66 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 



the outcome of breeding, such as "nose," are called into 

 requisition. 



Besides the retriever, certain breeds of spaniel (viz. the 

 English water spaniel, Irish water spaniel, and Clumber spaniel) 

 make very good wildfowl dogs if carefully selected from 

 working strains and well broken. They lack, however, the 

 strength of the retriever for rough sea work, but in working 

 reeds and rushes, hut-shooting away from rough and open sea- 

 coasts, spaniels, especially those of the larger breeds, can 

 make themselves more conveniently useful than the large 

 retriever. Referring to other breeds of shooting dogs, such 

 as the pointer and setter, we can scarcely hope to persuade 

 gunners that these are suitable breeds for wildfowling, nor 

 would we wish to do so, since it would, in the generality of 

 cases, be misleading. As an instance, however, of what a 

 well-bred retrieving dog of any breed may be encouraged to 

 do, I refer to a pointer I once possessed. I do not wish to 

 state that for wildfowling generally the pointer in question 

 could equal the best retrievers I have owned, but as an instance 

 of his abilities as a wise retrieving animal, I cite one October 

 night. On that occasion I bagged sixteen curlew within an 

 hour, all of which my pointer "Jack" retrieved from the tide 

 as well as any dog could have done, and with a sagacity which 

 is only noticed in well-bred and highly trained animals. The 

 pointer, strange to say, is not, as a rule, a good water dog, 

 which, of course, makes my dog's performance all the more 

 remarkable. 



BREAKING WILDFOWL DOGS 



Now that we have so pointedly indicated the importance 

 attached to the wildfowl dog being bred from a strain of work- 

 ing animals, we have next to consider the selection of a puppy. 

 No better advice can be tendered than to select a strong, 

 healthy, and intelligent-looking pup. He should be taken in 



