DOGS, AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS. 357 
should be of compact build, and exceedingly strong and 
courageous. T’o use a pointer during the cold season 
is cruel, for nature did not intend him for this work; 
his place is in the stubble-field in the summer’s sun. 
To use a setter at such times, is to test his courage and 
endurance. They will do the work, and will stand 
hour after hour retrieving without flinching, and no 
dog can do the work quicker or better. 
But my idea of a duck dog is either a Chesapeake 
retriever, or an Irish water-spaniel. They are made for 
cold water, and take to it as naturally as a duck. 
Either breed are excellent and natural retrievers. But 
it requires education to make them perfect. Their 
color is liver or runs from a light to a dark-brown. They 
are unlike in looks, and the diversity of tastes in indi- 
viduals ought to be satisfied here. The Chesapeake 
is smooth in coat, at times a trifle wavy ; the hair thick, 
close, but oily, similar to an otter. The Ivish water- 
spaniel is covered with kinky curls, a bushy top-knot 
on his head, and rather a rat tail. Of the two I de- 
cidedly prefer the Chesapeake. When one buys a duck 
dog untrained, no matter what his pedigree is, he must 
not expect too much of him. Buy one trained, or take 
one in puppyhood and bring him up as he should be, 
and he will be an ornament to his race. The peculiar 
traits are merely inherited ; they must be developed and 
controlled by the human mind, and unless you are a 
monument of patience, don’t attempt to train one. In 
the Western States, the dog used mostly for duck-shoot- 
ing, is a cross between a spaniel and setter, the object 
being to combine the love for water found in the span- 
iel, and the speed and scenting powers of the setter. 
When one of these dogs is trained, there is no dog on 
