The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-12-16

ueTSJOUu he WOulu give one Oh his pc
culiar grins, wag his tail, then COM
mence hunting around for the trail.
No guess work for him, no memoriz-
ing; he was a trailer, and he always
brought the person he was sent for.
CHI She, however, thought and rea-
soned. She was only content when
with me- possibly she may have re-
membered the long watches | had
with her, when her brothers and sis
ters passed over to the happy trail
ing grounds, and she also came so
near being ferried over. She was al
way the first to discover If anything
unusual had happened, if any man or
animal had been around the grounds
at night. So proficient trailer was
she that she would track a person or
animal without the usual nosing of
the ground, trotting along ahead of me
as if we were only out for walk.
While apparently paying no atten-
ton to anything she was in reality all
the time keeping that trail in mind.
One morning She called my atten-
ton to the fact that some one had
been in my garden and taken some of
my melons. She seemed greatly ex-
cited over the find. First she took me
to three different. houses where the
boys lived. Then she followed around
to the back of my barn to where my
hired boy was working, saying plainly
enough that he was guilty too. And
so it all turned out later. She was
just as good at trailing an animal or
bird One day one of my neighbours
hens got into my garden. called
| his attention to the damage she had
done, but he thought l was mistaken.
saying his hens were shut up. To con-
vince him, spoke to Oh. She, who
was with me, and in minute or two
she brought the hen running before
her from back of his barn.
Training Feline Sleuths.
Mr.. Winchell writes Interestingly Of
training the bloodhound and notes
at the beginning that the animal Is
naturally affectionate, gentle and fond
Of children, protecting the latter
against any possible danger. He says
tAe puppies should be taken in hand
when two or three months old and
trained thus:
The training ground should be an
open lot or field where the puppies
will have nothing to take their atten-
! lion from their first lessons. re-
ward them by giving them some
dainty when they do well, and let
the runners do so, too. When trained
for hunting criminals, and 1t is deslr-
ed to train them to be savage, the
boy runner then carries an empty
grain bag or a strip of canvas to
serve as a lure, as in training a
whippet for racing, After shaking
this in their faces to get them excit-
ed and to catch at it, he then runs
against the wind, still shaking his
lure at them. The puppies are re-
leased and soon overtake the boy, the
trainer following and urging them on
to attack him He keeps shaking his
piece of canvas in tempting fash
ion, encouraging them to lay hold,
never being so rough with them as to
make them afraid or timid, but just
enough to get them angry and eXcit-
ed. The trainer then gets them again
y on leash and the boy repeats his
performance, perhaps this time going
out of sight. The trainer holds them
/ for few minutes, encouraging them
then lets them go running after them
| and kissing them on.
' AS the trainer progresses the run
= ner is given an ever-increasing start
2 until the dogs become reliable on a
= cold trail any distance The diff
e culties are gradually increased until
l the hounds will follow a trail through
I the streets through a maze of differ.
5 ent tracks and across streams either
S on leash or when loose.