Part 32 (1/2)
24. To perfect him in the ”Down,” that difficult part of his education,--difficult, because it is unnatural,--practise it in your walks. At very uncertain, unexpected times catch his eye, having previously stealthily taken hold of the checkcord--a long, light one, or a whistle to call his attention, and then hold up your left arm. If he does not _instantly_ drop, jerk the checkcord violently, and, as before, drag him back to the exact spot where he should have crouched down. Admit of no compromise. You must have _implicit_, _unhesitating_, _instant_ obedience.
When you quit him, he must not be allowed to crawl _an inch_ after you. If he attempt it, drive a spike into the ground, and attach the end of the checkcord to it, allowing the line to be slack; then leave him quickly, and on his running after you he will be brought up with a sudden jerk. So much the better; it will slightly alarm him. As before, take him back to the precise place he quitted--do this invariably, though he may have scarcely moved. There make him again ”Drop”--always observing to jerk the cord at the moment you give the command. After a few trials of this tethering, say less than a dozen, he will be certain to lie down steadily, until you give the proper order or a signal--20--let you run away, or do what you may to excite him to move. One great advantage of frequently repeating this lesson, and thus teaching it _thoroughly_, is that your dog will hereafter always feel, more or less, in subjection whenever the cord is fastened to his collar. He must be brought to instantly obey the signal, even at the extreme limit of his beat.
25. Most probably he will not at first rise when he is desired. There is no harm in that--a due sense of the inutility of non-compliance with the order of ”Drop,” and a wholesome dread of the attendant penalty, will be advantageous. Go up to him--pat him--and lead him for some paces, ”making much of him,” as they say in the cavalry. Dogs which are over-headstrong and resolute can only be brought under satisfactory command by this lesson being indelibly implanted--and I think a master before he allows the keeper to take a pup into the field to show him game, should insist upon having ocular demonstration that he is perfect in the ”Drop.”
26. When he is well confirmed in this all-important lesson, obeying implicitly, yet cheerfully, you may, whilst he is lying down--in order to teach him the ”down charge”--go through the motions of loading, on no account permitting him to stir until you give him the forward signal, or say, ”On.” After a few times you may fire off a copper cap, and then a little powder, but be very careful not to alarm him. Until your dog is quite reconciled to the report of a gun, never take him up to any one who may be firing. I have, however, known of puppies being familiarized to the sound, by being at first kept at a considerable distance from the party firing, and then gradually and by slow degrees brought nearer. This can easily be managed at a rifle or pigeon match, and the companions.h.i.+p of a made-dog would much expedite matters. Whenever, in the lessons, your young dog has behaved steadily and well, give him a reward. Do not throw it to him: let him take it from your hands. It will a.s.sist in making him tender-mouthed, and in attaching him to you.
27. In some cavalry regiments in India, the feeding-time is denoted by the firing off of a pistol. This soon changes a young horse's first dread of the report into eager, joyous expectation. You might, if you did not dislike the trouble, in a similar manner, soon make your pup 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 princ.i.p.al 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 not to have allowed him to be disobedient. You should have made him know--which he will do nearly intuitively--that a whip can punish him, though he ought never to have _suffered_ from it. I have heard of pups only four months old being made quite _au fait_ to the preliminary drill here recommended. This early exercise of their intelligence and observation must have benefited them.
The questionable point is the unnecessary consumption of the instructor's time.
[5] This is one reason for giving initiatory lessons in the ”Toho” before the ”Drop.” Another is that the dog may acquire the ”Toho” before he has run the chance of being cowed in learning the ”Drop.” If the latter were taught first, he might confound the ”Toho” with it.
[6] I know of a young man's reading the first edition of this book, and taking it into his head to teach his Terrier to point according to the method just recommended. He succeeded perfectly. Some Terriers have been made very useful for cover shooting.
[7] There is often such a similarity in the names of hounds, that a person cannot but be much struck, who for the first time sees them go to their meals, one by one as they are called.
CHAPTER III.
INITIATORY LESSONS CONTINUED. SPANIELS.
30. When your young dog is tolerably well advanced in the lessons which you have been advised to practise, hide a piece of bread or biscuit. Say ”Dead, dead.” Call him to you. (40.) Let him remain by you for nearly a minute or two. Then say ”Find,” or ”Seek.” Accompany him in his search. By your actions and gestures make him fancy you are yourself looking about for something, for dogs are observing, one might say, imitative, creatures.[8] Stoop and move your right hand to and fro near the ground.
Contrive that he shall come upon the bread, and reward him by permitting him to eat it.
31. After a little time--a few days I mean--he will show the greatest eagerness on your saying, at any unexpected moment, ”Dead.” He will connect the word with the idea that there is something very desirable concealed near him, and he will be all impatience to be off and find it; _but make him first come to you_--for reason, see 182.--Keep him half a minute.--Then say ”Find,” and, without your accompanying him, he will search for what you have previously hidden. Always let him be encouraged to perseverance by discovering something acceptable.
32. Unseen by him, place the rewards--one at a time--in different parts of the room,--under the rug or carpet, and more frequently on a chair, a table, or a low shelf. He will be at a loss in what part of the room to search. a.s.sist him by a motion of your arm and hand. A wave of the right arm and hand to the right, will soon show him that he is to hunt to the right, as he will find there. The corresponding wave of the left hand and arm to the left, will explain to him, that he is to make a cast to the left. The underhand bowler's swing of the right hand and arm, will show that he is to hunt in a forward direction.[9] Your occasionally throwing the delicacy--in the direction you wish him to take,--whilst waving your hand, will aid in making him comprehend the signal. You may have noticed how well, by watching the action of a boy's arm, his little cur judges towards what point to run for the expected stone.
33. When the hidden object is near you, but between you and the dog, make him come towards you to seek for it, beckoning him with your right hand.
When he is at a distance at the ”Drop,” if you are accustomed to recompense him for good behavior, you can employ this signal to make him rise and run towards you for his reward--and according to my judgment he should always join you after the ”down charge,”--184. By these means you will thus familiarize him with a very useful signal; for that signal will cause him to approach you in the field, when you have made a circuit to head him at his point--knowing that birds will then be lying somewhere between you and him--and want him to draw nearer to the birds and you, to show you exactly where they are. This some may call a superfluous refinement, but I hope _you_ will consider it a very killing accomplishment, and, being easily taught, it were a pity to neglect it.
When a Setter is employed in c.o.c.k-shooting, the advantage of using this signal is very apparent. While the dog is steadily pointing, it enables the sportsman to look for a favorable opening, and, when he has posted himself to his satisfaction, to sign to the Setter--or if out of sight to tell him--to advance and flush the bird: when, should the sportsman have selected his position with judgment, he will generally get a shot. I have seen this method very successfully adopted in America, where the forests are usually so dense that c.o.c.ks are only found on the outskirts in the underwood.
34. After a little time he will regularly look to you for directions.
Encourage him to do so; it will make him hereafter, when he is in the field, desirous of hunting under your eye, and induce him to look to you, in a similar manner, for instructions in what direction he is to search for game. Observe how a child watches its mother's eye; so will a dog watch yours, when he becomes interested in your movements, and finds that you frequently notice him.
35. Occasionally, when he approaches any of the spots where the bread lies hidden, say ”Care,” and slightly raise your right hand. He will quickly consider this word, or signal, as an intimation that he is near the object of his search.
36. Never deceive him in any of these words and signs, and never disappoint him of the expected reward. Praise and caress him for good conduct; rate him for bad. Make it a rule throughout the whole course of his education, out of doors as fully as within, to act upon this system.