The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 19, 1903, Page 14

THE SUNDAY CALL Bpemrow e, TEACHNG A! A s v, =AY S Retrieving may be taught at home with a soft ball of yarn lined with sharp wires. AT is 1t that makes a dog the if a clean his brace mate number of yards tull well t fcs to interfere, at he thinks or fecls, bonor 1s at stake, be first sound of the gun down go dogs as though the shot had been and there they stay, master reload his one moves until he hears sen away he bounds after » be had previously care- ) in a dog up to the standard of lenoce demanded a man must with endless patience and severance, he must have a keen sense e effect of different conditions upon he dog and have the tact 16 change his policy to oba ne desired result. e &re Lwo extreme views in regard Ining of a dog; the one that wiliful creature to be r that he needs no spe- if properly taught from now 1 of life wants to do exactly until he is old eno All caprice utte; dog, no matter g he may be. be encouraged in self-respect and y easily learns atural to come 0 how on to what is ould be taken hly know what I have had ex- P nt minute when a n made of us and when d sgvens willing to do ss as to what to do it is right pleasant, dis- reverse 1s the best rule 1 of us. men and dogs altke, s 1 when called he be g ly dragged by the back of ck or bodily carried to where his . he must scolded v forgiven an¥ made is not In dis- ¢ his self-re- perience of a ass demand has come spect and does no: cower about in every avallable corner when he catches sight of or eve rs his voice. A Ui X L \ K‘" N>~ D) well-bred dog means to pledse If ne can. The training of pointers and setters is not, as might be supposed, the mere teach- ng of a series of tricks. Trickery bas nothing at all to do with it. It consists chiefly in developing such natural quaii- ties as are desirable to preserve and in checking thcse that are bad. Good and bad tralts are there alike, and it is the work of the trainer to eradicate those that are undesirable and to rouse the good ones that may lie dormant. To be sure, in addition to these quali- tles, which are composed largely of in- stinct, certain things must be taught, but they should be so well blended as to ap- pear perfectly natural, as indeed they are after a certain time. At first the puppy will run as fast as his little Jegs will carry him after every form of life that he sees, but this I8 perfectly natural d If he didn’t want to investi- gate the world and things about him, he wouldn't be worth his salt. He must be restrained, but gradually He must as- soclate certain acts with the approval and others with the disaproval of his master, whom he loves and wishes to please, &= A good way, In the traluing oy kKindness, is to take a couple of pups out into the woods where there is but little game. If they scamper wildly about and pay ab- solutely no attention to calls or whistles; if the trainer will hide himself and grad- ually allow them to discover that they are lost. it will teach them more caution and \ “\' AT 2 \“\(\\, Q) O\ (@ =) N\, the next time they go out their range will not be as large and every now and then, /\‘I , 7\ 77, &5 - * v/é 5 \\w_m/ W) ,. i@\ i = g S L(g‘.(.-‘)\\\. N q AR no matter how glorious a time they are having, their bump of caution wiil tend to make them look about and find out just how matters stand. All dogs should be taught to come in to whistle and to ‘“down charge” at some word of command or at some signal. A dog used for field work should also be idcd by the motion of his tramer's hand. A steady, old trained dog is inval- uable, but a headstrong one is v apt to ruin a puppy. The old one knows his business and goes about it methodically and easily. He never rushes and never seems too eager, but he never loses a trick. The puppy tearing madly about in quest of something, he isn't quite certain what, suddenly gets it through his head that his friend is taking it easy and hav- Ing just as good a time, so wise little ras- cal that he Is, he just slows down a bit and really gets to work trying to discover what the fuss is all about anyhow. With dogs example is strong for good or evil, but It Is clearly foolish to expect a puppy under a certain age to work on game with an older dog—indeed, to work on game at all until, as a general rule, he has reached the age of ten or twelve months. Retrieving may be taught at home, using a soft ball of yarn. If he attempts to wool or chew it Into bits a few wires pushed through it will soon give him to understand that it is best to handle it carefully. He must always be rewarded Gun shyness may be overcome by making noises louder and louder in the puppy’s ear. >~ ———» with a little meat or cheess, and the words “‘fetch” and “seek™ used in order that he may become familiar with them. to “dead seek” some article hidden, something to eat at 2 bird or even a wing will If he refuses to bring he spot and pl 1g It there and force er it just as you do quite as wel the article, tak it in his mout kim to earr commanded b Perhaps make a d the hardest thing of all is to worked dog, fer no two of Some form of accordin ng to be over- uld not be is but one o do. louder and louder, never let the Juppy escape. hen when he finds that no harm is meant him or that nothing caa beppe reaches the don't-care stage and wiil stand with a gun potnted Girectly over his back and never budge when it is firec Some animals simply are nqt adapted for certain kinds of work, yet many dogs, urpromising at first, have been a great success afterward. All sound training must constantly keep in mind the individ- uality of the animal. They are llke men. Scme respond quickly to kindness, others try to shirk, while still others are made to do their share of this world's werk simply by force. The ability to read dogs has been gives but to few men, and when they are pos- sessed with an unlimited supply of pe- tience they, of course, make the most successful tralners. The dogs of to-day are Intelligent, affectionats and highly endowed with the fleld qualities of speed, style, stanchness and ability to deteot the game. Our dogs and our guns are steadily helping to make us a nation of §00d shots, and of stalwart manhood, never more absolutely at home and more certain of himself than when miles from the end of nowhere in the search of grouse and qiall. CAT AND SNAKE FIGHT. HE fer-de-lance is one of the most nakes in the werld. on in Brazil and some of the West Indian Islands, and was particularly =o_.In the forests of Mar- tinique, now destroyed by the voleano. The head is fl five to seven end t and triangular, the length cet, a horny spike om the tafl rasps against hard objects. he bite is almost instantly fatal, and even when immediate death is averted serious and eventually fatal trou- hles may set in. monster e which fears the le t Is the brave cat a snake, she at once carries her ki to a place cf safety, then boldly adv to the en- ccunter. very lim:t of the se and besin to feint, him, irg to dra A and the SW of the horror aside, dust ssy does not yet dare to tive, has almost s I, but she Is of him, watching, vertical I pupil. Again the tiful coun- ath is hurled leaped t hea paws. strangle her. s head; and still; the keen white tecth of the cat have severed the vertebra just behind the tri- angular skull. he lles