The Project Gutenberg eBook ofDog BreakingThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Dog BreakingAuthor: W. N. HutchinsonIllustrator: Friedrich Wilhelm KeylRelease date: December 29, 2014 [eBook #47808]Most recently updated: October 24, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Brian Wilcox and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net(This file was produced from images generously madeavailable by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOG BREAKING ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Dog BreakingAuthor: W. N. HutchinsonIllustrator: Friedrich Wilhelm KeylRelease date: December 29, 2014 [eBook #47808]Most recently updated: October 24, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Brian Wilcox and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net(This file was produced from images generously madeavailable by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Title: Dog Breaking
Author: W. N. HutchinsonIllustrator: Friedrich Wilhelm Keyl
Author: W. N. Hutchinson
Illustrator: Friedrich Wilhelm Keyl
Release date: December 29, 2014 [eBook #47808]Most recently updated: October 24, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Brian Wilcox and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net(This file was produced from images generously madeavailable by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOG BREAKING ***
VARIOUS RETRIEVERS.
CROSS BETWEEN WATER SPANIEL AND NEWFOUNDLAND DOG—BETWEEN WATER SPANIEL AND SETTER DOG—BETWEEN SETTER AND NEWFOUNDLAND DOG.Larger image(210 kB)
CROSS BETWEEN WATER SPANIEL AND NEWFOUNDLAND DOG—BETWEEN WATER SPANIEL AND SETTER DOG—BETWEEN SETTER AND NEWFOUNDLAND DOG.
Larger image(210 kB)
THE MOST EXPEDITIOUS, CERTAIN, AND EASY METHOD,
WHETHER GREAT EXCELLENCE OR ONLY MEDIOCRITY BE REQUIRED,WITH ODDS AND ENDS FOR THOSE WHO LOVETHE DOG AND GUN.
BY MAJOR-GENERAL W. N. HUTCHINSON,
LATE COLONEL GRENADIER GUARDS.
FOURTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED.
NEAR WALTHAM ABBEY, 1st Sept. 1847.
NEAR WALTHAM ABBEY, 1st Sept. 1847.
LONDON:JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.1865.
LONDONR. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,BREAD STREET HILL.
AFOURTHpreface, Mr. Murray!!!
There are not sufficient materials, although there is some fresh matter, and undeniably, many excellent sketches, thanks to the clever artistF. W. Keyl, and the talented amateur JohnM——n, who, contrary to the advice of many friends, has determined that the sword shall be his profession rather than the pencil.
Well!—another party shall speak for me, and much surprised will he be to find the duty his words are performing; but they advocate so good a cause that I feel sure of his forgiveness. He writes in the third person, for we are perfect strangers to each other.
“CaptainT——rhas all his life been a most enthusiastic sportsman, but never broke a dog, until a yearago, when he happened to come across the Major-General’s work on ‘Dog-breaking.’ Since then he has trained twoentirelyon the system laid down in the book. People say they have never before seen dogs so well broken—certainly the owner never has.”
“Always an ardent disciple of St. Hubert, CaptainT——ris now still more so from the increased gratification he derives from the performance of animals trained entirely by himself.”
Reader, why not give yourself a similar gratification?
W. N. H.
Government House, Devonport,December, 1864.
I cannot help congratulating my canine friends, (and may I not their masters also?), on the circulation of two large impressions of this work; for I trust that many of the suggestions therein offered have been adopted, and that their education has consequently been effected in a much shorter period, and with far less punishment, than that of their forefathers.
I have endeavoured in the present edition to render more complete the lessons respecting Setters and Pointers. I have added somewhat on the subject of Spaniels, Retrievers, and Bloodhounds. It has been my aim, also, to give a few useful hints regarding the rearing and preservation of Game; and I shall bedisappointed if the youngest of my readers does not derive, from the perusal of what I have written, an assurance that he need not take the field wholly ignorant of all sporting matters, or without any knowledge of the best method of “handling arms.”
W. N. H.
When Colonel Hawker, who has been styled the “Emperor of Sportsmen,” writes to me, (and kindly permits me to quote his words), “I perfectly agree with you in everything you have said, and I think your work should be preached in a series of lectures to every dog-breaker in the profession, as all these fellows are too fond of the whip, which hardens the animal they are instructing, and the use of their own tongues, which frighten away the birds you want to shoot,” I feel some confidence in the correctness of what I have put forth. But there may be points that have not been noticed, and some things that require explanation, especially as regards Spaniels and Retrievers. In endeavouring to supply these deficiencies, I hope my additional prosing may not send the dog-breaker to sleep, instead of helping to make him more “wide-awake.”
W. N. H.
(FOR FIRST EDITION.)
My respected Publisher has suggested that a Preface may be expected. His opinion on such a subject ought to be law; but as I fear my readers may think that I have already sufficiently bored them, I will beg them, in Irish fashion, to refer any formalist, who considers a Preface necessary, to theconclusionof the work, where a statement will be found of the motive which induced me to write.
W. N. H.
CHAPTER I.PAGEPRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. QUALIFICATIONS, IN BREAKER,—IN DOG1CHAPTER II.INITIATORY LESSONS WITHIN DOORS. SHOOTING PONIES9CHAPTER III.INITIATORY LESSONS CONTINUED. SPANIELS20CHAPTER IV.LESSONS IN “FETCHING.”—RETRIEVERS57CHAPTER V.INITIATORY LESSONS OUT OF DOORS.—TRICKS76CHAPTER VI.FIRST LESSON IN SEPTEMBER COMMENCED. RANGING99CHAPTER VII.FIRST LESSONS IN SEPTEMBER CONTINUED. CAUTION.—NATURE’S MYSTERIOUS INFLUENCES111CHAPTER VIII.FIRST LESSON IN SEPTEMBER CONTINUED. CUNNING OF AGE.—RANGE OF FROM TWO TO SIX DOGS129CHAPTER IX.FIRST LESSON IN SEPTEMBER CONTINUED. “POINT” NOT RELINQUISHED FOR “DOWN CHARGE”150CHAPTER X.FIRST LESSON IN SEPTEMBER CONTINUED. ASSISTANT.—VERMIN165CHAPTER XI.FIRST LESSON IN SEPTEMBER CONCLUDED. BAR.—LEG STRAP.—SPIKE-COLLAR176CHAPTER XII.SHOOTING HARES. COURAGE IMPARTED.—“BACKING” TAUGHT194CHAPTER XIII.HINTS TO PURCHASERS. PRICE OF DOGS.—SHEEP KILLING210CHAPTER XIV.A REST BEYOND “HALF-WAY HOUSE.” ANECDOTES OF DOGS ON SERVICE AT HOME230CHAPTER XV.ANECDOTES OF DOGS ON SERVICE ABROAD. RUSSIAN SETTERS249CHAPTER XVI.DISTINGUISHING WHISTLES. “BACKING” THE GUN. RETREAT FROM AND RESUMPTION OF POINT. RANGE UNACCOMPANIED BY GUN. HEADING RUNNING BIRDS278CHAPTER XVII.SETTER TO RETRIEVE. BLOODHOUNDS. RETRIEVERS TO “BEAT.” WOUNDED WILDFOWL RETRIEVED BEFORE THE KILLED294CHAPTER XVIII.BECKFORD. ST. JOHN. CONDITION. INOCULATION. VACCINATION. CONCLUSION307POSTSCRIPT: MR.L——G’SLETTER322APPENDIX:COVERS, SHOOTING, LOADING328TRAPPING.—OWL AS DECOY.—HEN HARRIER.—KEEPER’S VERMIN-DOGS.—STOATS331REARING PHEASANTS.—CANTELO.—PHEASANTRIES.—MR. KNOX335SETTERS.—POACHERS.—KEEPERS.—NETTING PARTRIDGES.—BLOODHOUNDS.—NIGHT-DOGS344INDEX,in which the figures refer to the numbers of the paragraphs, and not to the pages349
Various RetrieversFrontispiece.Scene near Waltham Abbey,1st Sept. 1847Title-page.Old-fashioned English Setter,—Retrievers, one a cross with Bloodhound.(Lesson VIII. Par. 141)Page25The Check—‘Hold Hard!’30A Four-legged Whipper-in33Clumbers.(Lesson III. Par. 141)43Wild Spaniels.(Lesson XII. Par. 141)47Irish Water Spaniel.(Lesson I. Par. 141)53Inclined to ‘Rat’77Broaching a Barrel84Deaf to the Voice of Persuasion90A Solicitor91Replete with Good Things95Backing the Gun against the Bird117Safely Moored, ‘Stem’ and ‘Stern’121“Stiff by the tainted Gale with open Nose Outstretched and finely sensible”124A Dog-fish125“Small, active Pointer.” (Lesson IX. Par. 141)131“Short-legged Strong-loined Sussex Spaniel.” (Lesson XV. Par. 141)137“Duke of Gordon’s Black and Tan Setters.” (Lesson XIV. Par. 141)141Large heavy Pointer.(Lesson X. Pars. 141 and 266)157Carrying a Point, and Carrying a Pointer173The First Course197Fashionable (English) Setter, and Old-fashioned Pointer.(Lesson XIII. Par. 141)215Irish Red Setter.(Lesson II. Par. 141)221Scene from ‘Cripple-gait.’—‘Game’ to the last237Domini and ‘Dominos’245The Mighty King254Cool as a Cucumber255A Regular Bore259There are Bounds to Sport263Warm Greeting of a Great ‘Bore’266Invitation to a ‘White-bait’ Dinner267Bringing Home the Brush269Scene on the ‘Thlew-ĕe-chōh-dezeth’272Russian Setter.(Lesson XI. Pars. 141 and 266)275Tell me my Heart (Hart) if this be Love283Division of Property297“Example Better than Precept”303Portrait of Brisk321‘Foul’ Feeding336A well-trained Bloodhound345
***The Frontispiece, Vignette Title, and the Lessons, are designed and drawn on Wood byF. W. Keyl.See4th Preface.
DOG-BREAKING.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. QUALIFICATIONS, IN BREAKER,—IN DOG.
1. Dog-breaking an Art easily acquired.—2. Most expeditious Mode of imparting every Degree of Education. Time bestowed determines Grade of Education. In note, Col. Hawker’s opinion.—3. Sportsmen recommended to break in their own Dogs.—4. Men of property too easily satisfied with badly broken Dogs. Keepers have no Excuse for Dogs being badly broken.—5. Great Experience in Dog-breaking, or Excellence in Shooting, not necessary. Dispositions of Dogs vary.—6. What is required in an Instructor.—7. Early in a Season any Dog will answer, a good one necessary afterwards. Hallooing, rating Dogs, and loud whistling spoil Sport. In note, Age and choice of birds. Several shots fired from Stooks at Grouse without alarming them. American Partridges and our Pheasants killed while at roost.—8. What a well broken Dog ought to do.—9. Severity reprobated.—10. Astley’s Method of teaching his Horses.—11. Franconi’sCirque National de Paris.—12.InitiatoryLessons recommended—to be given when alone with Dog—given fasting.—13. Success promised if rules be followed. Advantages of an expeditious Education. September shooting not sacrificed.
ART EASILY ACQUIRED.
1. Dog-breaking, so far from being a mystery, is an art easily acquired when it is commenced and continued on rational principles.
2. I think you will be convinced of this if you will have the patience to follow me, whilst I endeavour to explain what, I am satisfied, is the most certain and rapid method of breaking in your dogs, whether you require great proficiency in them, or are contented with an inferior education. No quicker system has yet been devised, however humble the education may be. The education in fact, of the peasant, and that of the futuredouble-first collegian, begins and proceeds on the same principle. You know your own circumstances, and you must yourself determine what time you choose to devote to tuition; and, as a consequence, the degree of excellence to which you aspire. I can only assure you of my firm conviction, that no other means will enable you to gain your object so quickly; and I speak with a confidence derived from long experience in many parts of the world, on a subject that was, for several years, my great hobby.[1]
3. Every writer is presumed to take some interest in his reader; I therefore feel privileged to address you as a friend, and will commence my lecture by strongly recommending, that, if your occupations will allow it, you take earnestly and heartily to educating your dogs yourself. If you possess temper and some judgment, and will implicitly attend to my advice, I will go bail for your success; and much as you may now love shooting, you will then like it infinitely more. Try the plan I recommend, and I will guarantee that the Pointer or Setter pup which I will, for example sake, suppose to be now in your kennel, shall be a better dog by the end of next season (I mean a more killing dog) than probably any you ever yet shot over.
4. Possibly, you will urge, that you are unable to spare the time which I consider necessary for giving him a high education, (brief as that time is, compared with the many, many months wasted in the tedious methods usually employed), and that you must, perforce,content yourself with humbler qualifications. Be it so. I can only condole with you, for in your case this may be partly true; mind I only saypartlytrue. But how a man of property, who keeps a regular gamekeeper, can be satisfied with the disorderly, disobedient troop, to which he often shoots, I cannot understand. Where the gamekeeper is permitted to accompany his master in the field, and hunt the dogs himself, there can be no valid excuse for the deficiency in their education. The deficiency must arise either from the incapacity, or from the idleness of the keeper.
5. Unlike most other arts, dog-breaking does not require much experience; but such a knowledge of dogs, as will enable you to discriminate between their different tempers and dispositions (I had almost said characters)—and they vary greatly—is very advantageous. Some require constant encouragement; some you must never beat; whilst, to gain the required ascendancy over others, the whip must be occasionally employed. Nor is it necessary that the instructor should be a very good shot; which probably is a more fortunate circumstance for me than for you. It should even be received as a principle that birds ought to be now and then missed to young dogs, lest some day, if your nerves happen to be out of order, or a cockney companion be harmlessly blazing away, your dog take it into his head and heels to run home in disgust, as I have seen a bitch, called Countess, do more than once, in Haddingtonshire.
REQUISITES IN AN INSTRUCTOR.
6. The chief requisites in a breaker are:—Firstly, command of temper, that he may never be betrayed into giving one unnecessary blow, for, with dogs as with horses, no work is so well done as that which is done cheerfully; secondly, consistency, that in the exhilarationof his spirits, or in his eagerness to secure a bird, he may not permit a fault to pass unreproved (I do not sayunpunished) which at a less exciting moment he would have noticed—and that, on the other hand, he may not correct a dog the more harshly, because the shot has been missed, or the game lost; and lastly, the exercise of a little reflection, to enable him to judge what meaning an unreasoning animal is likely to attach to every word and sign, nay to every look.
HALLOING SPOILS SPORT.
7. With the coarsest tackle, and worst flies, trout can be taken in unflogged waters, while it requires much science, and the finest gut, to kill persecuted fish. It is the same in shooting. With almost any sporting dog, game can be killed early in the season, when the birds lie like stones, and the dog can get within a few yards of them; but you will require one highly broken, to obtain many shots when they are wild. Then any incautious approach of the dog, or any noise, would flush the game, and your own experience will tell you that nothing so soon puts birds on the run, and makes them so ready to take flight, as the sound of the human voice, especially now-a-days, when farmers generally prefer the scythe to the sickle, and clean husbandry, large fields, and trim narrow hedges, (affording no shelter from wet) have forced the partridge—ashort-winged[2]bird—unwillinglyto seek protection (when arrived at maturity) in ready flight rather than in concealment. Even the report of a gun does not so much alarm them as the command, “Toho,” or “Down charge,”[3]usually, too, as if to make matters worse, hallooed to the extent of the breaker’s lungs. There are anglers who recommend silence as conducive to success, and there are no experienced sportsmen who do not acknowledge its great value in shooting. Rate or beat a dog at one end of a field, and the birds at the other will lift their heads, become uneasy, and be ready to take wing the moment you get near them. “Penn,” in his clever maxims on Angling and Chess, observes to this effect, “if you wish to see the fish, do not let him see you;” and with respect to shooting, we may as truly say, “if you wish birds to hear your gun, do not let them hear your voice.” Even a loud whistle disturbs them. Mr.O——tofC——esays, a gamekeeper’s motto ought to be,—“No whistling—no whipping—no noise, when master goes out for sport.”
WHAT A DOG OUGHT TO DO.
8. These observations lead unavoidably to the inference, that no dog can be considered perfectly broken, that does not make his point when first he feels assured of the presence of game, and remain stationarywhere he makes it, until urged on by you to draw nearer—that does not, as a matter of course, lie down without any word of command the moment you have fired, and afterwards perseveringly seek for the dead bird in the direction you may point out,—and all this without your once having occasion to speak, more than to say in a low voice, “Find,” when he gets near the dead bird, as will be hereafter explained. Moreover, it must be obvious that he risks leaving game behind him if he does not hunt every part of a field, and, on the other hand, that he wastes your time and his strength, if he travel twice over the same ground, nay, over any ground which his powers of scent have already reached. Of course, I am now speaking of a dog hunted without a companion to share his labours.
9. You may say, “How is all this, which sounds so well in theory, to be obtained in practice without great severity?” Believe me, with severity it never can be attained. If flogging would make a dog perfect, few would be found unbroken in England or Scotland, and scarcely one in Ireland.
10. Astley’s method was to give each horse his preparatory lessons alone, and when there was no noise or anything to divert his attention from his instructor. If the horse was interrupted during the lesson, or his attention in any way withdrawn, he was dismissed for that day. When perfect in certain lessons by himself,he was associated with other horses, whose education was further advanced. And it was the practice of that great master to reward his horses with slices of carrot or apple when they performed well.
ASTLEY AND FRANCONI.
11. Mons. A. Franconi in a similar manner rewards his horses. One evening I was in such a position, at a performance of theCirque National de Paris, that I could clearly see, during theLutte des Voltigeurs, that the broad-backed horse held for the men to jump over was continually coaxed with small slices of carrots to remain stationary, whilst receiving their hard thumps as they sprang upon him. I could not make out why the horse was sniffing and apparently nibbling at the chest of the man standing in front of him with a rein in each hand to keep his tail towards the spring-board, until I remarked that a second man, placed in the rear of the other, every now and then, slily passed his hand under his neighbour’s arm to give the horse a small piece of carrot.
12. Astley may give us a useful hint in our far easier task of dog-breaking. We see that he endeavoured by kindness and patience to make the horse thoroughly comprehend the meaning of certain words and signals before he allowed him any companion. So ought you, by what may be termed “initiatory lessons,” to make your young dog perfectly understand the meaning of certain words and signs, before you hunt him in the company of another dog—nay, before you hunt him at all; and, in pursuance of Astley’s plan, you ought to give these lessons when you are alone with the dog, and his attention is not likely to be withdrawn to other matters. Give them, also, when he is fasting, as his faculties will then be clearer, and he will be more eager to obtain any rewards of biscuit or other food.
QUICK TRAINING.
13. Be assured, that by a consistent adherence to the simple rules which I will explain, you can obtain the perfection I have described, (8) with more ease and expedition than you probably imagine to be practicable; and, if you will zealously follow my advice, I promise,that, instead of having to give up your shooting in September, (for I am supposing you to be in England) while you break in your pup, you shall then be able to take him into the field, provided he is tolerably well-bred and well disposed, perfectly obedient, and, except that he will not have a well-confirmed, judicious range, almost perfectly made; at least so far made, that he will only commit such faults, as naturally arise from want of experience. Let me remind you also, that the keep of dogs is expensive, and supplies an argument for making them earn their bread by hunting to ausefulpurpose, as soon as they are of an age to work without injury to their constitution. Time, moreover, is valuable to us all, or most of us fancy it is. Surely, then, that system of education is best which imparts the mostexpeditiously the required degree of knowledge.
INITIATORY LESSONS WITHIN DOORS. SHOOTING PONIES.
14. One Instructor better than two.—15. Age at which Education commences.—In-door breaking for hours, better than Out-door for weeks.—16. To obey all necessary Words of Command and all Signals before shown Game.—17. Unreasonableness of not always giving Initiatory Lessons—leads to Punishment—thence to Blinking.—18. Dog to beyourconstant Companion, not another’s.—19,21,22. Instruct when alone with him. Initiatory Lessons in his Whistle—in “Dead”—“Toho”—“On”—20. All Commands and Whistling to be given in a low Tone.—23to26. Lessons in “Drop”—Head between fore-legs—Setters crouch more than Pointers.—24. Slovenly to employ right arm both for “Drop” and “Toho.”—27. Lessons in “Down charge”—Taught at Pigeon-match—Rewards taken from Hand.—28. Cavalry Horses fed at discharge of Pistol—Same plan pursued with Dogs.—29. Dog unusually timid to be coupled to another.—30. Lessons at Feeding Time, with Checkcords.—31. Obedience of Hounds contrasted with that of most Pointers and Setters.—32. Shooting Ponies—how broken in.—33. Horse’s rushing at his Fences cured—Pony anchored.
14. It is seldom of any advantage to a dog to have more than one instructor. The methods of teaching may be the same; but there will be a difference in the tone of voice and in the manner, that will more or less puzzle the learner, and retard rather than advance his education. If, therefore, you resolve to break in your dog, do it entirely yourself: let no one interfere with you.
15. As a general rule, let his education begin when he is about six or seven months old,[4](although I allowthat some dogs are more precocious than others, and bitches always more forward than dogs,) but it ought to be nearly completed before he is shown a bird (132). A quarter of an hour’s daily in-door training—called by the Germans “house-breaking”—for three or four weeks will effect more than a month’s constant hunting without preliminary tuition.
USE OF INITIATORY LESSONS.
16. Never take your young dog out of doors for instruction, until he has learned to know and obey the several words of command which you intend to give him in the field, and is well acquainted with all the signs which you will have occasion to make to him with your arms. These are what may be called the initiatory lessons.
17. Think a moment, and you will see the importance of this preliminary instruction, though rarely imparted. Why should it be imagined, that at the precise moment when a young dog is enraptured with the first sniff of game, he is, by some mysterious unaccountable instinct, to understand the meaning of the word “Toho?” Why should he not conceive it to be a word of encouragement to rush in upon the game, as he probably longs to do; especially if it should be a partridge fluttering before him, in the sagacious endeavour to lure him from her brood, or a hare enticingly cantering off from under his nose? There are breakers who would correct him for not intuitively comprehending and obeying the “Toho,” roared out with stentorian lungs; though, it is obvious, the youngster, from having had no previous instruction, could have no better reason for understanding its import, than the watch-dog chained up in yonder farm-yard. Again he hears the word “Toho”—again followed by another licking, accompaniedperhaps by the long lecture, “’Ware springing birds, will you?” The word “Toho” then begins to assume a most awful character; he naturally connects it with the finding of game, and not understanding a syllable of the lecture, lest he should a third time hear it, and get a third drubbing, he judges it most prudent, (unless he is a dog of very high courage) when next aware of the presence of birds, to come in to heel; and thus he commences to be a blinker, thanks to the sagacity and intelligence of his tutor. I do not speak of all professional dog-breakers, far from it. Many are fully sensible that comprehension of orders must necessarily precede all but accidental obedience. I am only thinking of some whom it has been my misfortune to see, and who have many a time made my blood boil at their brutal usage of a fine high-couraged young dog. Men who had a strong arm and hard heart to punish,—but no temper and no head to instruct.