No long time probably passes ere the dog commits some little fault. He is careless, or obstinate, or cross. The owner puts on a serious countenance, he holds up his finger, or shakes his head, or produces the whip, and threatens to use it. Perhaps the infliction of a blow, that breaks no bones, occasionally follows. In the majority of cases nothing more is required. The dog succumbs; he asks to be forgiven; or, if he has been self-willed, he may be speedily corrected without any serious punishment. A writer, under the signature of "Soho," in The New Sporting Magazine for 1833, gives an interesting account of the schooling of the pointer or setter, thus commenced. A short abstract from it may not be unacceptable: "The first lesson inculcated is that of passive obedience, and this enforced by the infliction of severity as little as the case will admit. We will suppose the dog to be a setter. He is taken into the garden or into a field, and a strong cord, about eighteen or twenty yards long, is tied to his collar. The sportsman calls the dog to him, looks earnestly at him, gently presses him to the ground, and several times, with a loud, but not an angry voice, says, 'Down!' or 'Down charge!' The dog knows not the meaning of this, and struggles to get up; but, as often as he struggles, the cry of 'Down charge!' is repeated, and the pressure is continued or increased. "This is repeated a longer or shorter time, until the dog, finding that no harm is meant, quietly submits. He is then permitted to rise; he is patted and caressed, and some food is given to him. The command to rise is also introduced by the terms 'Hie up!' A little afterwards the same process is repeated, and he struggles less, or perhaps ceases altogether to struggle. "The person whose circumstances permit him occasionally to shoot over his little demesne, may very readily educate his dog without having recourse to keepers or professional breakers, among whom he would often be subject to imposition. Generally speaking, no dog is half so well broken as the one whose owner has taken the trouble of training him. The first and grand thing is to obtain the attachment of the dog, by frequently feeding and caressing him, and giving him little hours of liberty under his own inspection; but, every now and then, inculcating a lesson of obedience, teaching him that every gambol must be under the control of his master; frequently checking him in the midst of his riot with the order of 'Down charge!' patting him when he is instantly obedient; and rating, or castigating him, but not too severely, when there is any reluctance to obey. 'Passive obedience is the first principle, and from which no deviation should be allowed.' [26]