t habits wholly opposed to his natural propensities. If
he has acquired the disagreeable trick of howling when shut up, put a
muzzle on him.

CONCLUSION.

311. Gentle Reader, according to the courteous phraseology of old novels,
though most probably I ought to say Brother Sportsman;--If you have had
the patience to attend me, through the preceding pages, while I have been
describing the educational course of a dog from almost his infancy, up to
maturity, I will hope that I may construe that patience into an evidence
that they have afforded you some amusement, and perhaps, some useful
instruction.

312. Though I may have failed in persuading you to undertake the
instruction of your dogs yourself, yet I trust I have shown you how they
ought to be broken in: and if you are a novice in the field, I hope I have
clearly explained to you in what manner they ought to be shot over--a
knowledge which no one can possess by intuition, and which you will find
nearly as essential to the preservation of the good qualities of
well-tutored dogs as to the education of uninformed ones.

313. I believe that all I have said is perfectly true, and, as the system
which I have described advocates kind treatment of man's most faithful
companion, and his instruction with mildness rather than severity, I
trust that you will be induced to give it a fair trial, and if you find it
successful, recommend its adoption.

314. I dare not ask for the same favor at the hands of the generality of
regular trainers--I have no right to expect such liberality. They,
naturally enough, will not readily forgive my intruding upon what they
consider exclusively their own domain,--and, above all, they will not
easily pardon my urging every sportsman to break in his own dogs. They
will, I know, endeavor to persuade their employers that the finished
education which I have described is useless, or quite unattainable,
without a great sacrifice of time; and that, therefore, the system which I
advocate is a bad one. They will wish it to be forgotten--that I advise a
gradual advance, step by step, from the A, B, C;--that accomplishments
have only been recommended _after_ the acquisition of essentials--never at
the expense of essentials; that at any moment it is in the instructor's
power to say, "I am now satisfied with the extent of my pupil's
acquirements, and have neither leisure nor inclination to teach him
more;"--and that they cannot suggest quicker means