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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1960-06-30, Page 5op, How To Train Your Hunting Dog ONE LAST TRY — Bearded attorney A, L, Wirin makes a final apeGi to Gov, Pat Brown of California to spare the life of convict-author Caryl Chessman. Chesman, who is awaiting execution in San Quentin Prison, forestalled his fate for 11 years by a series of appeals. What More Could She Have Done Two-ton Fading Away There is danger that rhinoceros, the huge 440;0 animal which has been ..00104 nature's .two-ton misfit, May be-. come .geithiei next century mawt. *A swift steps now .Laing take*. to protect it prove effective, 044 measure its the ban line posed by the government, 94. "Tanganyika on the hunting of this. • strange creature for the. next five years. Big ..,game ters nave been warned. Only five epecies of rhinoceros are now in existence and three are so few in number that tiler. is, no hope of .saving them from extinction, With their small eyes end; weak sight, rhinos fall easy prey. to expert marksmen, They are harmless, timid creatures but their, shortsightedness makes them charge blindly at any- thing arousing suspicion. There is no substance that cast equal in tonghaesa the beam ot. a rhinoceros. It's not a hors like that of a deer but a collee,, non . of hairs grown tightly tee gether. African natives used to, make cups of this horn, be- lieving that such cups detect poison,. The first rhino seen an Eur- ope walked in the .processiotte when 'Pompey the Great march- ed in triumph through Rome he 61 .13.S The graceful unicorn of heraldry — a fabulous creature which scientists now say nevee• existed in nature — was prob.". ably based on 'the Indian rhino. eeros. Legend says that unicorns had. en "affection for young maid- ens who were employed as. lures to capture these este,. tures." Comments a modern 'scientists "A rhinoceros certainly cannot be lured by girls to-day, but it can be induced- to walk peace- fully alongside a caravan:" by an ,abiding pity. For she had .turned more .and, more to her garden and in it she had found, at least, -fleeting moments of hanni,M.ss. The noise of the typewrster ceased, She heard the french window of the study o.peti And $4W Alistair Prothero come eat For A moment her heart stood OW for love at the man he once had been, He was, as always, late in a white tropical suit. He had retained his 'figure and was, still. strikingly handsome, with. thick hair gently greying et the., temples. On 1 y the tracery of veins beneath the skin of his finely shaped nose and a thick- eeing of the .fleah. below .1.113 jaws disclosed that he was no longer fit. He gi a n no e d appreciatively around the garden, "It looks wonaerful, darling," he said. "Until the next storm. comes," she replied. "We have a dinner party tonight, remember? I was. Wondering what flowers would be nice for the table," Alistair, who knew nothing of flowers, pointed to the mass of delicate blue blossom which smothered the' wire netting of the garden fence in gay profu- sion,' "That's pretty," he said. "It would look lovely." "Why, that's morning glory," said Angela, "The flowers only come out in the morning. By tonight they'll all look faded and dead," Alistair laughed and at that. hour of the day there was still a boyish ring in the sound, 'What an extraordinary way. for flowers to behave," he said. But Angela did not join in his laughter, She hid her face in his shoulder, and her body, beneath the pale blue jersey, shook with the intensity of her tears. —From "Tit-Bita." A Complete Story by Valentine .Boucher MUSICAL BALL — This satellite- eh a p ed item might be the hi-fl of the future, Designer Lester Beall created the lightweight- metal ball. The front has ,been opened to show turntable and Controls. There are no plans to place it in production. that a man was sometimes high when he got home, But she could not deceive her- self for long and soon she knew that Alistair drank heavily, not because it was a disagreeable but essential part of his job, but because he could not help it. That was fifteen years ago, Standing on her lawn, still wet with dew, the passage of the in- tervening years was a memory which twisted a knife in An- gela's heart. Authority had made the same discovery as Angela: post had followed post, but always downward. For the thousandth time she searched h e r own conscience. Was she to blame? Could, she have done more to save her husband from his present de- gradation? As the partner of a diplomat she sincerely believed she had more than played her part. She had beauty, charm and wit; their successive homes had been furnished in impeccable taste, without losing the essential touch of home; their table was beyond reproach, She had suffered humiliations beyond count . the inane guffaw of the drunkard, the telling of a dubious story at the wrong time and place . until mortification had bitten de ep into her soul. Many a time she had covered him by her own charm and per- sonality, but gradually — bitter- ly — she had seen him become a laughing stock in the service, Poor old Prothero, who could only work in the early morn- ing , Prothero, the drunk .. . And now? Consul (not even. Consul General) in a second- rate t own of a second-rate country in the Balkans, when he could have been at least head of chancery in a major embassy, if not minister. Today, she k n e w, would be the same as all other days, Af- ter breakfast he would leave for the consulate !full of plans. He would return for luncheon with alcohol on his breath. By evening he would be hopeless, though, if there was a dinner party, as there was tonight, he would contrive to pull himself together for a space. Her love for him had died, to be replaced, not by hate, but PURE INVENTION — Dr. Jahn M. Blocher holds a baton twirler's nightmare. Ws a crystal bar of chromium, 99.99 per cent pure, Made by special process, the chromium — known in this form as iochrome — is expeoted to be valuable in the development of spate-age metals, She sat on her heels, loosen- ing the caked earth between the delicate blooms at the front of the border with a little hand- fork. She had the swift touch of a true gardener. These hours be- tween sunrise and breakfast were her very own, spent with the things now closest to her heart her flowers. Presently she rose and sur- veyed her work , with a satis- faction that was born of some- thing more than mere accom- plishment. Only deep devotion could have wrought the marvel of her garden in this unpromis- ing land, where, in a sub-tropi- cal climate, long periods of thirsting drought were inter- spersed with rain so fierce that rivulets coursed through the topsoil and even the stoutest blooms bowed their heads in surrender, Yet the grass on which she stood was miraculously smooth and green, and the cannas, oleanders and bougainvillea made a triumphant show of colour. She took off her garden- ing gloves and pushed back a tendril of hair that had strayed on to her forehead, At that moment she was part of her garden — a human plant, slender, strong and beautiful, She was one of the few who could wear tight slacks with grace, and even rope-soled shoes could not conceal the fact that her feet were tiny and delicate. A thin cotton jersey of the pal- est blue paid tribute to her still youthful figure; and her oval face was framed in hair which glowed as richly as the sheen of a chestnut. Her joy in the garden was short-lived, for soon the sound of a typewriter came to her .from the pleasant study at the back of the white bungalow. Alistair Prothero, her husband and Her Britannic Majesty's Consul in Krajevic, situated in Lower Besthania, was working on his files. A wave of sadness swept over her and suddenly her eyes were suffused with tears. The clatter of the keys was fast, and she knew that the work he was doing in the freshness of the early morning was confident and efficient, an echo of the days when young Prothero had. been tipped by his seniors as an up and coming man In the British Foreign Service. If only his work throughout the day could sustain its morn- ing promise . . . 'but she knew that it was too late to hope for that. As a young man he had nem- pied successively the sort of posts that pointed to a career of brilliance; Resident Clerk at the Foreign Office; personal as- sistant to an ambassador who was the brightest star in the' diplomatid firmament; second secretary In Washington. It was there that Angela, the daughter of an admiral in the Services Mission, had met him, Soon they were engaged and later they were married from the Embassy, It was the most brilliant'affair of the Washing- tonseason arid those who at- tended the reception in the leafy gardens (:)f the lovely leityens residency saw nothing but a road et triumph stretching ahead for the promising young &pi& mat and this beautiful girl, They were So in lame, so con- fident hi the future they faded together . until Angela had first diseoveted her husbaild'a failing. She Wee So deeply in /ove that to- begin with she had refused to recognize In in used, the life of a diplomat 'was killing the long, daily_ slog; In the office, fol- lowed by'_ an interminable round of ceektella 'and dinner 'Patties. A lot of liritoeflible in the kflte,• a** be conducted eeite ettobtetba. Stein Wonder restrain or restrict natural de- velopment afield or destroy his confidence in working game, writes Pete Czura in the Police Gazette, If your pup takes to field Mira slowly, it might he wise to hunt him with an Older and more seasoned campaigner to speed, up his development, Some of Ids beat lessons will be gained from the experience he gets with seaaotied performers, How- ever, don't use the older dog until you see that the pup is developing too slowly. Give him ample time to learn for himself and to gain the confidence titled later. Before you spend too much time training your p u p, why don't yoe try the cap-pistol me- thod to learn if the dog is gun shy. But don't do it so close to his ears the noise could nip• ture his delicate eardrums, A good way to do this is to shoot the cap pistol about 15 feet away from the dog while he is busy eating. If he flinches and runs away in a cringing man- ner, you're in for big trouble, Your best bet is to shuck the training program and get an- other dog. Van Bloom's technique might help some reader to start his dog on the right path of not being gun-shy. "In less than 20 minutes," he told me, "Tammy completely ig- nored the firing weapon. How'd I do it? I took her afield and allowed her to play and romp. When she was about 50 yards away, I fired several shots from a .22 rifle. She paid no attention. I moved in closer and sho t again, first at 25 yards, then at 10. Still she didn't flinch. Then I changed to a 16 gauge shot- gun and fired about 25 yards from her. It didn't phase her. I narrowed the gap until I was almost on top of her still shoot- ing the 16. Today she is rock- steady when guns boom all around her." * Never stretch your yard-train- ing lessons beyond the 15-min- ute mark. A young dog Will soon tire, lose interest, and be- come bored if you drive him too long. Stop while he's still keyed up, If I had to pick one word which would best explain the purpose of giving any dog man- ners, it would be "control," This is a very important item to re- member. Proper control of your dog can be gained by teaching the same lessons time after time. As an illustration, take the Labrador retriever. To control a retriever you must be firm, But this doesn't mean you must be brutal in rebuking him for his mistakes, Retrievers are sensitive, and firmness spiced with gentleness and a bit of af- fection will often bring excel- lent results. That old saying, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink," can be applied to a dog's Will- ingness to obey you because of love for you, whereas force and brutality would cause him to be obstinate, Training your own retriever can be very rewarding and ex- citing as you see the dog de- velop into a highly trained ani- mal that responds to your com- mands with excitement and willingness. Every day will offer new and interesting challenges, and overcoming each obstacle brings a warm glow of inner satisfaction to the trainer. It's exciting to watch how a young dog absorbs the elemen- tary stages of "heel," "sit," Each, year rinds many people bitten by the bug to own a sporting dog. And many follow through and buy the dog, How- ever, once a dog Is acquired, tint new o w n,e r is suddenly One fronted with the frightening task of training the dog for his speeific needs, And what's more, the owner hasn't the foggiest notion of how to go about train- ing the dog or how to gauge the dog's Ability to learn. The most important command you must teach a dog is the negative comand, When you say "no" to a dog who is misbehav- ing, say it with authority. Don't plead or mumble meekly. Bark out your command. And don't ever reverse yoor commands. This only confuses the dog and leads to uncertainty of what you mean or want him to do, The use of one-syllable words works well in teaching obedi- ence to a dog. Some people have successfully adopted the use of "ah-ah" in place of the word "no." John Van Bloom of Lincoln, Nebraska, admits being a neo- phyte in the retrieving game. ilowever, the sparkling work of els tar-black Labrador, Tammy, shows his methods are paying sff with some sensational trial wins. At the recent Nebraska retriever trials in Lincoln, Van Bloom remarked that "the nic- est command and one that is eetually soft and gentle is ah-ahe To prove his point, he iuggested that I say it. That I did, And while saying 'ah-ah," I unconsciously raised ny hand to lend emphasis to the Command. "Did you notice What you just lid? grinned Van Bloom. "You raised your hand. By using that type of command and shaking rour hand at the same time, you ran improve a dog's behaviour n a few lessons." Wait until the dog is six- nonths old before you begin the yard training. This phase of Ids education might be referred to as "boot training," and should encompass these essential com- mends and instant obedience to "heel," "come," "sit," "stay," and, knee l After a dog has passed his preliminary lessons in manners, rte enters into what could be classified as his college course. in retriever work, use a whistle along with the command, "sit!" Later, as you use the whistle exclusively, one short blast will atop him in his tracks, and if he's absorbed the lessons well, he will stop, facing you, to ob- serve your directional hand sig- nal, My own experience in teach- ing manners indicates that yard lessons serve as a solid founda- tion to future lessons afield, An uncontrollable dog is worse than having no dog at all. It simply indicates the owner has been very lax in applying some hard and fast rules in teaching man- ners to such a dog. Don't attempt any serious field work untie your pointer or setter is one year old, Prioanto this, he should be given com- plete freedom afield until he learns to range with confidence and fire. This way he has an opportunity to discover the thrill of bird scents and the pleasure of hunting, During this youth indoctrina- tion period,: work him in field's' elitillar to those he will eventu- ally hunt. Don't do anything to s. "stay," and to note how he learns to mark the fall of a thrown object and retrieve it upon a given signal. And it is an absolute thrill to see him make a letter-perfect delivery to the hand, as he carries the object tenderly. The ultimate in his training is realized w h e n. he makes the "blind" and "double" retrieves in an impeccable style while you are commanding him with whistle and hand signals. In the end you will have a well-mannered dog to be proud of. And if he indicates during his training sessions that he has field-trial potential, then by all means take a gamble and enter him in . the derby stakes of a local field or retriever erial, He could surprise you pleasantly by placing, or even winning. "There's no sweeter reward, except in winning," Van Bloom said, "than in hearing a specta- tor comment about the way your dog handles. It could be your dog they are talking about, And it makes you want to puff yout chest out in pride.- You see, a dog's ability is a product Of hard work — and tOaht The two go together like heni And oggs."0 • Bird Watchers Multiply Fasti It seems that there are slight- ly fewer birds (in some spe- cies) but more birdwatehers. These two statistics are not necessarily, connected. Every Christmas season, the National Audubon Society spon- sors a Christmas Bird Count, in the United States and Canada, First census was in 1900, with 27 bird-watchers reporting from 25 areas, At the last cen- Sim 7,477 citizens cheeked the skies over 572 areas. The sport is most popular in areas. Which hare large cities — gives the bird-watcher an excuse to got out of town, Rugged weather recently and the hiereaaihg Use of insecti- tides are given as the, reasons for the decline hi population of certain Sotig birds, itIANdtlf SPOT PLiNiINAQIBID The `tail anatitierie poshlon, most Vulnerable *pet &eddied a bomber in World War Il has been soliMinatect frorn this canierei. behind Weiss bubble (above puns) `sends to-de view to i'dreett in cabin. Viewing the' picture, tbe guntir 'arid firet the tiaur• 50-caliber machine auns Eby renieite deritrai, M/Sgt, JaNy C. Maned Checks the ortIniuMtialt ANYONE FOR TENNIS? — Huge 106-foot diariletet entice' balleion in hifieteal at Langley t4 e' tearolt Center. Made of thin Aisne eorifed with elietiiitintits the .tail May `44 used ei earthi itatelitte for flight to the Mettle. fit hlohly reileittiera tier4oce iSteald' aetaii easily from etitift.i, Note tile Of werker nearby, floiv Can T 'Melte n 'reeileftio= tery,esubstitute foil' putty= A, 'ranting sortieteklettin pliwdet. end linseed oil tea Putty-like ebnststericy, you cats this usual .way.fOi Just et :small ititatitit A of Chalk, giOttrid to tiOieidert bed be Used itisteild taloutii,. if tifiti don't MO butt of the ieiktet>R;