FIRST LESSON IN AUTUMN CONTINUED. ASSISTANT.
192. It is proper you should be warned that you must not always expect a
dog will "toho" the first day as readily as I have described, though most
will, and some--especially pointers--even more quickly, if they have been
previously well-drilled, and have been bred for several generations from
parents of pure blood.
I do not say bred in and in. Breeding in and in, to a certainty, would
enfeeble their intellects as surely as their constitutions. In this way
has many a kennel been deprived of the energy and endurance so essential
in a sportsman's dog.
193. As in the present instance, it often occurs that a dog is less
inclined to dash in at first than when he is more acquainted with birds.
He is suddenly arrested by the novelty of the scent, and it is not until
he is fully assured from what it proceeds that he longs to rush forward
and give chase. In autumnal breaking the dog gets his bird--it is killed
for him--he is satisfied--and therefore he has not the same temptation to
rush in as when he is shown birds in the spring.
194. If you find your dog, from excess of delight and exuberance of
spirits, less under general command than from his initiatory education you
had expected, and that he will not "toho" steadily at the exact spot at
which you order him, at once attach a checkcord to his collar. It will
diminish his pace, and make him more cautious and obedient. The moment you
next see him begin to feather, get up quickly, _but without running_, to
the end of the cord, and check him with a sudden jerk, if you are
satisfied that game is before him and that he ought to be pointing. If
from his attitude and manner you are _positive_ that there is game, drive
a spike--or peg--into the ground, and tie the cord to it. I only hope the
birds will remain stationary. If they do, you can give him a capital
lesson by remaining patiently alongside of him and then heading him and
the birds in the manner before described--178, 179.
195. As a general rule, an attendant or any companion cannot be
recommended, because he would be likely to distract a young dog's
attention; but an intelligent fellow who would readily obey your signals,
and not presume to speak, would doubtless, with a very wild dog, be an
advantageous substitute for the spike. You could then employ a longer and
slighter cord than usual, and, on the man's getting hold of the end of it,
be at once free to head and awe the dog. Whenever you had occasion to
stand still, the man would, of course, be as immovable as yourself.
Your signals to him might be:--
The gun held up,--"Get near the dog."
Your fist clenched,--"Seize the rope."
Your fist shaken,--"Jerk the cord."
Your hand spread open,--"Let go the cord."
Or any signs you pleased, so that you understood each other without the
necessity of speaking.
196. Should it ever be your misfortune to have to correct in a dog evil
habits caused by past mismanagement, such an attendant, if an active,
observant fellow, could give you valuable assistance, for he sometimes
would be able to seize the cord immediately the dog began "feathering,"
and generally would have hold of it before you could have occasion to
fire. But the fault most difficult to cure in an old dog is a bad habit of
ranging. If, as a youngster, he has been permitted to beat as his fancy
dictated, and _has not been instructed in looking to the gun for orders_,
you will have great, very great difficulty in reclaiming him. Probably he
will have adopted a habit of running for a considerable distance up wind,
his experience having shown him that it is one way of finding birds, but
not having taught him that to seek for them by crossing the wind would be
a better method.
The great advantage of teaching a dog to point the instant he is sensible
of the presence of birds--175--and of not creeping a foot further until he
is directed by you, is particularly apparent when birds are wild. While he
remains steady, the direction of his nose will lead you to give a
tolerable guess as to their "whereabouts," and you and your companion can
keep quite wide of the dog--one on each side,--and so approach the birds
from both flanks. They, meanwhile, finding themselves thus intercepted in
three directions, will probably lie so close as to afford a fair shot to
at least one gun, for they will not fail to see the dog and be awed by his
presence. Raise your feet well off the ground to avoid making a noise.
Walk quickly, but with no unnecessary flourish, of arms or gun.
197. You must not, however, too often try to work round and head your
pupil when he is pointing. Judgment is required to know when to do it with
advantage. If the birds were running, you would completely throw him out,
and greatly puzzle and discourage him, for they probably would then rise
out of shot, behind you if they were feeding up wind,--behind him if they
were feeding down wind. Far more frequently make him work out the scent by
his own sagacity and nose, and lead you up to the birds, every moment
bristling more and more, at a pace entirely controlled and regulated by
your signals. These being given with your right hand will be more
apparent to him if you place yourself on his left side. It is in this
manner that you give him a lesson which will _hereafter_ greatly aid him
in recovering slightly winged birds,--in pressing to a rise the
slow-winged, but nimble-heeled rail,--or in minutely following the devious
mazes through which an old cock pheasant, or yet more, an old cock grouse,
may endeavor to mislead him. And yet this lesson should not be given
before he is tolerably confirmed at his point, lest he should push too
fast on the scent; and make a rush more like the dash of a cocker than the
sober, convenient "road" of a setter. As his experience increases he will
thus acquire the valuable knowledge of the position of his game--he will
lead you to the centre of a covey, or what is of greater consequence--as
grouse spread--to the centre of a pack,--instead of allowing himself to be
attracted to a flank by some truant from the main body,--and thus get you
a good double shot, and enable you effectually to separate the birds--he
will, moreover, become watchful, and sensible of his distance from game--a
knowledge all important, and which, be it remarked, he never could gain in
turnips, or potatoes, or any thick cover.
198. There is another and yet stronger reason why you should not consider
it a rule always to head your young dog at his point. You may--although at
first it seems an odd caution to give--make him too stanch. This, to be
sure, signifies less with partridges than with most birds; but if you have
ever seen your dog come to a fixed point, and there, in spite of all your
efforts, remain provokingly immovable--plainly telling you of the vicinity
of birds, but that you must find them out for yourself--your admiration of
his steadiness has, I think, by no means reconciled you to the
embarrassing position in which it has placed you. I have often witnessed
this vexatious display of stanchness, although the owner cheered on the
dog in a tone loud enough to alarm birds two fields off.
199. A keeper will sometimes praise his dog for such stanchness; but it is
a great fault, induced probably by over-severity for former rashness,--and
the more difficult to be cured, if the animal is a setter, from the
crouching position he often naturally assumes when pointing.
200. I here desire to warn you against the too common error of fancying
that a young dog is making false points if birds do not get up directly.
They may have taken leg-bail, and thus have puzzled him in his
inexperience. Dogs not cowed by punishment will, after a little hunting,
seldom make false points, while they are unfatigued. To a certainty they
will not draw upon a false point for any distance: therefore, never punish
what is solely occasioned by over-caution. Your doing so would but
increase the evil. Self-confidence and experience are the only cures for a
fault that would be a virtue if not carried to excess. Even a good dog
will occasionally make a point at larks from over-caution when birds are
wild; but see the first note to 144.
201. After you have shot over a dog a short time, his manner and attitude
will enable you to guess pretty accurately whether birds are really before
him; whether they are far off or near; and whether or not they are on the
move. Generally speaking, the higher he carries his head, and the less he
stiffens his stern, the further off are the birds. If he begins to look
nervous, and become fidgety, you will seldom be wrong in fancying they are
on the run. But various, and at times most curious, are the methods that
dogs will adopt, _apparently_ with the wish to show you where the birds
are, and _certainly_ with the desire to get you a shot.