CHAPTER VI 



WILDFOWL DOGS AND HOW TO BREAK 



THEM 



What are the best breeds of dog for wildfowling ? Some 

 persons will say, Any breed that can swim and retrieve will 

 make a suitable animal ; but, alas ! that is not the case. 

 With reference to such ideas I at once contend that those who 

 advocate the " thoroughbred mongrel " for any purpose in 

 wildfowling are not likely ever to possess a good animal for 

 this class of work. 



It must be remembered that as much depends upon the 

 handling of a dog as the breaking, and that if a person 

 is unable to handle a dog he will soon spoil it, no matter 

 how clever a working animal it may have been to start with. 

 This applies accordingly to all grades of shooters. At the 

 outset, therefore, it would be wise to observe that as much 

 skill may be displayed in working a dog as in shooting. 

 Working a dog satisfactorily is not a task anyone can per- 

 form even after years of experience. I mention this well 

 knowing many people believe that, a dog being trained, any- 

 one can work it, which is, of course, a palpable mistake. 



To get back to our breed question, the inability of a person 

 to see the advantage of any particular breed is invariably due 

 to ignorance of the various breeds of the canine family. This 

 is furthermore evidenced by his faulty selection of a breed. 

 To arrive at a means by which a breed of dog may be chosen 

 for such work as wildfowling, we might, for the moment at 

 least, accept the theory of evolution in animals. As I have 



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