up 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."

28. If your pupil is 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."

29. 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. 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.[7] 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.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] But from his very infancy you ought no