(b) To make them perfect at the down charge before you attempt to shoot over them.
(c) To make friends of them.
(d) To check faults at once, and never pass them over.
(e) If a dog shows real vice to get rid of him.
(f) To be patient, and not confound a headstrong disposition with vice, for some dogs that are troublesome to break, turn out the best.
I believe in high feeding for sporting dogs, and hard work. The fewer dogs you have and the harder you work them in reason, the better. The kennel food of our dogs is really the same as that of a pack of hounds, viz.: good Scotch oatmeal, after it has been kept for a year, horseflesh or mutton—I dislike beef—with a certain proportion of cabbage boiled up with it. Once a week I give a raw bone to each dog. No biscuits, except as rewards.
As to the best kind of retriever, we have had of all kinds, and perhaps the best after "Dinah" herself, is a cross-bred between her and an Irish water spaniel. But we do not now keep cross-bred dogs, as they are no use after the first generation, though you may often get very good ones then. We now use curly and flat-coated blacks, bred from prize strains.
The grooming of sporting dogs, especially of setters and retrievers is most important, and cleanliness, assisted by a good disinfectant, will be found after all the chief element in kennel management.
I have not said anything about the breaking of pointers and setters, because there is nothing to add to General Hutchinson's system. Patience, kindness and perseverance will lead you to success, but the patience required is often great, for it is sometimes not till the third season that a dog is really at its best. On the other hand there is much pleasure in it and some profit, and as time goes on, it becomes much easier, for the young dogs not only inherit the capacities of their parents, but learn a great deal from them in the field, especially from their mothers.
Books. The general topics concerning shooting have been so ably dealt with in several recent books, that it may be well to give a short list of those likely to be of service to the beginner. I would especially recommend