e would go to smell at the bait after a trap had been set,
I would speak to him in a firm voice and let him know that I did not
approve of what he was doing. When making blind sets, I took the same
pains to show and give him to understand what I was doing. I would
sometimes, after giving him fair warning, let him put his foot into a
trap. I would scold him in a moderate manner and release him. Then
all the time when I was resetting the trap I would talk trap to him,
and by action and word, teach him the nature of the trap. Mr.
Trapper, please do not persuade yourself to believe that the
intelligent dog cannot understand if you go about it right.

In two weeks Pont had advanced so far in his training that I no
longer had to pay any attention to him on account of the traps and
the third day that Pont was with me he found a coon that had escaped
with a trap nearly two weeks before. My route called me up a little
draw from the main stream, and I had not gone far up this when Pont
took the trail of some animal and began working it up the side of a
hill. I stood and watched him until the trail took him to an old log,
when Pont began to snuff at a hole in the log, and he soon raised his
head and gave a long howl, as much as to say "he is here and I want
help." After running a stick in the hole I soon discovered that the
log was hollow. I took my belt axe and pounded along on the log until
I thought I was at the right point and then chopped a hole in the
log. As good luck would have it, I made the opening right on the
coon, and almost the first thing I saw on looking into the log was
the trap. Pont soon had the coon out, and when I saw that it was the
coon that had escaped with our trap, I gave Pont praise for what he
had done, petting him and telling him of his good deed, and he seemed
to understand it all.

Not long after this Am came into camp at night and reported that a
fox had broken the chain on a certain trap and gone off with the
trap, saying that he would take Pont in the morning and see if he
could find the fox. In the morning when we were ready to go Am tried
to have Pont follow him but it was no go, Pont would not go with him.
Then Am put a rope onto him and tried to lead him but Pont would sulk
and would not be led. Then Am lost his temper and wanted to break
Pont's neck again. I said that I did not like to have Pont abused and
that I would go along with him. When we came to the place where the
fox had escaped w