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Buying a Retriever Dog.
Buying a Retriever Dog
An Englishman met an American in the smoking-room on board ship, and the influence of certain cocktails prompted them to tell some very tall stories; the subject they happened to choose was the swimming capability of dogs, and after a good many tales had been told, the Englishman determined to relate a story which would cap anything the American could describe. " I was crossing the Atlantic last year/' the Englishman said, " and as the ship was leaving the quay a man dashed up and just managed to scramble on board in time; but his dog was delayed by ttye crowd, and the ship was disappearing as the animal reached the quayside; without hesitation the dog (a retriever) jumped into the water and swam after the ship; the owner besought the captain of the ship to stop and pick up his faithful friend, but the captain indignantly refused; for several days the ship steamed on, and the re- triever gallantly swam after it, until at last the captain relented, and stopped the ship to allow the dog to be hauled on board "......The American jumped to his feet and seizing the Englishman's hand, said, " Say stranger, I guess Fm just tickled to death to meet you. I've always wanted to find another guy who was on that ship, you see IT WASHY DORG"! " It is the nature of every free meetle Dogge, and many of those which come from the best reputed teachers, that as soon as they heare the peece go off they will presently rash forth and flye in amongst the Fowle before you have the leisure to open your lippes."—Gervase Markham, circa 1600. The above quotation shows that even in the earliest days of shooting the dog which was pur- chased as fully-trained, " from the best reputed teacher ", did not always demonstrate its steadi- ness when introduced to "Fowle"! But actually, in many cases, the failure of the retriever to come up to expectations is due to the fault of the purchaser and not necessarily the consequence of defective training. I think it was Jorrocks who remarked that" the buyer hath need of a thousand eyes "; but he did not think it necessary to add, " and should have some idea of how to ride," for he would naturally conclude that when buying a horse for hunting, the purchaser would know the rudiments at any rate, of riding. But often a shooting man buys a retriever in the same frame of mind that he would purchase his first safety razor, expecting the same mechanical and easily understood working possi- bilities—and with the further supposed similarity that the only essential attention is a daily stropping! Every buyer of a trained retriever should have some knowledge—if only elementary—of how to handle his acquisition, if he expects to maintain his purchase in the state of perfection (we hope] in which he buys it. Though I admit that occa- sionally an animal can be found which is so steady that the worst handling will not spoil— probably its apathy is so great that only birds lying in the open will create any interest—the great majority of gun-dogs, on whose training, months (and perhaps years) have been spent, can be absolutely ruined for shooting purposes in one day. It should hardly be necessary to advise that no recently acquired dog should be taken out with a shooting party until it knows its new master—yet I have known of several cases when this mistake has been made—as a retriever should not only be subject entirely to the directions of its master, but must be prepared to resist the strongest tempta- tions. Therefore the new purchase should be handled for some days in the garden or an adjoining field and made to do dummy work, which will not only increase the capabilities but also enable it to understand the ways and " temper " of the new master and to become accustomed to fresh sur- roundings and method of control. When master and dog are thus reconciled to each other's idiosyncrasies, they can appear at a shooting party; but even then, the former will be wise to observe the same precautions as are advised in the previous paragraph on entering the young dog to game. Perhaps the most pernicious influence to avoid with a newly-purchased dog is the horrible example of some wild brute belonging to a neighbouring Gun—for the recent acquisition is naturally unsettled in its new surroundings and control—and, if possible, the treasure should be sent home if you find that the next Gun is display- ing an animal of the " chase it" and 4t chew it " variety. When buying a new dog it is important that the purchaser should ascertain from the vendor what signals and words of command the animal is accustomed to, and the new owner should endeavour to copy these exactly, otherwise the result may be similar to a British soldier being drilled by a Frenchman ignorant of the English language! The new purchase should be with its master as much as possible, but should not be allowed to roam about uncontrolled to pick up bad habits.
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