on 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.

92. When your dog has picked up what you desired, endeavor 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. 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.

93. 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.

94. 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. 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 hi