even for dogs with strong retrieving instincts. There are many photos throughout the book, and those in this chapter show a dog that is clearly enjoying himself. Spencer then turns to multiple-marked retrieves, blinds, and combinations of the same. Here you can tell that Spencer has a strong background in retriever training. The book contains many clear explanations of drills including the famous baseball drill. Nothing revolutionary here, but each drill is explained clearly and with many illustrations. Not everyone will want to train their spaniel in this type of retriever handling, but this is a great resource for those choosing to do so. The third section suggests things to do with your spaniel: hunting, of course, and spaniel games. Spencer offers probably the easiest to comprehend explanation of field trials that I have ever read, and does a pretty good job on the hunt tests. This second edition contains information on cocker trials, something that did not exist when the original edition was published. With three divisions in the book, there is something for everyone: the prospective dog owner, the puppy trainer, and those wishing to do advanced retriever training. It's a handy reference book for the sporting library. Autographed copies available at: The Spaniel Journal Bookstore Hup! Training Flushing Spaniels the American Way second edition by James B. Spencer Alpine Publications, Inc. Copyright © 2002 ISBN 1-57779-043-X Bill Fawcett has been "messing with bird dogs" for 23 years and lives in the Shennadoah Valley of Virginia with his wife Cindy and their Springer, Jenna. He also maintains the Smythwicks Pedigree Repository, a public FB ESS database. Page 2 | Previous Page | Archived Book Reviews |