CHARTER II. 



DOGS. 



11. A GOOD DOG is one of the most faithful, respectful, 

 affectionate and sensible of brutes ; deference to such rare 

 qualities demands a chapter, however brief. A trained dog is 

 the indispensable servant of the sportsman in his pursuit of 

 most kinds of game ; but I trust I am guilty of no discourtesy 

 to the noble animal, when I say that he is a luxury rather than 

 a necessity to the collector a pleasant companion, who knows 

 almost everything except how to talk, who converses with his 

 eyes and ears and tail, shares comforts and discomforts with 

 equal alacrity, and occasionally makes himself useful. So 

 far as a collector's work tallies with that of a sportsman, the 

 dog is equally useful to both ; but finding and telling of game 

 aside, your dog's services are restricted to companionship and 

 retrieving. He may, indeed, flush many sorts of birds for 

 you ; but he does it, if at all, at random, while capering 

 about ; for the brute intellect is limited after all, and cannot 

 comprehend a naturalist. The best trained setter or pointer 

 that ever marked a quail could not be made to understand 

 what you are about, and it would ruin him for sporting pur- 

 poses if he did. Take a well-bred, high-toned dog out with 

 you, and the chances are he will soon trot home in disgust 

 at your performances with jack-sparrows and tomtits. It 

 implies such a lowering and perversion of a good dog's in- 

 stincts to make him really a useful servant of yours^, that I am 

 half inclined to say nothing about retrieving, and tell you to 

 make a companion of your dog, or let him alone. I was 

 followed for several years by " the best dog I ever saw" (every 

 one's gun, dog, and child is the best ever seen), and a first- 

 rate retriever ; yet I always preferred, when practicable, to 

 pick up my own birds, rather than let a delicate plumage into 

 a dog's mouth, and scolded away the poor brute so often, 

 that she very properly returned the compliment, in the end, by 



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