(perhaps I ought to say cautious), as nearly to make up for their general want of constitution and powers of endurance:—it is satisfactory to think that all these lessons can be inculcated without in the slightest degree depressing his spirit. On the contrary, increasing observation and intelligence will gradually banish his shyness and distrust of his own powers; for he will be sensible that he is becoming more and more capable of comprehending your wishes, and therefore less likely to err and be punished (347).
FURTHER KNOWLEDGE READILY GAINED.
136. I fear you may imagine that I am attributing too much reasoning power to him. You would not think so if you had broken in two or three dogs. What makes dog-teaching, if not very attractive, at least not laborious, is the fact that the more you impart to a dog, the more readily will he gain further knowledge. After teaching a poodle or a terrier a few tricks, you will be surprised to see with what increasing facility he will acquire each successive accomplishment. It is this circumstance which, I think, should induce you not to regard as chimerical the perfection of which I purpose to speak by-and-by, under the head of “refinements in breaking.” Indeed I only adopt this distinction in deference to what I cannot but consider popular prejudice; for I well know many will regard such accomplishments as altogether superfluous. It is sad to think that an art which might easily be made much more perfect, is allowed, almost by universal sufferance, to stop short just at the point where excellence is within grasp.
ESQUIMAUX DOGS.
137. Far more dogs would be well broken, if men would but keep half the number they usually possess. The owner of many dogs cannot shoot often enough over them to give them great experience.
Is it that some youngsters are fond of the éclat of a large kennel? That can hardly be, or ought not to be; for clearly it would be more sportsmanlike to pride themselves upon the rare qualities of a few highly-trained animals. A lover of the trigger might be excused an occasional boast, if made with an approach to truth, that he shot over the best broken dogs in the county. I say seriously, that if I had a considerable bet upon the quantity of game that I was to kill in a season, I had much rather possess two perfectly educated dogs than half-a-dozen commonly called broken;—and even if I gave fifty or sixty guineas for the brace, it would be more economical than to purchase twice as many of the everyday sort; for, to say nothing of the tax-gatherer, consider what would be the saving at the end of a very few years between the keep of two, and of four or five dogs. I suspect the difference would soon repay the large price paid for the highly-educated favourites. Oh! yes. I anticipate what you would say; but, keen sportsman as I am, I own I have not time or inclination to shoot oftener than three or four out of the six working-days of the week,—and I suspect not many men have, except just at the beginning of a season. Moreover, in reference to what I fancy are your thoughts respecting the insufficiency of two, I must premise that they are to be good-hearted dogs,—good feeders after work,—probably of the sort whose exuberant animal spirits, untiring energies, and rapture at inhaling the exciting perfume of game, have led them to run riot in many a lawless chase; who have consequently used up more than their fair share of the breaker’s checkcord, and consumed an undue portion of his time. They must not be those whose constitutions have been injured in their growth by excessive work; for dogs vary as much as horses in the quantity of labour they are able to perform, both from diversity of natural capabilities, and from the greater or less care bestowed upon them while progressing towards maturity. The Esquimaux, who from anxious observation must be a competent judge,—his very existence depending upon the powers and endurance of his dogs,—not only occasionally crosses them with the wolf (the progeny is prolific) to increase their strength and hardiness,—I do not say sagacity,—but he is so impressed with the necessity of not overtasking them until they have attained their full stamina and vigour, that although he breaks them into harness before they are quite a twelvemonth old, when their immediate services would be convenient, he yet abstains from putting them to severe labour until they are nearly three years of age. My supposed dogs must, too, have as united a gallop as a good hunter, and have small, round, hard feet; for this I hold to be a more certain test of endurance in the field, than any other point that you can name. Rest assured, that the worst loined dogs with good feet[22] are capable of more fatigue in stubble or heather, than the most muscular and best loined, with fleshy “understandings.” The most enduring pointers I have ever seen hunted, had more or less of the strain of the fox-hound; but doubtless they were proportionately hard to break, for their hereditary bias on one side of the house must have given them an inclination to chase and carry their heads low. I have shot over a cross with the bull-dog. The animal showed great courage, perseverance, and nose, but he hunted with his head so near the ground, that he hit off no game unless he came upon its run. The strongest heather could not have cured such a sad carriage. It would be quite unreasonable to expect that dogs so bred (from either fox-hound or bull-dog), would have acted like Mr. M——t’s, (see 280) the first day they were shown game. Remember also that I do not expect to lose any shots from the birds being scared by my being forced to call or whistle to the dogs, and that I confidently hope to shoot more coolly and collectedly, from not being worried and annoyed by their misconduct; I allow, however, that in any open country more than two dogs are desirable; and I especially admit, that whenever I might have the good luck to get away to the moors, I should be unwilling to start with no more than a brace; but even in this case, as I should hope for better society than my own, have I not a right to calculate upon the probable contingent to be brought by my friend? and if his turned out superior to mine, we should always reserve his for our evening’s beat, which ought to be the best feeding ground, and towards which it would be our endeavour throughout the day to drive the birds; for, unlike the partridge, the later it is, early in the season, the better grouse lie. Many dogs are desirable, not that they may be hunted together, but that they may be hunted in reliefs. But some possess so much power and bottom, that their owners need seldom think about reliefs in partridge-shooting.
BROACHING A BARREL.
“The extremities of the gun caught the side-posts.”—Par. 139.
GOOD DOGS ULTIMATELY CHEAPEST.
138. In enlarging a kennel, it ought always to be remembered, that the companionship of one disorderly cur nominally cheap, but in reality dear, soon leads astray the better disposed. Men who spare no expense in preserving their grounds, in rearing and feeding birds, &c. will often be found to begrudge a few extra pounds in the purchase of a dog, however good. This appears odd, but it is too true. If they would but sum up the rent they pay for the right of shooting, (or what is the same thing, its value, if they choose to let it), the wages of men, the cost of breeding game, taxes, and all other attendant expenses, they would find that they wreck themselves at last for comparatively a trifle.
IRELAND GROUSE-SHOOTING.
139. I am, however, wandering from our immediate subject. Let us return to the lecture, and consider how much knowledge your pupil will have acquired by these preliminary instructions. We shall find that, with the exception of a systematically confirmed range, really little remains to be learned, save what his almost unaided instinct will tell him.
I will give you an instance of what I mean in the conduct of a young pointer I saw shot over the first day he was ever shown game. You know that in Ireland grouse-shooting does not commence before the 20th of August,—a date far more judicious than ours. I well remember that day at Clonmel in the year 1828. Long before any glimmering of light, one of our party had fractured the stock of a favourite double barrel, by carelessly letting it hang across his body at the moment a skittish cob he was riding rushed through a narrow gateway. The extremities of the gun caught the side-posts, and if it had not given way, he must have parted company with his nag. I believe we each made a memorandum, never whilst riding through a gate to let our guns get athwart-ship. The morning turned out so dreadfully wet that, after remaining for hours in a hovel at the foot of the Galtee Mountains, we were forced to return home. The following day we made a fresh start. Being sadly in want of dogs, we took out a young pointer who had never seen a bird, but was tolerably au fait in the initiatory lessons