[29] 250 to 300 dollars. This would be by no means an extraordinary price here, however extraordinary it might be to see dogs so qualified.—H.W.H.
[30] It is admitted, however, that they are often difficult animals to manage; for the least hastiness on the part of the instructor may create a distrust that he will find it very hard to remove.
CHAPTER IX.
FIRST LESSON IN AUTUMN CONTINUED. "POINT" NOT RELINQUISHED FOR "DOWN CHARGE."
[174]. To proceed, however, with our imaginary September day's work. I will suppose that your young dog has got upon birds, and that from his boldness and keenness in hunting you need not let him run riot on a haunt, as you were recommended (in [111]) when you wished to give courage and animation to a timid dog. You must expect that his eagerness and delight will make him run in and flush them, even though you should have called out "Toho" when first you perceived his stern begin feathering, and thence judged that his olfactory nerves were rejoicing in the luxurious taint of game. Hollo out "Drop" most energetically. If he does not immediately lie down, crack your whip loudly to command greater attention. When you have succeeded in making him lie down, approach him quietly: be not angry with him, but yet be stern in manner. Grasping the skin of his neck, or, what is better, putting your hand within his collar—for he ought to wear a light one—quietly drag him to the precise spot where you think he was first aware of the scent of the birds. There make him stand—if stand he will, instead of timidly crouching—with his head directed towards the place from which the birds took wing, and by frequently repeating the word "Toho," endeavor to make him understand that he ought to have pointed at that identical spot. Do not confuse him by even threatening to beat him. The chances are twenty to one that he is anxious to please you, but does not yet know what you wish. I assume also that he is attached to you, and his affection, from constantly inducing him to exert himself to give satisfaction, will greatly develope his observation and intelligence.
[175]. Consider it a golden rule never to be departed from—for I must again impress upon you a matter of such importance—invariably to drag a dog who has put up birds incautiously, or wilfully drawn too near them, and so sprung them—or, what is quite as bad,—though young sportsmen will not sufficiently think of it,—endangered their rising out of shot—to the exact spot at which you judge he ought to have pointed at first, and awaited your instructions.
[176]. Think for one moment what could be the use of chiding—or beating, as I have seen some ***** do—the poor animal at the spot where he flushed the birds. You are not displeased with him (or ought not to be) because the birds took wing,—for if they had remained stationary until he was within a yard of them, his fault would have been the same: nor are you angry with him because he did not catch them—which interpretation he might, as naturally as any other, put upon your rating him at the spot where he flushed them—you are displeased with him for not having pointed at them steadily the moment he became sensible of their presence. This is what you wish him to understand, and this you can only teach him by dragging him, as has been so often said, to the spot at which he ought to have "toho-ed" them. Your object is to give the young dog, by instruction, the caution that most old dogs have acquired by experience. Doubtless experience would in time convince him of the necessity of this caution; but you wish to save time,—to anticipate that experience; and by a judicious education impart to him knowledge which it would take him years to acquire otherwise. What a dog gains by experience is not what you teach him, but what he teaches himself.
[177]. Many carelessly-taught dogs will, on first recognising a scent, make a momentary point, and then slowly crawl on until they get within a few yards of the game—if it be sufficiently complaisant to allow of such a near approach—and there "set" as steady as a rock by the hour together. Supposing, however, that the birds are in an unfriendly, distant mood, and not willing to remain on these neighborly terms, "your game is up," both literally and metaphorically,—you have no chance of getting a shot. This is a common fault among dogs hastily broken in the spring.
[178]. But to resume our supposed lesson. You must not be in a hurry—keep your dog for some time—for a long time, where he should have pointed. You may even sit down alongside him. Be patient; you have not come out so much to shoot, as to break in your dog. When at length you give him the wave of the hand to hie him on to hunt, you must not part as enemies, though I do not say he is to be caressed. He has committed a fault, and he is to be made sensible of it by your altered manner.