching," and takes pleasure in it,
will make him bring a bunch of keys. There are few things a dog is less
willing to lift. Most probably they gave him some severe rebuffs when
first heedlessly snatching at them; and the caution thereby induced
tends to give him a careful, tender mouth. A fencing master, I knew
in France, had a spaniel, singularly enough for a Frenchman, called
"Waterloo," that would take up the smallest needle.
107. When your dog has picked up what you desired, endeavour to make
him run to you quickly. Many who teach a dog to fetch, praise and
encourage him while he is bringing what he was sent after. Clearly this
is an error. It induces the dog to loiter and play with it. He thinks
he is lauded for having it in his mouth and carrying it about. Reserve
your encomiums and caresses until he has delivered it. (see 153.)--If
you walk away, the fear of your leaving him, will induce him to hurry
after you. Let a dog retrieve ever so carelessly, still, while on the
move, he will rarely drop a bird.
[Page Header: BROUGHT TO LIFT WEIGHTS.]
108. Dogs that retrieve should be gradually brought to lift heavy,
flexible things, and such as require a large grasp, that they may not
be quite unprepared for the weight and size of a hare; otherwise they
may be inclined to drag it along by a slight hold of the skin, instead
of balancing it across their mouths. Thus capacious jaws are obviously
an advantage in retrievers.
The French gamekeepers, many of whom are capital hands at making a
retriever (excepting that they do not teach the "down charge"), stuff a
hare or rabbit skin with straw, and when the dog has learned to fetch
it with eagerness, they progressively increase its weight by burying
larger and larger pieces of wood in the middle of the straw: and to
add to the difficulty of carrying it, they often throw it to the other
side of a hedge or thick copse. If the dog shows any tendency to a hard
mouth they mix thorns with the straw.
[Page Header: TAUGHT TO "FETCH."]
109. I ought to have mentioned sooner, that you should commence
teaching a puppy to "fetch," by shaking your glove (or anything soft)
at him, and encouraging him to seize and drag it from you. Then throw
it a yard or two off, gradually increasing the distance, and the moment
he delivers it to you, give him something palatable. It is easier
to teach a dog to retrieve as a puppy than when he is older. From
teething his gums are in a state of slight irritation, and it gives
him pleasure to employ his teeth and gums. Should you, contrary to
every reasonable expectation, from his having no inclination to romp
or play with the glove, not be able to persuade him to pick it up, put
it between his teeth,--force him to grasp it by tightly pressing his
jaws together, speaking all the while impressively to him,--scold
him if he is obstinate and refuses to take hold of the glove. After a
little time retire a few paces, keeping one hand under his mouth (to
prevent his dropping the glove), while you lead or drag him with the
other. When you halt, be sure not to take the glove immediately from
him,--oblige him to continue holding it for at least a minute, (lest
he should learn to relinquish his grip too soon) before you make him
yield at the command "give;" then bestow a reward. Should he drop it
before he is ordered to deliver it, replace it in his mouth, and again
retreat some steps before ordering him to "give." He will soon follow
with it at your heels. If you have sufficient perseverance you can
thus make him earn all his daily food. Hunger will soon perfect him
in the lesson. Observe that there are four distinct stages in this
trick of carrying,--the first, making the dog grasp and retain,--the
second, inducing him to bring, following at your heels,--the third,
teaching him not to quit his hold when you stop,--the fourth, getting
him to deliver into your hands on your order. The great advantage of
a sporting dog's acquiring this trick, is, that it accustoms him to
deliver into your _hands_; and it often happens that you must thus
teach a dog to "carry" as a preparative to teaching him to "fetch." It
certainly will be judicious in you to do so, if the dog is a lively,
riotous animal; for the act of carrying the glove (or stick, &c.)
quietly at your heels will sober him, and make him less likely to run
off with it instead of delivering it when you are teaching him to
fetch. As soon as he brings the glove tolerably well, try him with
a short stick. You will wish him not to seize the end of it, lest
he should learn to "drag" instead of to "carry." Therefore fix pegs
or wires into holes drilled at right angles to each other at the
extremities of the stick. He will then only grasp it near the middle.
[Page Header: TAUGHT TO "CARRY."]
110. On one occasion I had a brace of setters to instruct, which had
come to me perfectly untaught, at far too advanced an age to make
their education an easy task; they had also been harshly treated, and
were consequently shy and timid. This obliged me to proceed with much
caution and gentleness. I soon won their confidence, I may say, their
affections; but I could not persuade them to play with my glove, nor to
lift anything I threw before them. I was hesitating how to act, when
I saw one of them find an old dry bone and bear it off in triumph. I
encouraged him in carrying it,--threw it several times for him, and
when he was tired of the fun, I brought the old bone home as a valuable
prize. Next day I tied a string to it,--I frequently chucked it to a
short distance, and when the dog had seized it I dragged it towards
me, _generally turning my back to the dog_. As soon as I regained it,
I made him attach a value to its being in my hands, by employing it
as a plate on which to offer him some delicacy. In a few days I could
dispense with the string, and I soon ventured to substitute for the
bone the string rolled up as a ball; afterwards I employed a stick.
Ultimately the dog fetched very promptly. His companion also took up
the trick from the force of good example. (See note to 34.)
111. I have dwelt thus long on "carrying" and "fetching," because they
are frequently taught so injudiciously, that the result is a complete
failure.
[Page Header: LAND RETRIEVER.]
112. This drill should be further extended if a
REGULAR LAND RETRIEVER
be your pupil. Throw dead birds of any kind for him to bring (of course
one at a time), being on the alert to check him whenever he grips them
too severely. If he persists in disfiguring them, pass a few blunted
knitting needles through them at right angles to one another. When he
fetches with a tender mouth, you will be able to follow up this method
of training still further by letting him "road" (or "foot," as it is
often termed) a rabbit in high stubble, one (or both, if a strong buck)
of whose hind-legs you will have previously bandaged in the manner
described in 60. Be careful not to let him see you turn it out, lest he
watch your proceedings and endeavour to "hunt by eye." Indeed, it might
be better to employ another person to turn it out. Keep clear of woods
for some time:--the cross scents would puzzle him. If by any chance you
have a winged pheasant or partridge, let him retrieve it. You will not,
I presume, at the commencement select a morning when there is a dry
cold wind from the north-east, but probably you will wish to conclude
his initiatory lessons on days which you judge to possess least scent.
The more he has been practised as described in 43, the better will
he work; for he cannot keep his nose too perseveringly close to the
ground. With reference to the instructions in that paragraph I will
here remark, that before you let the dog stoop to hunt, you should
have placed him by signal (35) near the spot from which you had begun
dragging the bread. In paragraph 277 an instance is given of the manner
in which a dog who retrieves should be put upon a scent; and why that
mode is adopted is explained in 271.
113. It is quite astonishing how well an old dog that retrieves
knows when a bird is struck. He instantly detects any hesitation or
uncertainty of movement, and for a length of time will watch its flight
with the utmost eagerness, and, steadily keeping his eye on it, will,
as surely as yourself, mark its fall. To induce a young dog to become
thus observant, always let him perceive that _you_ watch a wounded bird
with great eagerness; his imitative instinct will soon lead him to do
the same. This faculty of observation is particularly serviceable in a
water retriever. It enables him to swim direct to the crippled bird,
and, besides the saving of time, the less he is in the water in severe
weather, the less likely is he to suffer from rheumatism.
114. As an initiatory lesson in making him observant of the flight
and fall of birds, place a few pigeons (or other birds) during his
absence, each in a hole covered with a tile. Afterwards come upon
these spots apparently unexpectedly, and, kicking away the tiles, (or,
what is better, dragging them off by a previously adjusted string,)
shoot the birds for him to bring; it being clearly understood that he
has been previously tutored into having no dread of the gun. As he
will have been taught to search where bidden (IV. to VIII. of 141),
nothing now remains but to take him out on a regular campaign, when the
fascinating scent of game will infallibly make him search (I do not say
deliver) with great eagerness. When once he then touches upon a scent,
leave him entirely to himself,--not a word, not a sign. Possibly his
nose may not be able to follow the bird, but it is certain that yours
cannot. Occasionally you may be able to help an old retriever (544),
but rarely, if ever, a young one. Your interference, nay, probably your
mere presence, would so excite him as to make him overrun the scent.
Remain, therefore, quietly where you are, until he rejoins you.
[Page Header: WATCHES FLIGHT OF BIRDS.]
115. When we see a winged pheasant racing off, most of us are too apt
to assist a young dog, forgetting that we thereby teach him, instead of
devoting his whole attention to work out the scent, to turn to us for
aid on occasions when it may be impossible to give it. When a dog is
hunting _for_ birds, he should frequently look to the gun for signals,
but when he is _on_ them, he should trust to nothing but his own
scenting faculties.
116. If, from a judicious education, a retriever pup has had a delight
in "fetching" rapidly, it is not likely he will loiter on the way to
mouth his birds; but the fatigue of carrying a hare a considerable
distance may, perhaps, induce a young dog to drop it in order to
take a moment's rest. There is a risk that when doing so he may be
tempted to lick the blood, and, finding it palatable, be led to maul
the carcase. You see, therefore, the judiciousness of employing every
means in your power to ensure his feeling anxious to deliver _quickly_,
and I know not what plan will answer better,--though it sounds sadly
unsentimental,--than to have some pieces of hard boiled liver[18] at
hand to bestow upon him the moment he surrenders his game, until he
is thoroughly confirmed in an expeditious delivery. Never give him
a piece, however diligently he may have searched, unless he succeed
in bringing. When you leave off these rewards do so gradually. The
invariable bestowal of such dainties during, at least, the retriever's
first season, will prevent his ever dropping a bird on hearing the
report of a gun (as many do), in order to search for the later killed
game.
[Page Header: BIT FOR BLOOD-SUCKER.]
117. Should a young retriever evince any wish to assist the cook
by plucking out the feathers of a bird; or from natural vice or
mismanagement before he came into your possession,[19] show any
predisposition to taste blood, take about two feet (dependent upon the
size of the dog's head) of iron wire, say the one-eighth of an inch
in diameter, sufficiently flexible for _you_, but not for _him_, to
bend. Shape this much into the form of the letter U, supposing the
extremities to be joined by a straight line. Place the straight part in
the dog's mouth, and passing the other over his head and ears, retain
it in position by a light throat lash passed through a turn in the
wire, as here roughly represented.
The flexibility of the wire will enable you to adjust it with ease to
the shape of his head. When in the kennel he ought to be occasionally
thus bitted, that he may not fret when he is first hunted with it. It
will not injure his teeth or much annoy him, if it lies on his grinders
a little behind the tushes.
[Illustration]
118. Sometimes a retriever, notwithstanding every encouragement,
will not pursue a winged bird with sufficient rapidity. In this case
associate him for a few days with a quicker dog, whose example will to
a certainty animate him and increase his pace. It is true that when
he is striving to hit off a scent he cannot work too patiently and
perseveringly; but, on the other hand, the moment he is satisfied he
is on it, he cannot follow too rapidly. A winged bird when closely
pressed, seems, through nervousness, to emit an increasing stream of
scent; therefore, though it may sound paradoxical, the retriever's
accelerated pace then makes him (his nose being close to the ground)
the less likely to overrun it; and the faster he pursues the less
ground must he disturb, for the shorter will be the chase.
[Page Header: THE "DOWN CHARGE."]
119. Retrievers are generally taught to rush in, the instant a bird
falls. This plan, like most other things, has its advocates and its
opponents. I confess to being one of the latter, for I cannot believe
that in the long run it is the best way to fill the bag. I think it
certain that more game is lost by birds being flushed while the guns
are unloaded,[20] than could be lost from the scent cooling during
the short period the dog remains at the "down charge." Unquestionably
some retrievers have so good a nose, that the delay would not lead
to their missing any wounded game, however slightly struck (123);
and the delay has this great advantage, that it helps to keep the
retriever under proper subjection, and diminishes his anxiety to
rush to every part of the line where a gun may be fired, instead of
remaining quietly at his master's heels until signaled to take up the
scent. Moreover, a retriever, by neglecting the "down charge," sets an
example to the pointers or setters who may be his companions, which
it is always more or less difficult to prevent the dogs, if young,
from following. But I once shot over a retriever which I could hardly
wish not to have "run on shot." On a bird being hit he started off
with the greatest impetuosity, kept his eye immoveably fixed on its
flight, and possessed such speed, that a winged bird scarcely touched
the ground ere it was pinned. He would, too, often seize a slightly
injured hare before it had acquired its best pace. The pursuit so soon
terminated, that possibly less game escaped being fired at, than if the
retriever had not stirred until the guns were reloaded. On a miss he
was never allowed--indeed appeared little inclined--to quit "heel." Of
course a trainer's trouble is decreased by not breaking to the "down
charge," which may induce some to recommend the plan; though it is to
be observed, that this class of dogs is more easily than any other
perfected in it, because the breaker nearly always possesses the power
of treading upon or seizing the checkcord the instant a bird is sprung.
120. The nature of your shooting will much influence you in deciding
which of the two methods to adopt; but should you select the one which
the generality of good sportsmen consider to be most according to
rule, and to possess the greatest beauty, viz., the "down charge,"
rather lose any bird, however valuable, so long as your retriever
remains young, than put him on the "foot" a second before you have
reloaded. Undoubtedly it ought to be taught to every dog broken for
sale, as the purchaser can always dispense with it should he judge it
unnecessary:--it can soon be untaught. It is clear that not "quitting
heel" until ordered, is tantamount to the regular "down charge," but
I think the last is the easiest to enforce constantly. It is the more
decided step.
[Page Header: MR. K----G'S "BEN."]
121. Mr. K----g (mentioned in 231) had a famous retriever whose build,
close curly hair, and aquatic propensities, showed his close affinity
to the water spaniel, though doubtless there was some strain of the
Landsman. He retrieved with singular zeal and pertinacity. Indeed his
superiority over all competitors in his neighbourhood, was so generally
admitted, that his master was hardly ever asked to shoot at any place,
without a special invitation being sent to "Ben." When beating a cover,
there was a constant call for "Ben." No merely winged pheasant fell to
the ground, and no hare went off wounded but there was heard, "Ben,
Ben." On one occasion, when K----g was posted at the extremity of the
line, the dog was called away so often that his master got annoyed,
and declared that the animal should attend to no one but himself. Soon
there was a double shot, and, of course, the usual vociferations for
"Ben," but he was ordered to keep close. Louder and louder were the
cries for "Ben," but all in vain,--he obediently followed only his
master's orders. At length when the cover was beaten through, K----g
inquired into the cause of the hubbub. Young B----k told him, in no
kind humour, that his churlishness in retaining the dog had lost them a
fine hare. "If," said K----g, "you are certain you wounded it, and can
put me on the exact spot where it was when you fired, I will bet you £5
that 'Ben' shall find her." B----k observed that he knew perfectly the
precise place, having carefully marked it with a stick, but added, that
he much doubted the possibility of the dog's picking up the scent, as
more than half an hour had since elapsed. K----g, however, stuck to his
offer. They went back and found some pile, which proved that the hare
had been struck. The dog was put on the trail. He at once took it, but
was so long away, (perhaps twenty minutes,) that they thought it best
to search for him. They found him almost immediately, lying down with
the hare alongside of him. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth, and
he showed other symptoms of great distress. Evidently he had brought
the hare from a considerable distance.
[Page Header: BEN'S REFLECTIONS.]
122. "Ben" had numerous excellent qualities, but his greatest admirers,
and few dogs had so many, were obliged to admit, that he was of a
quarrelsome, pugnacious disposition. It unluckily happened that he had
taken a great dislike to a large cubbish young retriever belonging to
the aforesaid Mr. B----k, who often shot with K----g; and I am sorry to
say none of "Ben's" prejudices were removed by the kindly fellowship
and good feeling usually engendered by association in field-sports.
The day's work generally commenced by "Ben's" making a rush at his big
awkward companion, and overturning him. After this feat, upon which
he evidently greatly plumed himself, he would proceed to business. It
happened that one of the sportsmen once knocked over a pheasant which
fell outside the hedge surrounding the copse they were beating. It
proved to be a runner; "Ben," however, soon got hold of it, and was
carrying it to his master in the cover, when up came the other dog
wishing to assist. "Ben's" anger was roused,--he was anxious to punish
such intrusive interference--but how to manage it was the question,
for if he put down the winged bird it would run into the wood, where
there might be much trouble in recovering it. Quick as thought, off
ran "Ben" to the middle of the large ploughed field,--there he dropped
the bird,--then dashed at his lumbering rival, quickly gave him a
thrashing, and afterwards started in pursuit of the pheasant, which
he managed to overtake before it regained the copse. If that was not
reflection it was something very like it.
123. One more anecdote of poor "Ben." I say "poor," because he died
prematurely from a swelling under the throat which might, in all
probability, have been cured, had a long seton been run through it,
or rather under the adjacent skin,--a mode of treatment attended with
the happiest results in the case of another dog attacked in a similar
manner in the same kennel. "Ben" and an old setter were K----g's only
canine attendants when he was once pheasant shooting with a friend on
some steep banks. K----g was at the bottom, his friend on the top. A
cock-pheasant was sprung and winged by the latter. The bird not being
immediately found, there was the usual cry for "Ben." "Go along," said
K----g. Away went the dog, who soon took up the scent and dashed off,
but had not gone many yards before he started a hare; K----g had soon
an opening to fire, and wounded it. "Ben" pursued it, urged on by his
master, who felt sure the dog would be able to retrieve the pheasant
afterwards. The hare was viewed scrambling up the bank. "Ben" soon
appeared in sight and caught it. K----g's friend much abused poor
"Ben" for quitting one scent for another. "Do not put yourself out of
humour," said K----g; "you don't know the dog,--wait till he comes
back, and if he does not then get the bird, blame me." Having allowed
"Ben" a little breathing time, K----g took him to the place where the
bird fell. The dog quickly hit off the scent, K----g, now perfectly
satisfied that all was right, made his friend sit down. In little more
than a quarter of an hour "Ben" came back with the bird alive in his
mouth, it having no other wound that could be perceived than on the
pinion of one wing.
124. With such a nose as "Ben's" could there have been any harm in his
being taught to "down charge," and might there not have been much good
(119)? You see that owing to his having put up the hare while K----g's
friend was loading, it might have escaped, had it, as is usually the
case, at once taken to the hills.
125. Large retrievers are less apt to mouth their game than small
ones: but very heavy dogs are not desirable, for they soon tire. And
yet a certain medium is necessary, for they ought to have sufficient
strength to carry a hare with ease through a thicket, when balanced
in their jaws, and be able to jump a fence with her. They should run
mute. And they should be thick-coated: unless they are so,--I do not
say long-coated,--they cannot be expected to dash into close cover, or
plunge into water after a duck or snipe when the thermometer is near
zero.
[Page Header: THE TRUE NEWFOUNDLAND.]
126. From education there are good retrievers of many breeds, but it
is usually allowed that, as a general rule, the best land retrievers
are bred from a cross between the setter and the Newfoundland,--or
the strong spaniel and the Newfoundland. I do not mean the heavy
Labrador, whose weight and bulk is valued because it adds to his power
of draught, nor the Newfoundland, increased in size at Halifax and
St. John's to suit the taste of the English purchaser,--but the far
slighter dog reared by the settlers on the coast,--a dog that is quite
as fond of water as of land, and which in almost the severest part of
a North American winter will remain on the edge of a rock for hours
together, watching intently for anything the passing waves may carry
near him. Such a dog is highly prized. Without his aid the farmer would
secure but few of the many wild ducks he shoots at certain seasons of
the year. The patience with which he waits for a shot on the top of a
high cliff (until the numerous flock sail leisurely underneath) would
be fruitless, did not his noble dog fearlessly plunge in from the
greatest height, and successfully bring the slain to shore.
127. Probably a cross from the heavy, large-headed setter, who, though
so wanting in pace, has an exquisite nose; and the true Newfoundland,
makes the best retriever. Nose is the first desideratum. A breaker may
doubt which of his pointers or setters possesses the greatest olfactory
powers, but a short trial tells him which of his retrievers has the
finest nose.
128. Making a first-rate retriever is a work of time, but his being
_thoroughly_ grounded in the required initiatory lessons facilitates
matters surprisingly. Indeed after having been taught the "drop" (23,
25, 26)--to "fetch" (107 to 109)--and "seek dead" in the precise
direction he is ordered (XI. of 141), almost any kind of dog can be
made to retrieve. The better his nose is, the better of course he
will retrieve. Sagacity, good temper, quickness of comprehension, a
teachable disposition, and all cultivated qualities, are almost as
visibly transmitted to offspring as shape and action; therefore the
stronger a dog's hereditary instincts lead him to retrieve, the less
will be the instructor's trouble; and the more obedient he is made to
the signals of the hand, the more readily will he be put upon a scent.
Dogs that are by nature quick rangers do not take instinctively to
retrieving. They have not naturally sufficient patience to work out a
feeble scent. They are apt to overrun it. A really good retriever will
pursue a wounded bird or hare as accurately as a bloodhound will a deer
or man; and if he is put on a false scent, I mean a scent of uninjured
flick or feather, he will not follow it beyond a few steps:--experience
will have shown him the inutility of so doing. (545.)
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129. Avail yourself of the first opportunity to make a young retriever
lift a woodcock, lest in after life, from its novel scent, he decline
touching it, as many dogs have done to the great annoyance of their
masters. Ditto, with the delicate landrail.
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130. The directions given about "fetching," led me to talk of
retrievers; and having touched upon the subject, I thought it right not
to quit it, until I had offered the best advice in my power. I have
but one more recommendation to add before I return to your setter (or
pointer) pup: carefully guard a young retriever (indeed any dog bred
for the gun) from being ever allowed to join in a rat-hunt. Rat-hunting
would tend to destroy his tenderness of mouth, nay possibly make him
mangle his game. But this is not all. It has often gradually led good
dogs to decline lifting hares or rabbits, apparently regarding them
more in the light of vermin than of game. Some dogs, however, that are
not bad retrievers, are capital ratters, but they are exceptions to the
general rule. Indeed, you should never permit your dog to retrieve any
kind of ground or winged vermin. If the creature were only wounded it
might turn upon him. He in self-defence would give it a grip, and he
might thus be led to follow the practice on less pardonable occasions.
Remember, that a winged bittern or heron might peck out his eye.
CHAPTER V.
INITIATORY LESSONS OUT OF DOORS.--TRICKS.
131. Lessons in Country Walks.--132. "Instruction in quartering;"
hunted where least likely to find Game; taught while young. In note,
Bitch shot over when seven months old.--133. If unreasonably long
before taking to hunting, the remedy.--134. Utility of Initiatory
Lessons; taught without punishing.--135. Self-confidence of timid
Dogs increased.--136. The more Dogs learn, the more readily they
learn.--137. Two superior Dogs better than half-a-dozen of the
ordinary sort; Action of Dogs; their Feet; Loins; dash of Fox-hound
gives endurance; cross with Bull hunts with nose too low; Reliefs
desirable; best Dog reserved for evening.--138. Immense sums spent
in shooting, yet begrudged for superior Dogs.--139. Memorandum,
never to ride through gate with gun athwart-ship; instance of Dog's
behaving admirably the first day shown Game.--140. Proves the value of
Initiatory Lessons.--141. Summary of knowledge imparted by them.--142.
Why to signal with _right_ Hand.--143. Obedience of Shepherd's Dogs to
Signals.--144. _One_ Word only of command; dogs attend to the general
_Sound_, not to the several _Words_.--145. Names of Dogs not to end
in "O;" to be easily called; to be dissimilar.--146. "Drop" better
word of command than "Down;" use words of command least likely to
be employed by others; when purchasing a Dog, ascertain what words
he is accustomed to.--147 to 149. Ladies have no control over Dogs;
the reason.--150. They possess patience and temper: could teach any
Tricks; Dogs how taught to fag at Cricket.--151. Newfoundland carrying
off lady's Parasol for a Bun.--152. He was a Physiognomist.--153.
Method of teaching "carrying," greatly differs from method of
teaching "fetching."--154. Tricks exhibited with effect.--155 to 157.
Instanced at Tonbridge Wells.--158, 159. Instanced at Gibraltar;
Game of Draughts.--160, 161. Elephant shown off.--162. Bewilderment
of Keeper of Menagerie.--163. Ladies' Pets too pampered; Shepherd's
Collies.--164. Kindness without petting.--165, 166. Instance of bad
Habit cured by perseverance. Ladies breaking in Dogs for the gun.
In note, Whale fishing at Bermuda.--167. Dog's Affections; always
gained by first attentions; win his love, that he may exert himself
to please.--Dog sleeping on poacher's clothes.--169. Esquimaux Dogs;
Esquimaux Women.
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