eliver--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 (296), 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.

98. 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.

99. 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
succeeds 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.

100. 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 _yo