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CAESAR, AND A FEW WORDS ON DOG-TRAINING  
    BY W. SERGEANT KENDALL
(Taken from Harper’s Young People, Volume 9, Number 445, May 8, 1888. Page 480-481)

FRANK LAURENCE, a clever little fellow of eleven, living in the country village where I usually pass my vacation, has a beautiful dog named Caesar, which he has admirably trained, and which will draw him in a cart as well as any pony. Talking with him, I became very much interested in his teaching as well as in the results of it, and it occurred to me to get him to help me write this article for the benefit of the many readers of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE.
     Frank says it is best to wait until the dog is about six or seven weeks old before commencing. He thinks, and so do I, that a dog of Caesar's breed, a cross between a colly and a Newfoundland, is perhaps the most suitable, as it is quite strong enough, and has just the kind of intelligence required for this sort of work.  
   Teach him that, no matter where he is or what he is doing, he must answer your whistle immediately.  It would be well to have occasionally a piece of cake to reward him with when he comes to you, but usually a caress is sufficient.  There is no animal in the world more fond of petting than a dog, and Carlo will consider a few gentle strokes and a kind word reward enough    for any service.  You must not begin too soon to make him draw heavy things, as it might stunt his growth.  Do not commence with the drag until he is fully two months old.
   To accustom him to his harness, put on the bridle, and perhaps the saddle without the breeching, girthing it very loosely.  Let it remain on the first time but a minute or so, stroking him meanwhile and then lightly remove it, giving a piece of cake as a reward.   It is quite important not to disgust him with his training, as you want him to enjoy it.  The harness will be apt to be annoying at first, as he will not understand what you want, but a few times of harnessing will entirely reconcile him to it.  Do not put on the breeching until he has learnt to draw the drag easily.  It is a most puzzling contrivance to a dog, and the use of it he will not be able to discover at first.
     When he is thoroughly accustomed to the harness, and not before, he may be hitched to the drag and made to draw it around a few times, and then be quickly un-harnessed, when a game of romps with him will entirely restore his equanimity.  Never let him play while in harness, or he will speedily become unmanageable.   Do not be in a hurry to begin with a wagon, but if Carlo is moderately apt you may first put him before one with shafts in three weeks from the commencement of training, though you must be very careful not to have unnecessary weight in it, and also not to go downhill at first, as that will make the breeching draw tight and scare him.  
     Take a boy’s express wagon and put shafts to it.  It makes by far the most satisfactory vehicle, and you can in winter put the same shafts to your sled and go spinning over the crust and race and beat any team you may come across.    For shafts the country boy may take a couple of straight saplings and smooth them carefully, making them long enough to insure the dog’s not striking the cross piece with his hind legs.  The city boy may get from a saw-mill or lumber-yard two strips of straight-grained ash, about one inch square, and plane each one round,  tapering it slightly to one end, and leaving square a foot or so at the other, that the brace may be fastened more firmly.   Then with small carriage bolts or screws fasten a cross-piece of three-quarter or inch board, about four inches wide, and long enough to let the dog run easily between the shafts, very nearly at the butt-end thereof.   In this piece put two hooks for the traces, a whippletree is not necessary, and in each shaft-butt a stout iron hook to fit into strong screw-eyes in the forward axle of the wagon.  Last of all, tack halfway up the shafts two leather loops for the breeching, all is finished.  
     Two or three times of exercising Carlo with the wagon will entirely familiarize him with it, and his training will then be three-fourths completed.  It only remains to teach him the use of the reins, if he has not by this time, as is quite probably, become “bridle-wise”.
     I do not think you had better try to make a sulky.  If you do, it must be very well balanced, for any weight on a dog’s back is injurious, as well as annoying to him.  Frank’s sulky was made for him by me to fit Caesar exactly, and is perfectly balanced, and unless you can have yours made to fit your dog I should by all means advise a four-wheeler.  The picture on page 480 shows Frank in his sulky in racing trim and you will observe that the shafts are made very long, to give the dog ease.  
     Frank has two dogs now, Caesar and Prince, both equally well trained, and he often drives them together, either as a pair or in tandem.  Once they were the means of saving, perhaps, his father’s life.  Late one evening Mr. Laurence was taken suddenly ill, and as no one was at home, and the horses stabled for the night, the duty of calling the doctor fell to our little friend, who with his dogs made such good time that the doctor, over two miles away, was enabled to give relief which a short time later would have been useless.  Frank told me he was but twenty minutes away from home.
         Remember always to be careful not to require of Carlo things that he cannot understand until you have made them clear to him, as a dog is always willing to do what he can comprehend.  It is a good general rule to let absence of caresses stand for punishment, but in some serious offence some sharp cuts with a whip, or a chaining to his kennel for half a day will be necessary.  It is useless to punish the animal long after his wrong-doing, as he will not then know what it is for.  Let your punishments be few, but decided, and follow quickly upon the offence, that you may cultivate both love and respect for you in your pet.  Do not let his lesson continue during the first week for more than five or six minutes, or he may become tired and obstinate.  Obstinacy is the worst trait an animal can have and by a little carelessness you may very quickly form it in your own dog.  The second and third weeks the lessons may be prolonged, until they reach at last to one hour, though you will have to use your judgment about this.  
     In closing let me say one thing.  Remember always to be gentle, but firm; as Milton says, “Who overcomes by force hath overcome but half his foe”’ and these lessons you give your dogs will prove lessons of far more value to yourselves, and will stand you in good stead when you come to fight the great battles of your life.
Caesar is a very handsome animal, the finest of his kind I have ever seen. He stands twenty-six inches at the shoulder, and has a magnificent coat of long silky black hair, with a snow-white "shirt front," as Frank calls it. He is a very intelligent dog. Last winter he had great fun coasting with Frank, who used him to pull his "double-runner" uphill. While watching his master coast, a brilliant idea came into Caesar’s mind, and the next time the "bob" was ready for its descent, he jumped on the back sled, sat himself gravely down thereon and took the ride in becoming style.  
After that he would never miss a chance, and Frank finally nailed a low seat for him there, which he never after' would allow anyone to occupy.  
      Before commencing the actual training yon will have to make a light, comfortable, leather harness for the dog that will fit him well, though loosely, and that will enlarge by means of straps and buckles as he grows bigger.
     The bridle is made like Fig. 1, without a bit, as a dog's mouth is not shaped like a horse's, to hold a bit well, and it would only annoy him and injure his teeth. The bridle should be of soft leather, with the nose-band rather broad, in order that pulling on the reins  may not hurt his nose.
The collar is best made like Fig. 2, with the band, to which the traces are fastened, quite broad to bear the weight of the load easily. The supporting strap may, of course, be much lighter.  
I think that the illustrations will show clearly how the various pieces are shaped and put together.   In your home-made harness rivets can be substituted for sewing. The saddle (Fig. 3) is a broad strap, three inches wide on the top, where two japanned iron rings are sewed for the reins to pass through.  Japanned iron rings of inch diameter will be required for the breeching, and it is will to have two smaller ones on the bridle, as in Fig. 1 to fasten the reins to.
    The girth is narrower continuation of the saddle, and buckles on the “near” side.  Two loops of leather either alterable by means of buckles, as in the illustration, or sewed to the saddle, one at each side and connected underneath by a second girth, are necessary to support the shafts.  There is no crupper, but the breeching is connected with the saddle by a middle strap.
If you wish to practice economy, you may make the reins and traces of cord, which will answer the purpose quite well.  Make them of heavy cord in the ordinary flat, three strand braid.  The traces should have loops at the ends to fasten to the whippletree, and should be sewed to the collar.    Frank now has a “swell” rig for Caesar made entirely of leather by a saddler, but his first harness was made by himself with cord reins and traces.  He fastened the leather of the collar, saddle, and breeching with the rivets, and with his mother’s help, sewed the little work required on the bridle.  The illustrations of the harness are of Frank’s best set, a little simplified, as I thought that would show most clearly the proportions and requirements.  It will be very easy to simplify them still more for a home-made harness, while at the same time they are quite clear enough to enable a saddler to make a set for you from them.
      
     I fancy that the best way would be for our young dog-trainer to buy the leather ready cut into strips of the proper width, for if he buys it in the  piece  there will be a good deal of waste, and he may spoil several pieces by having the knife slip at a critical moment.  For fastening the harness together he may use slender copper rivets about half an inch long.   The bridle he had better sew, as rivets in this might be uncomfortable for the dog.  Use strong linen thread carefully waxed, and with the holes pierced first, that the needle may slip though easily.   All is ready now but the drag, which is a board about three feet long with hooks screwed at one end to fasten the traces to – something to pull that will not tire the dog or run on his heels and frighten him.        
    Now for the training.  Suppose our pup Carlo is getting old enough to understand things, the first and most important lesson for him to learn is obedience.  Teach him that, no matter where he is or what he is doing, he must answer your whistle immediately.
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