THE RETRIEVERS 353 



writer ever heard of was that evolved by an ingenious enthusiast, 

 who took his dog to a rabbit-warren and encouraged him to chase 

 to his heart's content. When he showed signs of waning en- 

 thusiasm and increasing asphyxiation, his owner spurred, or rather 

 kicked, him on to renewed efforts to capture the impossible coney, 

 until at last exhausted nature gave way, and the poor dog " cried 

 a go." According to this up-to-date breaker, chasing fur was an 

 amusement henceforth entirely obliterated from his pupil's schedule 

 of accomplishments. 



So far the Retriever has been dealt with in relation to what 

 are supposed to be his orthodox, but somewhat monotonous, 

 duties. For the writer's part, if breaking a dog to his own hand, 

 he would be less rigorous and exacting as regards the question 

 of absolute steadiness. Almost from the commencement of his 

 shooting days he has had a line of faithful helpmates that 

 have had to fulfil the role, not only of the Retriever proper, but 

 also that of Setter, Spaniel, and Sleuth-hound. His Retrievers have 

 to find game, flush it, and retrieve it promptly to hand ; nor is 

 he so very particular if they make a start on the last-named 

 mission before receiving the word of command. When one is 

 on a tarn or a snipe-bog, it is as well that one's dog should be 

 off the mark pretty quickly, if he is to successfully retrieve a winged 

 duck, or a snipe that falls fifty yards out in the water, beyond 

 the rushes. Furthermore, the writer fears that he has caused thrills 

 of horror in many a pheasant-slayer's heart when he has sent his 

 best Retriever into a furze-brake to make the rabbits scuttle. 

 For all that, he is always ready to back himself to go out, single- 

 handed, on a moor with one dog, and that dog a Flat-coated 

 Retriever, and bring home a bigger and more varied bag than any- 

 one else with one dog of any other breed; especially if there is 

 any wild-fowl work to be done ; for the dogs of the Blackthorn, 

 Darenth, Zelstone, and Black Drake strain are, almost without ex- 

 ception, particularly brilliant at water. To see them work for 

 snipe or duck is a revelation to those who have been accustomed 

 to view a Retriever by the light of the broken-spirited porters who 

 steadily collect game after a battue or drive. 



If, perchance, the writer is so ill-advised as to let off at a 

 hare that is beyond certain killing distance, and the poor brute 

 makes off with a shattered hind leg, or vitals penetrated by only 

 a pellet or two, he does not hesitate to send his dusky henchman 

 on the war trail, chancing whether the dog will, in consequence, 

 run in at the next hare that springs, or not. 



The fact that Retrievers are only presumed to exist for the 

 purpose of fetching and carrying is responsible for another fact 

 viz. that our sporting American cousins ignore the breed 

 altogether, and no efforts on our part have ever succeeded in 



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