Part 38 (1/2)

FIRST LESSON IN AUTUMN CONTINUED. a.s.sISTANT.

192. It is proper you should be warned that you must not always expect a dog will ”toho” the first day as readily as I have described, though most will, and some--especially pointers--even more quickly, if they have been previously well-drilled, and have been bred for several generations from parents of pure blood.

I do not say bred in and in. Breeding in and in, to a certainty, would enfeeble their intellects as surely as their const.i.tutions. In this way has many a kennel been deprived of the energy and endurance so essential in a sportsman's dog.

193. As in the present instance, it often occurs that a dog is less inclined to dash in at first than when he is more acquainted with birds.

He is suddenly arrested by the novelty of the scent, and it is not until he is fully a.s.sured from what it proceeds that he longs to rush forward and give chase. In autumnal breaking the dog gets his bird--it is killed for him--he is satisfied--and therefore he has not the same temptation to rush in as when he is shown birds in the spring.

194. If you find your dog, from excess of delight and exuberance of spirits, less under general command than from his initiatory education you had expected, and that he will not ”toho” steadily at the exact spot at which you order him, at once attach a checkcord to his collar. It will diminish his pace, and make him more cautious and obedient. The moment you next see him begin to feather, get up quickly, _but without running_, to the end of the cord, and check him with a sudden jerk, if you are satisfied that game is before him and that he ought to be pointing. If from his att.i.tude and manner you are _positive_ that there is game, drive a spike--or peg--into the ground, and tie the cord to it. I only hope the birds will remain stationary. If they do, you can give him a capital lesson by remaining patiently alongside of him and then heading him and the birds in the manner before described--178, 179.

195. As a general rule, an attendant or any companion cannot be recommended, because he would be likely to distract a young dog's attention; but an intelligent fellow who would readily obey your signals, and not presume to speak, would doubtless, with a very wild dog, be an advantageous subst.i.tute for the spike. You could then employ a longer and slighter cord than usual, and, on the man's getting hold of the end of it, be at once free to head and awe the dog. Whenever you had occasion to stand still, the man would, of course, be as immovable as yourself.

Your signals to him might be:--

The gun held up,--”Get near the dog.”

Your fist clenched,--”Seize the rope.”

Your fist shaken,--”Jerk the cord.”

Your hand spread open,--”Let go the cord.”

Or any signs you pleased, so that you understood each other without the necessity of speaking.

196. Should it ever be your misfortune to have to correct in a dog evil habits caused by past mismanagement, such an attendant, if an active, observant fellow, could give you valuable a.s.sistance, for he sometimes would be able to seize the cord immediately the dog began ”feathering,”

and generally would have hold of it before you could have occasion to fire. But the fault most difficult to cure in an old dog is a bad habit of ranging. If, as a youngster, he has been permitted to beat as his fancy dictated, and _has not been instructed in looking to the gun for orders_, you will have great, very great difficulty in reclaiming him. Probably he will have adopted a habit of running for a considerable distance up wind, his experience having shown him that it is one way of finding birds, but not having taught him that to seek for them by crossing the wind would be a better method.

The great advantage of teaching a dog to point the instant he is sensible of the presence of birds--175--and of not creeping a foot further until he is directed by you, is particularly apparent when birds are wild. While he remains steady, the direction of his nose will lead you to give a tolerable guess as to their ”whereabouts,” and you and your companion can keep quite wide of the dog--one on each side,--and so approach the birds from both flanks. They, meanwhile, finding themselves thus intercepted in three directions, will probably lie so close as to afford a fair shot to at least one gun, for they will not fail to see the dog and be awed by his presence. Raise your feet well off the ground to avoid making a noise.

Walk quickly, but with no unnecessary flourish, of arms or gun.

197. You must not, however, too often try to work round and head your pupil when he is pointing. Judgment is required to know when to do it with advantage. If the birds were running, you would completely throw him out, and greatly puzzle and discourage him, for they probably would then rise out of shot, behind you if they were feeding up wind,--behind him if they were feeding down wind. Far more frequently make him work out the scent by his own sagacity and nose, and lead you up to the birds, every moment bristling more and more, at a pace entirely controlled and regulated by your signals. These being given with your right hand will be more apparent to him if you place yourself on his left side. It is in this manner that you give him a lesson which will _hereafter_ greatly aid him in recovering slightly winged birds,--in pressing to a rise the slow-winged, but nimble-heeled rail,--or in minutely following the devious mazes through which an old c.o.c.k pheasant, or yet more, an old c.o.c.k grouse, may endeavor to mislead him. And yet this lesson should not be given before he is tolerably confirmed at his point, lest he should push too fast on the scent; and make a rush more like the dash of a c.o.c.ker than the sober, convenient ”road” of a setter. As his experience increases he will thus acquire the valuable knowledge of the position of his game--he will lead you to the centre of a covey, or what is of greater consequence--as grouse spread--to the centre of a pack,--instead of allowing himself to be attracted to a flank by some truant from the main body,--and thus get you a good double shot, and enable you effectually to separate the birds--he will, moreover, become watchful, and sensible of his distance from game--a knowledge all important, and which, be it remarked, he never could gain in turnips, or potatoes, or any thick cover.

198. There is another and yet stronger reason why you should not consider it a rule always to head your young dog at his point. You may--although at first it seems an odd caution to give--make him too stanch. This, to be sure, signifies less with partridges than with most birds; but if you have ever seen your dog come to a fixed point, and there, in spite of all your efforts, remain provokingly immovable--plainly telling you of the vicinity of birds, but that you must find them out for yourself--your admiration of his steadiness has, I think, by no means reconciled you to the embarra.s.sing position in which it has placed you. I have often witnessed this vexatious display of stanchness, although the owner cheered on the dog in a tone loud enough to alarm birds two fields off.

199. A keeper will sometimes praise his dog for such stanchness; but it is a great fault, induced probably by over-severity for former rashness,--and the more difficult to be cured, if the animal is a setter, from the crouching position he often naturally a.s.sumes when pointing.

200. I here desire to warn you against the too common error of fancying that a young dog is making false points if birds do not get up directly.

They may have taken leg-bail, and thus have puzzled him in his inexperience. Dogs not cowed by punishment will, after a little hunting, seldom make false points, while they are unfatigued. To a certainty they will not draw upon a false point for any distance: therefore, never punish what is solely occasioned by over-caution. Your doing so would but increase the evil. Self-confidence and experience are the only cures for a fault that would be a virtue if not carried to excess. Even a good dog will occasionally make a point at larks from over-caution when birds are wild; but see the first note to 144.

201. After you have shot over a dog a short time, his manner and att.i.tude will enable you to guess pretty accurately whether birds are really before him; whether they are far off or near; and whether or not they are on the move. Generally speaking, the higher he carries his head, and the less he stiffens his stern, the further off are the birds. If he begins to look nervous, and become fidgety, you will seldom be wrong in fancying they are on the run. But various, and at times most curious, are the methods that dogs will adopt, _apparently_ with the wish to show you where the birds are, and _certainly_ with the desire to get you a shot.

CHAPTER XI.

FIRST LESSON IN AUTUMN CONCLUDED. BAR. LEG STRAP. SPIKE COLLAR.

202. After a few trials you will, I hope, be able to dispense with the peg recommended in 194, and soon after with the checkcord also. But if your dog possesses unusually high spirits, or if he travels over the ground at a pace which obviously precludes his making a proper use of his nose, it may be advisable to fasten to his collar a bar, something like a diminutive splinter-bar, that it may, by occasional knocking against his s.h.i.+ns, feelingly admonish him to lessen his stride. If he gets it between his legs and thus finds it no annoyance, attach it to both sides of his collar from points near the extremities. One of his forelegs might occasionally be pa.s.sed through the collar; but this plan is not so good as the other; nor as the strap on the hind leg--56. These means--to be discarded, however, as soon as obedience is established--are far better than the _temporary_ ascendancy which some breakers establish by low diet and excessive work, which would only weaken his spirits and his bodily powers, without eradicating his self will, or improving his intellect. You want to force him, when he is in the highest health and vigor, to learn by experience the advantage of letting his nose dwell longer on a feeble scent.

203. I have made no mention of the spiked collar, because it is a brutal instrument, which none but the most ignorant or unthinking would employ.

It is a leather collar, into which nails, much longer than the thickness of the collar, have been driven, with their points projecting inwards. The French spike-collar is nearly as severe. It is formed of a series of wooden b.a.l.l.s,--larger than marbles,--linked--about two and a half inches apart--into a chain by stiff wires bent into the form of hooks. These sharp pointed hooks punish cruelly when the checkcord is jerked.

204. We have, however, a more modern description of collar, which is far less inhuman than either of those I have mentioned, but still I cannot recommend its adoption, unless in extreme cases; for though not so severely, it, likewise, punishes the unfortunate dog, more or less, by the strain of the checkcord he drags along the ground: and it ought to be the great object of a good breaker as little as is possible to fret or worry his pupil, that all his ideas may be engaged in an anxious wish to wind birds. On a leather strap, which has a ring at one end, four wooden b.a.l.l.s--of about two inches in diameter--are threaded like beads, at intervals from each other and the ring, say, of two inches--the exact distance being dependent on the size of the dog's throat. Into each of the b.a.l.l.s sundry short pieces of thickish wire are driven, leaving about one-sixth of an inch beyond the surface. The other end of the strap--to which the checkcord is attached--is pa.s.sed through the ring. This ring being of somewhat less diameter than the b.a.l.l.s, it is clear, however severely the breaker may pull, he cannot compress the dog's throat beyond a certain point. The effect of the short spikes is rather to crumple than penetrate the skin.