"Teach them early to drop to hand and shot, and spare no pains about it; this is a part of a Spaniel's education which is generally neglected. I know many men who, instead of making them drop to shot, make them come to heel, using the words 'come around,' or 'heel.' It answers every purpose; and as it brings every dog to you, and he has to work right away from you again when he gets the signal, it has its advantages in keeping them under control; but, on the whole, I prefer the dropping to shot and wing instantly. It is difficult to make a Spaniel drop to fur; and if you can keep him from chasing, merely putting up hares and rabbits, but not following them after they are started, rest satisfied that little more is necessary or desirable. "I once saw an interesting thing of this kind. I was shooting with a gentleman near Southampton, in one of his coverts, to a team of small Clumbers; we were both standing in a ride, and saw a charming little bitch feathering near us towards the ride. Just as she got to it, out popped a rabbit and scuttled down the ride, followed out of the covert by the bitch; but as soon as she cleared the wood and was in the ride, close on to the rabbit, which she had not seen till then, down she dropped entirely of her own accord. She had not seen either of us, neither did we know that we were each observing this pretty bit of work until we compared notes a few minutes after, and agreed that we had never seen anything better. It is rather difficult to describe, but to me it was worth all the afternoon's shooting, and it made an impression at the time which is as fresh as ever now. She was, I need scarcely say, thoroughly broken. "If it is desired to make young Spaniels take water, and they show any disinclination to it, the best plan is to take them to a stream which you can wade through. Walk through to the other side, and they will probably follow you at once; if they do not, walk straight away from the opposite side and go out of sight; they will come, after making a little fuss about it. If you have not a suitable shallow stream, but are obliged to make use of a deep river for your purpose, get an attendant, whom they do not know, to hold your puppies while you go round by a bridge out of their sight, and come down opposite to them, and follow the instructions I have given above. Remember many young dogs have, at first, a great fear of getting out of their depth all at once, but will freely dabble into a shallow stream; so that it is best to lead them on by degrees. Once having got off their legs, and finding that it is an easy matter to swim, there will be no further trouble. Always choose warm weather for this teaching. There is, however, no better plan of teaching them to take to the water than letting them hunt moorhens. As to whether Spaniels should be taught to retrieve or not, will depend upon what your requirements are, the number you use, and so on.