324 BRITISH DOGS 



I have derived benefit from crossing with the strains both of Mr. 

 Engelbach and of the late Sir Wm. Verner, and also from that of Mr. 

 W. S. Tollemache, who, for a period of over thirty years, kept the breed 

 in its purity ; and, although he never exhibited them, Mr. Tollemache 

 has owned some of the finest dogs of the breed it has ever been my 

 lot to look upon. Mr. Morton, of Ballymena, Ireland, has for a 

 long time been foremost in this breed in his own country, and he 

 is the most formidable opponent I have had to meet at our shows. 

 We have rung the changes repeatedly in crossing, to our mutual 

 advantage. 



It has been argued that the Irish Water Spaniel is too im- 

 petuous and hard-mouthed to be worth much as a field dog. To 

 this I must say that the dogs which have caused this remark to be 

 applied to the whole breed have either been crossbred animals, or 

 else have had a defective education. With true-bred dogs the 

 reverse is the case, they being tender-mouthed enough to please 

 the most fastidious ; and if they are taken in hand young enough, 

 and trained properly, the libel will die out. When Blarney was a 

 puppy, I had her and her brother Fudge (who died of distemper), 

 and I trained them to retrieve by means of a tame pigeon, which, 

 from some cause or other, could only fly a short distance. I used 

 to put it in my pocket when I took the puppies out for a run, and 

 for a period of at least three months they each retrieved it some 

 dozen times nearly every day, without injuring the pigeon in the 

 least. I have seen one of them (the dog, I think) so afraid of 

 harming it as to take hold of it by the wing and fairly lead it to me. 

 Can any other breed of retriever beat that for tender mouths ? 

 Their dam, Juno, was also as tender-mouthed and as clever a 

 retriever as any sportsman could wish to be master of; but I will 

 freely admit that some of the breed have been made hard-mouthed, 

 and so also have hundreds of Retrievers, from the same cause. 

 The Irish Water Spaniel, as every one knows who has owned one, 

 is never satisfied unless he is doing something to please his master ; 

 for this reason he is kept as a companion, and taught to carry a 

 stick, fetch stones, balls, etc. This kind of education it is which 

 causes them to be hard-mouthed, especially if this is done before 

 they have been taught to retrieve game. They are high-couraged, 

 like the Irish Setter, and, like them also, when well broken cannot 

 be beaten. 



There is considerable diversity of opinion as to their points for 

 exhibition purposes ; and since Mr. McCarthy brought them to what 

 he considered perfection, there has been a great confusion, brought 

 about by judges (who have never been breeders) giving prizes to a 

 class of dog that was far from correct. For instance, Mr. McCarthy, 

 in his description in the Field in 1859, says the head should be 

 capacious, forehead prominent, whilst his dogs, and the dogs of his 



