118 THE POINTER 



go together, but as a general rule I think it will 

 be found that the fastest dog finds more game than 

 the one that hunts more slowly, although his nose 

 may be inferior. It is always a moot point between 

 different schools as to whether the Pointer is the 

 superior of the Setter or the other way about. Cer- 

 tainly he seems to point more naturally, the puppy 

 often knowing what is required of him the first 

 time he is tried on game. I should not say, how- 

 ever, that he is as companionable as his more 

 beautiful confrere, and to many men this is really 

 an important consideration. Talking about pace, 

 General Hutchinson draws attention to the fact that 

 pointing too near the game more frequently arises 

 from want of caution in other words from want of 

 good instruction than from a defective nose. Slow 

 dogs readily acquire this caution, but fast dogs can- 

 not be taught it without great trouble. He also 

 observes that fast dogs which give the most trouble 

 in breaking usually turn out the best, and for this 

 reason : A young dog does not ultimately become 

 first rate because he is wild and headstrong and; 

 regardless of orders, but because his speed and dis- 

 obedience arise from his great energies, from his 

 fondness for the sport, from his longing to inhale 

 the exhilarating scent and pursue the flying game. 

 It is the possession of these qualities that makes 

 him in his anxious state of excitement blind to your 

 signals and deaf to your calls. These obviously are 

 qualities that under good management lead to great 

 excellence and superiority that make one dog do 

 the work of two. 



Companionable qualities, naturally, are eminently 

 desirable in a gun dog, for the more we make him 



