HEREDITARY INSTINCT OF DOGS. 275 



dogs, and her unlearned children, who, by dint of beating 

 and starving, had been initiated into the mysteries of their 

 respective callings. She assured me with great professional 

 energy, that one of my dogs, a large poodle, would make a 

 first-rate pupil, and I saw her more than once looking at 

 him with a longing eye. 



Dogs, indeed, will almost learn anything ; but in teaching 

 sporting dogs, much attention should be paid to the qualities 

 and education of their forefathers. I am no advocate at all 

 for crossing pointers with foxhounds, &c., to increase the 

 strength and endurance of the animal ; all dogs so bred will 

 invariably give great trouble in their education from an 

 hereditary inclination to act the hound instead of the pointer. 

 There is quite variety enough in the present breed of pointers 

 to improve your kennel, if you want any addition of bone, 

 speed or courage. 



I have seen a young pointer, who was only just able to 

 run out alone, point, and indeed back, as steadily, and with 

 as much certainty as an old dog ; but this undoubtedly would 

 not be the case had there been any cross whatsoever in 

 his breeding. The late Mr. Andrew Knight, than whom a 

 more practical and acute naturalist did not exist, paid much 

 attention to what he termed " the hereditary instinct " of 

 dogs. His woodcock spaniels were chosen from puppies 

 whose ancestors had been most famous for woodcock hunt- 

 ing; and his rabbit dogs from those whose parents had 

 shown most skill in rabbit hunting. Some years ago I spent 

 many a pleasant half-hour in listening to his amusing and 

 enthusiastic descriptions of the " hereditary instincts " of his 

 favourite dogs. 



There is certainly no class of dog in which this faculty is 

 more decidedly shown than in retrievers. Although a 

 retriever is frequently of a cross-breed, yet if his ancestors 

 for one or two generations back have been well educated, and 

 have had much practice in retrieving, he invariably requires 

 little if any teaching, and appears to understand the whole of 

 his business instinctively. I am convinced that I have seen 

 this inherited skill exemplified in one of my retrievers, a 

 curious kind of rough animal, who resembles a Bussian poodle 

 more than any other dog. I bought him of a man who lived 

 by poaching, and other similar arts, when the dog was six 

 months old, and before he could have acquired any very 

 bad habits. The dog invariably showed, and still shows, the 



