244 BRITISH DOGS 



he does not exhibit this quality spontaneous pointing in anything 

 like the same degree. It is a fact that the Pointer does, as a rule, 

 take to pointing much earlier in his training ; but the cause of this 

 I must leave for others to decide. 



The Pointer, however different in form from what he now is, 

 and in spite of the many crosses to which he has been subjected, 

 seems to have experienced very little change in his leading charac- 

 teristics. The crossing him with other dogs, which at various times 

 has been tried, has not eradicated the ' stamp ' peculiar to his 

 breed ; neither is it evident that the object sought by infusing into 

 his veins blood foreign to him was so much to change his character 

 as to introduce qualities that it was thought he might with advantage 

 possess. By this I mean that it was not so much to produce, by 

 crossing with other breeds, a dog to do the Pointer's work, as to 

 render him more suitable to the work which he was, through change 

 of circumstances, required to perform. In most cases, I believe, 

 first crosses have proved failures, whether with Foxhound or other 

 dog. The foreign blood thus imported had to be diluted (if I may 

 use the expression) by crossing back again with the Pointer, before 

 even so good a dog as the pure Pointer was produced. ' Droppers ' 

 for such is the name given to the produce of the first cross 

 between Pointer and Setter are, in some few instances, fairly good ; 

 but they are no improvement on the Pointer or Setter proper. The 

 Pointer of to-day is an animal that has been produced by the most 

 careful exercise of knowledge, gained by keen observation, assisted 

 by extensive breeding and sporting experience. He is now a dog 

 specially adapted to his work. He has been rendered capable of 

 doing it with the greatest amount of ease and efficiency. By careful 

 selection he has been divested of all the lumber that was the cause 

 of his distress in years gone by. His pace has been improved by 

 a due regard to formation, and he is, as a consequence, capable of 

 hunting a larger range of ground without becoming useless by 

 excessive fatigue. The ease with which the present shape of his 

 shoulders and chest allows him to sweep over his ground in graceful 

 strides, and to preserve and exercise with advantage his gift of scent, 

 is a pleasure to witness. 



There is no doubt that the field trials and dog shows that have 

 been held for the past fifteen years have greatly contributed towards 

 the attainment of his present high state of excellence ; but, much 

 as I admire the modern Pointer, there is just one of his properties 

 that I do not think has been improved, at least, by no means so 

 much as have others I mean his olfactory powers. He does 

 not appear to possess any superior (or even equal) faculty of scent- 

 ing game now to that he did years ago. But I am fully aware 

 that the great speed at which most Pointers hunt the ground now, 

 as compared with the old-fashioned dog of, say, twenty-five years 



